Please help - friend trying to schedule feedings for 5 month old

[Hannah'sMommy]

Our friends have a 5 month son, and she's trying to schedule his feedings, not letting him nurse more frequently than every 4 hours. To try to satisfy him in between, she'll give him solids (mostly cereal)... I'm sure that she has the best intentions, but I just felt so bad for the little guy. I'm sure he just wanted moms milk, but she wouldn't let him since it had only been 3 hours. I want to kindly and gently suggest to her that he should still be nursing on demand at that age, but I don't want to offend her. I'm usually not a proponent of interfering on how other people parent, but I'm kind of wondering if she got some misinformation. Maybe based on giving formula and how formula lasts longer than breastmilk and how they shouldn't "need" to eat more than every 4 hours

So, I was looking on Kellymom for some information on how they should be nursing on demand, not scheduling, etc. But I couldn't find it. Can anyone point me to some good links for information for her? Also, how would you approach it without offending them?

[SophieAnn]

Here's some information on Kellymom about breastfeeding on a schedule:
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns....html#schedule

Other than that, I don't have any suggestions for you, but I'm sure you'll get some good advice. I do agree with how you're feeling and would also be very concerned for this babe, but I'm not sure what I would do in this situation.

[TerraNoelle]

Here's some various links from LLLi

https://www.llli.org/NB/NBJulAug03p126.html
http://www.llli.org/ba/May99.html

Is she open to hearing these things? I know it can be tough when a friend wants to do this, knowing that it's not good for the infant. And the solids should only be for practice generally aft 6 months and to the first year of life, NOT a big portion of their nutriton.

[Hannah'sMommy]

Thanks! I'm not sure if he's open to hearing these things or not... I haven't yet decided if or how I'm going to mention it to her. I wanted the sites to refer her to if she has questions... I just felt so awkward yesterday when we were at their house with other friends, and she just wouldn't nurse him even though he was obviously hungry and upset, so he got cereal instead. Would you guys say something? I don't want to get her upset at me, but again, I'm wondering if the feeding less often thing is based on what she's heard for formula fed babies. He is a healthy baby, and maybe there is some other reason why she's stretching the times out...

[Megan73]

Hmm. I wonder if she's stretching out feedings because some uninformed person (in my case a NURSE told me this, luckily I knew it was bunk!) said that then she'd "have more milk." Five months would be a common time for a mom to think she doesn't have enough milk.
So I'd gently try to find out WHY she's denying the breast. It may be a simple misunderstanding of the way supply and demand works in breastfeeding that you can easily clear up!