February 23, 2009
Ezzo’s Dangerous Breastfeeding Schedules
As with everything in life, there’s a way to breastfeed that is safe and effective, and a way to do it that is dangerous. What makes the Ezzo “Babywise” breastfeeding schedule potentially dangerous is that while it seems to work for some babies, for others it could possibly cause serious harm, in the form of dehydration and weight loss.
What is the Babywise feeding schedule? It is part of the advice given in the book On Becoming Babywise: Giving Your Infant The Gift of Nighttime Sleep, by Gary Ezzo. You can read about the feeding schedule here. To summarize it, babies are expected to sleep all night long and also have 4 hours between feedings during the day. This type of feeding practice is completely unrealistic and unnatural for most babies.
Pediatricians Disagree With Scheduling
The American Association of Pediatrics (APA) warns against scheduled breastfeeding and advises parents to breastfeed “on demand.” In other words, feed when your babies act hungry, before they are crying. Sucking fingers, rooting and increased alertness indicate hunger. Here is a quote from the APA in from press release dated April 20, 1998:
The AAP has always advocated breastfeeding as the optimal form of nutrition for infants, and in December 1997, the AAP issued its latest recommendations about breastfeeding infants. The policy statement says, “Newborns should be nursed whenever they show signs of hunger, such as increased alertness or activity, mouthing, or rooting. Crying is a late indicator of hunger. Newborns should be nursed approximately eight to 12 times every 24 hours until satiety … In the early weeks after birth, undemanding babies should be aroused to feed if 4 hours have elapsed since the last nursing.”
For Those Who Have To Schedule
If you must schedule, breastfeed once every hour or two hours during the day, based on your milk supply and the child’s weight gain and growth charts. Wake 3 times per night to breastfeed at 10pm, 1am, and 5am (between 1am and 5 am your milk production is at it’s most abundant.) During growth spurts, be sure to nurse every half hour during the day while your infant is awake. During growth spurt naps, nurse once every hour. Breastfed infants should put on more weight than similar length formula fed infants for at least the first 3 months.
The Missing Link
Do you know what the Ezzo schedule misses? Those subtle baby words made with quiet baby body language; sucking on a fist, rooting at a blanket, squirms and little whimpers. What a precious opportunity to show Baby that you understand that she’s talking to you and asking for help. It’s a moment to bond while there is still so little you can say to each other with words or other forms of affection and comforting. These moments aren’t just beautiful, they are the time you take teaching them the languages of love and eye-gazing. It’s time for trust and confidence. The more frequently you breastfeed in response to her hints, the more frequently you cuddle, comfort, soothe and communicate with your newest friend, as a maternal ambassador for God and humanity.
More Information
If you know someone who is reading On Becoming Babywise: Giving Your Infant The Gift of Nighttime Sleep, or considering using the Ezzo breastfeeding scheduling method yourself, here is a brochure about the dangers of the method that you can read and share with your friends. You can download it by clicking here. Also, consider getting my video, Breastfeeding: Mother-to-Mother where I have a special segment on why you should not schedule feedings, if possible. You can watch that portion of my video for free on YouTube where it is currently the #2 most watched educational video of all time with over ten million views. See it here.
And please leave a comment below. Your feedback is important to me.
Filed under Breastfeeding Education, Breastfeeding Techniques by Jessica
Comments on Ezzo’s Dangerous Breastfeeding Schedules »
I have never heard of this method before and as desperate I am for sleep, I certainly won’t be doing it either. The only thing I have changed from child #1 to child #2 is with #1, I breastfed her pretty much whenever she was hungry, showing signs of hungry or being fussy. I learned that breastfeeding cured all, but I think I put her on the breast a bit too much and didn’t allow her the opportunity to learn other ways for self soothing. This time, I feed him and soothe him every couple of hour round the clock, but if I have fed him recently, I often will try other means of settling first before resorting to the breast.
Just keep in mind that when a baby cries hard, their blood sugar drops, so there’s nothing wrong with breastfeeding to soothe a fussy child. But of course be sure to also check for any other needs they might have as well.
Thank you for sharing this with new mommas. I was in this teaching back in the 90’s and I thought it was crazy then and I have talked a lot of parents out of this. The Ezzo’s were very off in their teaching. Again Thank you!
hi! Mothers should let be taken by intincts. Do what they feel. I’m a 9 months old baby’s mother and I’d be surprised any time I visited the doctor, she asked me if a only breastfed my baby, ’cause she was gaining weight very well. How she was asking me that? Had she prescribed some sort of milk? No! And better she didn’t ’cause my baby turn out to be cow’s milk protein alergic. So, I conclude that I did well breastfeeding my baby any time she needed. My milk production was enough to her, to grow healthy.
First of all – did anyone ever think that a baby might be THIRSTY. Sometimes my sweet baby will nurse well and then 30 minutes to an hour he will drink for a minute or two and be done. I think he’s thirsty.
Babies actually end up with failure to thrive and some even die from this barbaric form of “childcare.” Google it! The Ezzos are disgusting and cruel. It’s common sense to eat when we ourselves are hungry and sometimes that may mean we snack throughout the day, at other times we may go hours without food. Every body is different, every day is different. I can’t imagine letting my baby cry like they suggest. The thought hurts deeply in my soul….to imagine that some babies exhaust themselves crying with their mothers on the other side of the door crying as well. Ridiculous!!
The Ezzos are on some kind of weird power trip.
YES – a baby will control your life. It does not last forever. One day they will be grown and gone and we will remember this time in our lives and think it did not last very long at all. Our homes will be quiet and spotless. We will get what we want, time for ourselves, freedom, no messes. If we are *lucky*, our grandchildren will come to us and leave their fingerprints on the glass and crumbs on the kitchen floor.
Enjoy your babies now.
Hold them when they cry. Comfort them. Feed them. Quench their thirst.
What’s wrong with that and why would anyone choose to listen to a sad baby calling out for the love of his mother and choose to ignore that plea!? I am 36 and get lonely and sad and feel lost and scared, this is when I need my best friend – why should I expect my baby to be above that?! Why should my baby have to comfort himself ALL the time when I myself do not ALL the time.
Sometimes we all just need to be loved.
You are absolutely right… When you feed on a schedule, you are missing those precious bonding opportunities. As much as I longed for sleep during those first few months, I cherish those middle of the night/early morning feedings. All the little cues and body language that went along with it! You learn so much more about how to communicate with your child and let them know you want to hear them. The way I see it, they grow so fast, why rush the time away. Enjoy every precious moment! I do agree with Multi tasking mama about the self soothing, but once again, I think you can learn to distinguish between the desire to “chew” or suckle and the desire for your baby to want to eat by nursing on demand and learning their body language!
Breastfeeding goes way beyond a food source. Books like Baby Wise cheapen the point of the whole experience. Are you going to follow what ever a book says for the rest of your child’s life… no- you will learn what kind of child they are…what their needs are and how to respond accordingly. Why not do that from the beginning!
Thank you ladies for your thoughtful posts. A thought just ocurred to me now:
In those early days, I would wake up to nurse a hungry baby and find a full diaper that needed changing. Letting the baby sleep all night without a nursing break could lead to baby sleeping in a dirty diaper, and that could lead to diaper rash. So there’s yet another reason take care of the baby during the night when they want you.
And Karen, I agree that babies do get thirsty, especially when it’s summer or the house is hot. They can’t just go get a drink of water after all. And giving them a bottle of water just because you think they are thirsty could lead to supressing their hunger and failure to thrive. What is really neat, is that when a mother sweats from the heat, it stimulates her milk supply and allows for more watery foremilk to quench the baby’s thirst.
All so true!
And yes, I’m sure babies do get thirsty, especially after crying so much. Makes a lot of sense.
First I want to thank you Jessica for sending me this email.I’m totaly disagree with Ezzo’s breastfeeding because it is something unnatural.And I think we mustn’t schedul breastfeed’but let it as it is…
The cultural residue Ezzo an the like leave long after their direct influence fades is palpable and terrible. We are now at a point in our culture when breastfeeding is becoming the norm. And at this point it is essential to get both correct information and accomodation. Ezzo’s information is easy to dispell, but their lack of accomodation. Breastfeeding is commonly discourged when percieved to be a source of stress, even if the perception is questionable. There is no winding back the clock once breastfeeding is abandoned. And this, to Ezzo standards, is no real loss. This is antiquaited thinking with no basis in modern research or regard for mother and child.
I speak as a mother who breastfed all three of her children. Breastfeeding is probably one of the
most powerful acts, after pregnancy, the female body performs. Schedules, rules and outdated science have no place and serve no purpose here.
Reading the comments above makes me realise how ignorant many people can be. Obviously, none of you have read the Babywise book. One of the golden rules that Garry Ezzo writes is that “if baby is hungry then feed baby”. Sure, he advises people to stick to a 2.5 to 3 hour feeding schedule but he keeps pushing the fact that if your baby shows signs of hunger then feed baby no matter what part of the schedule you are in. What his scheduled feeds are trying to do is get parents to use their common sense and understand why their baby is crying. Babies can only communicate by crying so crying to them may mean a soiled nappy, they are too hot or cold, they are tired as well as they may be hungry. So feeding baby every time they cry is not going to solve all these problems. Babywise just advises parents to assess the situation and think about the different reasons why baby is upset. If baby has just had a feed then most likely the cry is not a hunger cry. It is not a practice that deprives a baby of food. Before people comment they should know the full story to avoid looking ignorant and foolish.