In my upcoming book on attachment parenting, I have a section in my chapter on
sleep entitled "Sleeping Through the Night: Don't Rush It (Yes! You Read That
Correctly!)". In it I give a wide variety of reasons why nighttime nursing is
a natural--*desirable* thing for a baby to do.  From the book:

"Although having a baby sleep on a schedule much like an adult's as early as
possible is frequently touted as inherently desirable, too few parents are
aware of the pluses of "natural nighttime parenting", which includes night-
feedings at least through the first year. In addition to (as we discussed
previously )lowering your baby's risk for SIDS, the positives include:

*Breastfeeding success~ Particularly during the first six months, mother-baby
pairs who cut out all night feedings risk compromising their milk supply. Many
breastfeeding mothers have been baffled to find their milk drying up "for no
good reason" after they listened to misinformed advice and refused to feed
their infants during the night.

*Healthier babies~Babies have a momentous amount of growing to do during the
first year. Left to their own devices, virtually all healthy babies will seek
at least one feeding during the nighttime hours. During growth spurts --when
they need extra calories-- or during illness, when babies instinctively seek
out their mother's protective antibodies-- they may nurse more often at night.
Clearly, their little bodies need this nighttime nursing to continue to
develop brain capacity, gain weight, and thrive. One of the best-known
remedies for a baby who isn't gaining weight adequately is to tell the mother
to take the baby to bed with her and nurse, nurse, nurse!!!

*Night-nursing significantly delays the return of menstruation and fertility~
Breastfeeding during the night plays an important role in suppressing
ovulation in nursing mothers. When breastfeeding is more concentrated during
the daytime hours, as opposed to being spread out over a full twenty-four
hours, women are much more likely to see the speedy return of their menstrual
periods.


*Night-nursing reduces a new mother's risk of developing engorgement or
mastitis~ Particularly during the first six months or so of a breastfed baby's
life, attempting to abruptly cut out night nursings can lead to painful
engorgement and even mastitis in new mothers. Your lactating breasts need to
be drained regularly in order to stay healthy. Any changes in nursing
frequency should take place very gradually for maximum maternal comfort. Not
coincidentally, your baby will gradually begin sleeping longer and longer
stretches without any special efforts on your part, as this is her natural
sleep pattern as a growing human.

*Night feedings are a special time~ Late at night, when you are tenderly
rocking your nursing baby in your arms or cradling her beside you in your bed,
you will experience some truly memorable moments with your child. With a
hushed household around you and moonlight streaming in the window, you may
feel that the two of you are the only people awake on earth. Mothers of older
children have very warm memories of this quiet nighttime nurturing.

*Nighttime feedings can help working mothers with breastfeeding~ Mothers who
are separated from their nurslings during the daytime hours often find
nighttime feedings to be an important element of breastfeeding success.
Although pumping while on the job or at school is essential to keeping supply
up, nighttime feedings give your baby a chance for skin-to-skin nursing, thus
stimulating the hormonal support for breastfeeding ,and keeping your baby "in
practice" so that he is less likely to begin to prefer a bottle to you."


Katie Allison Granju
Knoxville, TN
http://www.wearsthebaby.com/katiegranju.htm