Rachel Myr wrote:
>With any diagnostic test, no exceptions, it's a good idea to ask yourself
before deciding to do the test, how will the result influence the way I
handle this case?  If you can't think of a single one, or, and some might
find this provocative, if the result might make you change from a treatment
you have every reason to believe in and want to use, to something you really
don't want to use, then you ought to ask yourself why you are doing the test
at all.  At best you are wasting your time and the time of whoever will
analyze the test.  At worst you could be groundlessly sowing doubt about the
normalcy of something that is exactly as it should be.  <

Thank you so much, Rachel, for those wise words.
!
I think that as a society we have become obsessed with testing and
measuring. For example, our local schools are becoming so focussed on
*teaching to the test* that the idea of learning just for the love of
it has virtually disappeared.

There are very good reasons for SOME testing but to do so merely
because the test exists does not make sense, and yet from the moment a
women even suspects she is pregnant she is expected to take a huge
barrage of tests to *prove* that all is well - or not. Those of us who
balk at this are looked upon with suspicion. Don't we want the best
for our babies? Don't we want to know everything it is possible to
know about the child before the birth? Don't we want to know exactly
how much milk the baby is getting at each feeding?  Don't we want to
have a week-by-week record of the baby's growth?

No, not necessarily, not unless there is reason to suspect something is amiss.
While there is an important scientific component to human lactation,
breastfeeding remains  an art. Humans (and other mammals!) are all
unique individuals who have been shaped by many factors, and they
should be treated as such.

As the old saying goes, "Watch the baby not the clock!"


Norma Ritter, IBCLC, RLC
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