Comfort/Night Nursing

[lilacblue]

my DD is 6.5 months weighing 21lbs and over 26" long. I had asked the dr. if DD was big for her age (out of curiosity) and the dr. said I should be careful not to use feeding for comfort or DD will associate eating with comfort...therefore when older eating when sad......

Thing is, DD only fed every 3 hours and slept well at night, waking 1-2 until 8am.

When she cut her first tooth a month ago (I thought I/she would never sleep again!!) she began sleeping with me every night. (before that she would go down in cradle and I would bring to bed at 4am when she fed) Since the teething it seems feeding and sleeping has changed noticeably.

My point: She has cut a second tooth and I have noticed her fussing and needing/wanting to nurse more often at night. (and during the last few daytimes feedings too) . So the dr's warning is ringing in my ears.

What do you think?? Thanks!

[ewe+lamb]

There is so much more to breastfeeding than nutrition - the breast provides many many wonderful things for your baby, at the moment she is teething and probably in a lot of pain, I'm sure you know that teething starts long before the tooth comes through, feeding your child and giving her the comfort she needs also reassures her that you are there to help her through difficult times just as you would be when she falls and scrapes her knee or comes off her bike for the first time - there is no difference, breastfed children are generally not overweight or comfort eaters they are children who have been reassured and who grow up to be independent confident children, there is alot of good reading on this and Dr Sears and Dr Gonzales are great reads when touching on this subject, Drs can sometimes make comments that undermine us not only to our children and partners but to ourselves, I'm not sure if they mean to do it but it happens so tread carefully - in fact it happened to me yesterday and boy did I go on a guilt trip! Rest assured that what you are doing has come naturally to you nursing your child is a normal everyday occurance and should be treated like that, be careful not to ask for your drs approval or opinion take the medical information that you need but you are the parent who knows her child best.