I note the concerns of Jacquie in New Zealand and Rachel in Norway about
the routine supplementation of newborns on the flimsiest of excuses. You
have both wondered why.

Unfortunately, we are up against a long cultural history of early
supplementation. In living memory, in the 1960s and 1970s supplementation
was given in the belief that colostrum wasn't enough (measuring it against
the perceived "norm" of artificial feeding). In Europe in the eighteenth
century(1, 2) and - in England at least - into the first three decades of
the nineteenth century (3), colostrum was withheld and a variety of other
foods given, either for several days or for the first 24 hours. In the
intervening years, this suspicion hasn't gone away. Often, this suspicion
of inadequacy was applied at any time during the period when the mother was
breastfeeding, not just in the first few days, as generations of
advertising messages reflected (4).

Health staff still don't understand about the comfortable stomach capacity
of newborns and that colostrum falls into the "Goldilocks zone": not too
much, not too little, and just right. (Since astrophysicists use the
"Goldilocks zone" image in another context, I see it as a good metaphor for
my purpose here.) In the settings in which you work, it looks as if the
criterion for supplementation is - in effect - being alive and breathing!

References are below. Just scroll down.

Virginia

Dr Virginia Thorley, OAM, PhD, IBCLC, FILCA
Cultural historian of the history of medicine
Ipswich, Queensland, Australia

References:
1) Cadogan W. An essay upon nursing, and the management of children, from
their birth to three years of age. By a physician.  1748: London, J.
Roberts.
2) Rosen von Rosenstein  N. Graire des maladies des enfants. (French
trans), 1778: Paris: Chez Pierre-Guillaume Cavallier. [Originally published
in Swedish in 1771.]
3) Smith FE. The people's health. London: Croom Helm, 1979.
4) Thorley V. PhD thesis. University of Queensland, 2007.

Jacquie Nutt wrote:
 I must be missing something, but I cannot think of a single reason why a
baby would NEED to be supplemented in the first 48 hours if s/he was going
to the breast at least occasionally..... Is there one single medical reason
for a
health professional to advise formula supplements for a breastfed baby on
Day 1 or 2? ....  the number of babies who come out of the
hospital having been supplemented within the first couple of hours, even
when the mums committed fully to exclusive breastfeeding in antenatal
classes.  The reasons for "medically advised" supplements include, "your
baby is cold", "your baby is too small", "your baby is too big"....

             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome