Some babies don't seem interested initially with no discernable reason.
I describe these as "having no clue the free ride is over and they now
have to work for food".  (That phrase usually puts the patents at
ease.)  I encourage lots of skin-to-skin holding, continue to "offer"
the breast every couple hours (if baby isn't showing any feeding cues)
and LOTS of patience.  In nearly every case, by the next day, the kiddo
has realized he/she is supposed to do something about those sensations
in the tummy and they are nursing like they've been doing it all along.
The problem is when docs and/or nurses get upset and insist that baby be
fed something even in the absence of any specific medical reason-then
there are all kinds of new concerns to deal with.  Luckily, more and
more of our peds are becoming comfortable with "offer, but don't push"
in the cases where there isn't some overriding concern such as
hypoglycemia.  It wasn't that many years ago that babies weren't fed for
the first 24 hours.  While that probably led to some challenges for the
ones that had been interested but were made to wait, I'm sure that many
went on to do just fine.

Winnie

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