LACTNET Archives

Lactation Information and Discussion

LACTNET@COMMUNITY.LSOFT.COM

Options: Use Forum View

Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
"katherine a. dettwyler" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 11 Jan 1996 13:27:42 -0600
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (31 lines)
Jonathan Kramer writes:

>Are we both talking about the same thing?  I suggested letting dad feed EBM
>for the overnight feeding, after 6 - 8 weeks.  Do you really think one
>bottle a day after BF is firmly established is a threat to the mom-baby
relationship?  I would have considered it a way to help it, by letting mom
sleep through the night. (As, it turned out, it wasn't a problem for my
wife, who learned fairly quickly to nurse in bed without really waking up.)

I'd like to chime in that it is unrealistic to expect a baby of 6-8 weeks to
only nurse once during the night.  Bottle-fed babies may do OK on a 4 hour
schedule, and if mom bottle-feeds at 10 pm and dad is willing to give the 2
am bottle to let mom sleep and then mom bottle-feeds again at 6 am, then dad
is doing mom a favor, I suppose.

But in a breastfeeding relationship, when baby is cuddled up next to mom in
bed, following her sleep patterns in what we know is the "normal" way for
mothers and babies to interact physiologically, baby will nurse many times a
night for many months, even waking several times a night to nurse until the
age of two years and beyond.  We should not be encouraging babies to sleep
in four hour stretches at night at this age, because of the risk of SIDS.

Kathy Dettwyler, President
James McKenna Fan Club
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------
Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email: [log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352

ATOM RSS1 RSS2