Jan said:

"And, while I'm on the topic, why do we tell mothers to "wake your  baby and feed him every two hours."  We don't do that to tiny babies in the  NICU, for pity's sake.  Why are we trying to do that to full term or late  preterm infants?  When are they supposed to sleep???"

I have quite a problem with this, but on the opposite side - grandmas often tell the mom not to wake a sleepy and severely jaundiced baby for feeds, because babies grow while they sleep. 

While this can certainly be true, the baby needs nurishment too. And if tiny babies in the NICU could be gavage-fed without waking them, as if they are still in mom's womb and getting all they need form the umbilical cord, it is not the same with the late preterm who is not kept s2s (as are almost 101% of the babies I see, since nobody thinks nil about s2s in every darn hospital in my country). In the 9 BFH we have s2s is practiced as having a (pretty wrapped) baby on mom's chest in the opening of her hospital gown for about 10 min after birth.

And when I suggest moms do s2s, they miiiight just do 5 min s2s before feeds and then tell me "but the baby doesn't wake up, it just snuggles and sleeps on".

So - in this instances I prefer to tell mom how and how often to wake a sleepy baby so said baby can get milk too.

Sorry for the rant - it was not meant personal, it is just plain frustration about all the circumstances that make us do thing that are not natural to help get out of a non-natural situation and hopefully return to normal at some point. Although 2 wrongs almost never make 1 right... still the baby is being fed, which always comes first, doesn't it? 

Christina Yaneva
BF Peer Councellor
Bulgaria


      

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