I think that just a couple of months ago there was a brief lactnet thread on the UK study 
that found that scheduled feedings (amusingly referred to as "traditional" feeding) yield 
better weight gain than cued feedings.

Karleen points out that the use of mothers' recall is problematic, and would just add my 
anecdotal observations to the mix:  here in North Yorkshire, it seems that every other 
mother I meet has the same story.  She will explain that she started out with exclusive 
breastfeeding, went to the health visitor every week to have her baby weighed, learned 
that her baby was not gaining enough on breastfeeding alone, and then started to 
supplement with formula.  

The overwhelming cultural norm here is to schedule feedings almost from birth, and the 
goal is to have babies sleeping through the night almost from birth as well.  As such, 
from very early on, breastfed babies are allowed to feed only once every three hours and 
then not at all during the night.  Is it any wonder the scales show less than optimal 
growth?  One has to factor in, as well, that many health visitors will recommend 
supplementing with formula even if babies are growing well -- in my case, I was 
encouraged to supplement when my daughter, whose birthweight was in the 50th 
percentile, settled into the 25th percentile a few months later.  She actually had rolls of 
fat on her when this recommendation was made... talk about looking at the scale instead 
of the baby!

Just a longwinded way of saying I am *deeply* suspicious of findings from this country 
linking scheduled breastfeeding with better weight gain.  I am not suprised that someone 
tried to make this case, though, since scheduled feeding seems to be an inexplicably 
dearly held cultural value here. 

Kerry Ose

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