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Home › Articles › Issues for Mom › Right On Cue

Right On Cue

Can You Breastfeed on a Schedule?

By Gwen Morrison

Pages:  1  2  3  4  

"New mothers who are unaware that this is normal often wrongly assume that they don't have enough milk,"  Mohrbacher says. "What's important during this period is not that babies go two to three hours between feedings, but that babies get the right number of feedings overall."

The AAP states that the normal amount of feedings per day means that Baby should have eight to 12 feedings every 24 hours. The best way to accomplish the necessary amount of feedings is to practice 'on cue' feeding.

"Fortunately, once babies grow, the period of cluster feeding ends, and they tend to naturally settle into a more regular feeding pattern," Mohrbacher says. "As Penelope Leach, a noted British baby expert, says, 'Over time the behaviors that drive parents crazy change, but they do so when and only when the infant's physiology has matured to the point that she is a settled baby rather than a newborn. The we-must-do-something approach is likely to prolong the process, as well as make it more painful for both parents and infants'."

Got Milk?
"One feeding schedule will never be right for all mothers and babies because of individual differences," Mohrbacher says. "One difference that research has only begun to explore is 'breast storage capacity', which is the amount of milk a mother's breasts can store beteen feedings."

Mohrbacher explains that a woman with a large storage capacity, which may or may not be related to breast size, may be able to space out feedings comfortably because she can store more milk in her breasts without feeling full between nursing sessions. "Full breasts signal the body to decrease milk production as well as put mothers at risk for plugged ducts and mastitis," she says. "Also, because the mother with a large storage capacity has more milk in her breasts, her baby can take more at a feeding, keeping him comfortable for longer stretches."


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