I have never been a person who despised labels, and I’ve always loved words, so I’ve never had a problem with the term “demand feeding.” The way milk production works, after all, is supply and demand. But, I have heard from several people, “Doesn’t demand feeding reward children for being demanding? Isn’t that the opposite of what we are teaching our children?” I am not going there in this post, but if that’s your association and the term makes you squeamish, try “cue feeding.” When your baby gives you hunger cues, you feed them. Same difference, but maybe it will go over better where you are.
Exclusive breastfeeding is another term that can confuse. Generally, it means that an infant’s only nutrition is from breastmilk, no supplements, not even water. Some group other recommendations such as no bottles or no pacifiers into that, but they are just overachievers ;o)
Yeah, I have no problem with the term “demand feeding” and had no idea others did until recently. I don’t mind giving into reasonable demands (like wanting to be fed). ;)
I also would still count it “exclusive breastfeeding” even if some of the breastmilk came from a bottle. Kyrie drank from a bottle a couple of times, and she even had a sip of water here & there before 6 months — but that was it. I still considered her exclusively breastfed until about 9 months when she finally took to solids.
Yes, that’s what I was saying about exclusive breastfeeding :)
Oh, yeah, I know — I was agreeing with you. lol