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| Sorry to butt in again, but just a few thoughts on the above: this advice I guess can work with bottlefeeding because it is very easy to see how much the baby drank. With breastfeeding it is nearly impossible to tell. Some babies can fill their stomach in 5 minutes, others need much more than 15.
It also changes with age. Older babies (six months and more) rarely just eat at the breast, they are often restless and distracted because they look around and play while eating.
So while having some degree of predictability can reassure parents, introducing such strict a routine may become a source of endless frustration.
My two children taught me that the only predictable thing about them was fickleness. | |
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I think the point is, reading all the posts above, is that there is no wrong or right way to do anything regarding a baby, not only breastfeeding.
Nearly every poster above has got a different experience and different way of dealing with it. If introducing a structure relaxes the parents then relaxed parents normally mean a relaxed baby. If feeding the baby whenever he whimpers works for another parent then that is fine, too.
Advice should only be followed if it applies to you, which might sound a bit odd, but I think if a mother tries to copy what other parents have done because you are told (or frightened into believing) that it will have a detrimental effect on the baby that can't be good for anyone.
I think we should stick to just recounting our experiences to help the OP and anyone else having issues with breastfeeding. Some of the experiences and/or solutions might fit and help and some might not.
I think half the trouble I had with "over-frazzled" moments with my newborn was because I kept reading or being told about all sorts of things that could go wrong which didn't really help with my confidence.