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Date: | Thu, 21 Sep 2006 12:20:01 -0500 |
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Laurie, I have also had cases of over abundant milk supply where the
baby nurses for a long time. Well, they gulp for five minutes and then
want to stay on forever. They seem to stop sucking but some of them like
to be comforted on the breast without the flow. I assess feeds by weight
gain, diaper counts, etc. Long feeds are not really "normal" but
sometimes they are ok. Test weights have showed me how some babies suck
and suck and suck but only remove milk in the first 10 minutes. After
that, and it can be 60 minutes of what looks like good sucking, test
weights show almost no intake. So it is tricky and one size does not fit
all.
I will say that when I worked in a hospital five years ago, I observed
and timed a bunch of newborn babies. Normally, they actively suck about
10-15 minutes then slow down and get lazy for another five or ten
minutes. Come off, get burped and a diaper change and do about the same,
maybe less minutes on the second side. I do tell moms that baby needs to
work at the feeding for the first 10-15 minutes on each side because I
get a lot of lazy feeders (premature, bottle feed, or drugged from
birth). This gives her some guidelines to watch the baby and make him
participate in the feedings. Most moms of problem breastfeeders do not
do this well on their own, they have to be shown in-person what good
sucking looks like. And without test weights for problems like poor
weight gain, one can not assume baby is removing anything because some
of these little ones look good but are not removing milk.
Kathy Eng, BSW, IBCLC
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