Dear all:

Rachel's post about the timing of feedings made me realize how much I am grateful that I 
went into Peace Corps.  I still really praise those women in NorthEast Congo (then Zaire) 
that taught me more about mothering (both good and bad) than I ever learned growing up 
in the United States.  Babies almost never set foot on the ground until they were old 
enough to send on errands for you.  So, by the time I got back and did my Masters, the 
information that infants fed 8-12 times a day seemed completely normal --- and that they 
did this for a very long time.  I must have been looking mostly at data from developing 
countries.  I really don't think that babies drop numbers of feedings in a normal setting.  I 
remember not being able to get any differences in frequency of feedings when I did my 
doctoral research from Guatemala ---- and that was with infants feeding well into the 
second year of life.  

It is only since becoming a lactation consultant that I have started to hear information 
about feeding less frequently --- from opinion based sources.  Since I came from a 
research background I keep wondering "where did this come from?"  I now actually make 
sure to tell  mothers that four times a day is NOT normal and may be a set up for obesity 
because I've had too many moms call at three months with a beautiful supply that 
disappeared from this style of feeding.

It always makes me recall this old movie called "the Group".  Its been probably 20 or 30 
years since I saw the movie about a group of intellectual women that went to college 
together and how their lives got messed up afterward.  One of the women had two boys 
(can't remember if they were twins) and she was a haggard mess because her husband 
was a doctor and insisted on some sort of regimented routine for her boys (which clearly 
wasn't working for her).  I'll have to rewatch the movie.

Both my aunts really are now appalled at what they were told when they were in their 
late teens and early twenties having babies.  If they could both go back in time, they 
would have ignored the scheduling advice.  I know one of my aunts probably would have 
nursed all her boys until age 6.

Best, Susan.

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