I, too, go by the rules of "feed the baby", "get the milk supply established" and then work at getting the two together. I am only concerned with the time element of 24 hours. Fifteen-twenty years ago, we did not feed any babies for 24 hours. I encourage early and frequent stimulation of the breast by the baby, but do not really worry about good feeds if the baby is less than two days old (esp if the mom had demerol/meperidine, sim to pethidine). Most of my pediatricians back this. I encourage Kangaroo care, hand expression and not allowing baby to suck on anything else (ie, fingers, pacifiers or bottle nipples). If a baby must be supplemented it should be with cup feeding done properly (ie baby-led). If baby has had some latch (or some formula, as our nurses push it no matter what the peds say), I will not worry for 72 hours, unless there is significant wt loss, minimal wet diapers, minimal meconium or severe jaundice (and I tell my moms that ALL babies lose weight and get yellow, so that they see it as normal, rather than pathological, when the nursing staff "threaten" them with these conditions as a reason for formula). With this approach, the moms do not get so worried, and know WHEN to worry (ie, minimal wets/stools, excessive jaundice or excessive sleepiness). I worry that getting moms to pump when there is a baby available for licking and nuzzling sets them up for making breastfeeding seem like too much work. I have moms in my practice who are nursing longer than 5 years ago, so see this as a good thing overall. Kathy IBCLC RNC in NJ *********************************************** 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