Good evening all,
I have a question I get quite frequently from my personal clients and my WIC
clients.  They call me and tell me that at the end of the evening their
babies nurse for extended periods of time (up to 1.5 hrs), but when taken off
the breast they scream and cry.  Mom then thinks that baby is still starving
(the word the mom uses) and give the baby a bottle of formula.   The baby
stops crying and goes to sleep.  Why is this?  I realize that formula is
heavier and takes longer to digest than BM and this is what I tell my
clients.  I reccomend that instead of the formula, they put baby to breast
and let baby nurse 'till s/he comes off on own, then to burp and offer the
other breast and let baby nurse 'till s/he comes off on own.  The moms say
that it only happens at night time.  Most of my moms don't want to use the
formula, but are concerned that they can't give baby enough.  I try to
explain to them that the breasts are lees full of milk towards the end of the
day (this is what I was told by an LC here) so the nursings may be longer,
but that baby is still getting plenty of milk as long as mom lets baby
control the length of time the baby feeds.
Any advice or info as to why these babies seem to cry as if starving at night
then go to sleep after a bottle of formula?  Am I giving correct info and
advice to these moms?  Does this happen to anyone else out there, and how do
you handle it?
TIA!!
Janet
LC in Training!!  :)