My favourite analogies are:

Explaining that breastfed babies aren't like gas tanks:  They don't go
full to empty and then fill up.

They are more like us grown ups at a buffet for a few hours:  we have
some salad, some bread, main course, some conversation, a dessert, then
maybe some coffee and then another dessert just 'cause it's there etc.

I also talk about the day two - three frequent feeds by saying that baby
has just discovered this wonderful thing that makes him feel great and
the flow is usually still such that he can do it for hours without
feeling overfull.  I suggest that once the milk supply has surged baby
will not nurse constantly but may still nurse a number of times in a few
hours before taking a break to sleep.  I explain that this is so common
a pattern that we have a name for it: cluster feeding.

Janet Vandenberg RN, BScN, IBCLC
Ontario, Canada

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