Debbie I hope you don't mind hearing from me too, but I always give parents an idea of stool volume. You are so right that often they are counting little smears on the diaper. I say 4 or more yellow stools per 24 hr day that are the size of a full teaspoon or more. My coworker says 3 or more tablespoon size stools. I also talk about the wet diapers. Many moms can't tell if the super absorbent diapers are really wet. I say even if you can't see or feel the wet you should be able to hold a clean and dirty diaper in either hand and really feel a difference in weight. I also go thru red flags to observe for at home: dark or pink urine, stool scant, and still black, dark brown, or dk green by day 4. We call all moms on day 3-4 to check on this and milk surge, nipple pain, baby waking up etc. Laurie Wheeler, RN, MN, IBCLC Violet Louisiana, s.e. USA ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html