HI Jennifer I think that separating the mother & baby at night would be largely responsible for the large weight losses you are seeing.The baby needs unrestricted access to the breast to make sure supply equals demand.At around 48-72 hours I have observed what I call a feeding frenzy to bring the milk in.Some babies will do it from birth or anytime after if they are big or "wasted",etc.This is often confused with the baby being unsettled or windy in our part of the world & good meaning midwives will take the baby out so mother can rest or give some formula at mothers request because the baby is "starving".This of course mucks the whole thing up.Once we explain it to the mothers ,a lightbulb comes on & they are much more receptive to the constant feeding required. If a baby is separarated from its mother & it's need for food/comfort is'nt met by it's mother, it can go into a sort of self-preservation mode,also called"mammalian protest-despair behaviour".I think the babies dont feed as well after this & seem to lose their way.The mother-infant unit have been disrupted & may need some skin to skin to get it together again.Most babies seem to catch up ok,but some dont for different reasons.This separation can also apparently affect their brain growth,I am just discovering.There is so much more to it than meets the eye.We obviously have inbuilt methods of survival,but just surviving is'nt optimal living . Hope this all makes sense. Anne Fox IBCLC Australia -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web - Check your email from the web at http://mail2web.com/ . *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html