One great source is BREASTFEEDING: BIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVES edited by
Patricia Stuart-Macadam and our own Katherine Dettwyler. (a must for every
IBCLC) publishers Aldine de Gruyter, Hawthorne, NY.

I usually explain that moms and babies have been breastfeeding for over 2
years since time immemorial (see old testament) and that usually babies
over 2 are nursing not for nourishment but for calming and love - don't we
all wish we could find such a quick fix - and as a side benefit baby is
getting immunities equivalent to those in colostrum.

Of course a child in the hospital would be breastfeeding much more often
just because of the stress of the situation which would make the nurses
observe an "excessively dependent" child.  I try to remind them that we
learned early in our nursing school that people in hospital are usually not
at their best and we need to accept and work with them where they are
rather than try to change them (unless the behavior is aggravating the
health problem such as a diabetic who is eating too much sugar).

It is interesting how we feel that in the SHORT hospital stays we still try
to "fix" everything and everyone to meet our own ideas of what is right.

Jeanette Panchula, BSW, RN, IBCLC, LLLL
mailto:[log in to unmask]
Project Director - Proyecto Lacta - Puerto Rico
http://netdial.caribe.net/~prlacta/
Lactancia Materna '98 - La Mejor Inversion