In a message dated 3/20/99 6:39:11 PM Central Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< BF - disadvantages (some nipple tenderness, leaking, babies normally
 feed more often than formula fed, cannot see how much they are getting
 and must rely on other means to measure; there are NO known disadv. to
 infant). >>
I have recently started to hate this idea that breastfeeding is hard because
we "cannot see how much they are getting" ... many moms are never told that
there is any way to know how much their breastfed baby is getting. They are
terrified and at a loss. I have begun to tell moms that it is not difficult at
all to tell how a baby is doing, as long as we  look at "both ends of the
baby", at what goes in, ( nursing at breast at least 10-12/24, and what comes
out ( wets/stools ), and that is some ways this is much easier, although
different than bottlefeeding moms are used to. Moms bottlefeeding AIM may
think they know what their babies are getting, but because there is so much
energy spent by the body trying to digest the stuff, and the fact that babies
often spit it back up, there is really no way to know exactly how many usable
calories the baby is getting...
Judy LeVan Fram, Brooklyn, NY