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Subject:
From:
Norma Ritter <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 5 Jun 2000 06:56:12 -0400
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I agree wholeheartedly with the suggestions to let the baby determine the
length of the feeding - watch the baby not the clock!
I would like to add a caveat. It takes a new baby time to learn how to
nurse, up to six weeks, sometimes longer. A new mother may see that her
baby *falls* off the breast after a few minutes and interprets this to
mean that he has finished that side. She will then switch breasts, and
when the same thing happens again, assume that he has drunk all her milk.
Of course, when the baby cries, she worries that all her milk is gone,
and so she is tempted to supplement with abm. You see the problem? We
need to teach the mother of a newborn to continue putting the baby back
to the same breast until he refuses it to make sure he gets a good feed
with plenty of hindmilk before switching to the other side. I really
hesitate to  give numbers with regard to feeding times...I think it is
more useful to count  wet and dirty diapers than minutes at the breast.
Another thing I have noticed is that a lot of new mothers do not know how
milk is made. They do not realize that there is always milk available. I
like to use the analogy of saliva....even if your mouth feels dry, just
smelling something delicious will make it water. In the same way,
breasts are stimulated to produce more milk by nursing (removing more
milk to encourage a greater milk production.)
Oh...one more thing...
Breastfeeding is a lot more than FEEDING. It is a whole way of nurturing
a baby. Babies nurse for many reasons, and they are all valid! It is
practically impossible to overfeed a breastfed baby. You will know when
he is finished because he will stop nursing. It is
as simple as that.

Norma Ritter, IBCLC
private practice in Big Flats, NY
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