I am writing in
response to an article posted in your “What’s News?” section of your March
edition under the title of “Frequent Feeding Linked To Sleep
Problems.”
I would like to disagree with comments and assertions made within this
article as it implies that a child who feeds >11 times a day in the first
week is a “Problem child with a possible sleep disorder to follow”. To suggest
that a mother feed her newborn less is not only dangerous but also abusive
towards the child.
Ian St James-Robertson in his research suggests that with some “Behaviour
Program” techniques, it’s possible to change the Childs sleeping patterns at
12 weeks. His research recognised “differences in sleep behaviour” and he then
labelled this a “sleep problem”. This is akin to suggesting that babies with
different coloured hair have a “hair problem”. Evidence shows that it is
normal development to wake during the night. While it may seem attractive to
control your child’s sleeping patterns it is not to the benefit of the child
but the adult.
In the February issue of Archives of Childhood Disease, the British
researchers identified “high-risk” infants and say the main reason why
3-month-old infants don't sleep through the night is that they are fed too
often during their first week of life. Many experts would strenuously disagree
that any problem exists and therefore should not be treated as a problem,
including the American Academy of Paediatrics.
Experts such as the AAP recommends eight to 12 breastfeeding’s within 24
hours, and other experts say up to 15 feedings is perfectly normal and
healthy.
Ian suggests that adopting a
behavioural program, parents will be able to increase the likelihood that
their baby sleeps through the night."
Of the 600 babies studied, one-third of the babies were enrolled in a
program in which their parents were assisted by a team of Advanced Practise
Nurses in their homes to deliver the program. In addition to delaying feedings
when the baby awoke at night, "they were asked to settle a baby judged to be
asleep in a cot or similar place, and to avoid feeding or cuddling the child
to sleep at night," says St. James-Roberts.
At 12 weeks, there was an increase in the number of infants that slept
through in the ‘Program’ group compared to that of the other 2 unsupported
groups.
Again this result was sharply criticised due to the strategies involved and
if at all real benefit would favour the infant.
James McKenna, PhD, Director of the Mother- Baby Sleep Laboratory /
University of Notre Dame, argues that to assume that a child “should” sleep
through at 12 weeks is to disregard what is really normal, healthy human
infant behaviour. “ It's akin to blaming the victim for the crime."
McKenna believes that the human biological evidence suggests that babies at
that age do not sleep the night - and they shouldn't. “The behavioural program
suggested by these researchers is in complete contradiction to what we now
known as healthy for babies."
In his research, McKenna found that many breast-fed babies consume up to 15
feedings in a 24-hour period -- and typically gain weight and grow faster when
sleeping in the same bed with their mother. "Their average breastfeed is not
only more in frequency but greater in duration," he says. "And the notion of
not cuddling babies at night is ludicrous. Babies not only depend on breast
milk for growth, but also more importantly, they depend on contact, touching
and affection. When the natural care giving tendency of the mother is
suspended by thinking that this is in the best interest of baby is extremely
appalling."
Nancy Wight, MD, a lactation expert and AAP spokeswoman, also maintains
that infants should not be sleeping through the night well past 12 weeks.
"Even at one year, a baby should be waking up if he's breastfed," she
explained. "Breast milk is emptied from the stomach in about one-and-a-half
hours, while formula takes about three hours. These researchers' definition of
a sleep disorder - the baby waking up throughout the night - is in complete
error. And not only that, it's against natural tendencies. Eleven feedings in
a 24-hour period or even more is absolutely normal."
I believe that this research purports a 'solution to a problem' that is not
the baby's problem – the problem is with a lack of education, information and
support for the mothers and families. This is also a cultural problem. Normal
infant feeding and sleeping behaviours are highly individual. Infants who are
somewhat more 'high maintenance' because they have higher feeding frequencies
and less total sleep time are still normal." Babies are all different.
Darren
Sunn
