One thing no one has mentioned yet is the risk of even checking heelsticks
in term normal healthy low-risk newborns.  True story:  Mom gives birth in
small rural hospital. (Term, healthy, etc.)  Baby gets 2-hr heelstick read
as "low."  Their protocol (several years ago) said to start IV of D5W.
Tired, overworked nurse started IV of D50W by mistake.  Baby's glucose
didn't get rechecked for a couple of hours because unit very busy and
nurses overworked.  Baby seized and got brain hemorrhage from having
glucose of 1200 (!)  Much more intervention now needed, etc. And baby had
some developmental delays.
 Incidentally, this baby was breastfed, albeit probably not soon enough
after birth, because of very baby-unfriendly policies at that hospital at
the time.  Had mom been left to do what she wanted to do (breastfeed
immediately after birth, have no tests or interventions), none of this
would've happened.
Just one example where "First do no harm" didn't prevail.

Becky Saenz, MD, IBCLC

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