In many cultures around the world, the infant does not suckle from the
mother for the first few days.  A variety of other feeding methods are
employed -- often another mother who has an older child (one whose "regular
milk" has come in) will nurse the child for the first two or three days.
Other times, the child is given water or special herbal teas thought to
clean out the intestines and "open the stomach" for the breast milk.  The
vast majority of these babies seem to do fine.  In some cultures, women just
express a few drops of colostrum to "clean out the nipple" and assume that
gets rid of the problem, so the baby is then put to the breast.  The mothers
may do this for the first several days, then stop.  If the women in the U.S.
in these situations have no one in their support group of family and friends
to help them, then they should probably be given extra support from the
hospital/doctor/LLL group/lactation consultant, but I suspect not being
allowed anything for a day might be preferable to using bottles and
pacifiers, with their attendant risk of nipple confusion.  In my work with
mothers in Mali, I always try a simple, straightforward explanation -- in
this case, explaining that the colostrum is good for the baby, and why the
baby's suckling in that first day or two helps the baby's immune system and
why it also helps bring in the mother's milk.
        I really admire those of you in the trenches, helping moms to
breastfeed!
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Katherine A. Dettwyler                                email:
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Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352