Study: Breast Feeding No Better Than Bottle Feeding For Kids’ Health

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58. My poor daughter in law tried and tried to breastfeed

She was up every 2 hours for weeks, determined to do it. The baby didn't gain weight, got jaundiced (which is a known phenomenon among breastfed babies) and fell off the growth curve. Finally, her pediatrician told her to use the bottle.

Within 2 weeks that baby was gaining weight and sleeping 4 hours at a time. Now the baby's a healthy, chunky darling and mom isn't going psychotic from sleep deprivation.

So yeah. If you can breastfeed, that's great. But if you can't, then do what you need to do for baby to keep growing.

In caveman days, babies were raised in communities, and if a woman couldn't produce enough milk, there was probably some other nursing mother with a little extra. But today, there aren't any wet nurses handy, and if you don't have enough breast milk, your baby could starve if you don't supplement.

Breastfeeding and jaundice: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000995.htm