feeding frenzy

Eddie is officially a boob man. To say that breastfeeding has been easy for us is a partially correct statement - yes, he has a good latch, and yes, I didn't experience any painful engorgement, and yes, he is eating well - the visit to the pediatrician on Monday confirmed this as he is not only back to his birth weight, but has gained some weight too, weighing 7 lbs. 8 ozs. now. But the doubt and concern that races through a mother's mind as she is constantly attending to her newborn, appeasing his requests and signals of hunger - rooting, hands to mouth and fussing - with the presence of the boob has been growing these past few days and heeding advice from others ceases to quell the nerves and questioning. Some people say one breast per feeding, no matter if it takes 15 minutes or 60, and some say switch breasts every 15-20 minutes. Little Eddie often feeds for over an hour, relishing in the process like a true gourmand and at times it seems like all he wants is to be attached to my breast and nothing else can soothe him...I have become a human nipple. Finally this morning I picked up a book that provided some much needed comfort for my analytical mind - it is called "Breastfeeding Made Simple" by Nancy Mohrbacher and was a gift from my cousin Annie (thanks Annie!). The book explains several concepts that I think are key to understanding why a newborn is so needy and why what I am experiencing is not only "normal" but healthy. First, a human newborn is the most immature of all mammals - we are born before the brain has time to mature because of the relative size of the brain (large) to the pelvis (small) which is all due to the fact that we are upright creatures - this I had heard before and makes sense, explaining that the first 6 weeks of life are truly more like an extensive of in utero and we must mimic the womb in order to soothe the baby. But then she explains how humans fall under the category of "carry mammals," akin to kangaroos and apes, meaning that the infant, due to its immaturity, must literally be held and kept in skin-to-skin contact and must feed often due to our levels of protein and fat in milk - this differs from nesting, follow and cache mammals like dogs, cows and deer. So the whole attachment that I have been experiencing with Eddie makes sense. Secondly she explains how breastfeeding is not about a schedule which one can regulate or control, but more like ebbs and flows, and that your baby dictates it. So if he wants to feed 24/7 so be it. This is hard to accept in our culture and day and age of timetables and business...it is easy to think that a newborn would have a set eating and sleeping schedule and also to think that as parents you can dictate this, but once you understand that developmentally they are still like fetuses, you soon realize that to hold them to such standards is a bit ridiculous and naive. So for now we will just accept the feeding frenzy, and relish in this time of postpartum when all an infant needs is his parents. There is some comfort in this, knowing that life will change dramatically relatively quickly and before long he will be independent and defiant...and the doubt of parenthood will continue.