>I recently saw a mother with 3 days old baby (36 wk). The mother >thought that breastfeeding was going great, milk came in and she was >feeding every 3 h ( she was instructed to do this way in a hospital >by lactation consultant). >The baby was jaundiced, sleepy and lost 9.5 % from birth weight. A 36-weeker, jaundiced and sleepy on day 3 with this sort of weight loss (would be regarded as WNL in the UK, actually!) is what we'd expect with 3 hourly scheduled feeding. For most babies, this is not enough, and scheduled feeding is *inimical* to happy, effective breastfeeding. This mother may well have had hypoplastic breasts - but the sleepiness and weight loss and lack of effective feeding is *entirely consistent* with the baby simply not feeding often enough. All babies need unlimited skin to skin contact with their mothers, and no separation, and certainly no advice to schedule (ie *limit*) feeding to 3 hourly. What would have happened if instead of supplementing straight away, this mother and baby were encouraged to be together in physical contact all the time, with some informed and observant assessment made of how effectively the baby was transferring milk? Could the situation have been left a couple of days, assuming the baby was basically well (may have needed treatment for jaundice, I know, but this would not effect or interrupt skin to skin)? I am not picking at Maya's assessment - just asking in a spirit of genuine enquiry. I also want to know why someone in practice thinks it's a good idea to 'instruct' a new mother to bf 3 hourly. Can this ever be appropriate? Heather Welford Neil NCT bfc, tutor, UK -- http://www.heatherwelford.co.uk http://heatherwelford.posterous.com *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask] COMMANDS: 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome