Hi, All: In reading the responses to my previous post on jaundice, it struck me that the "guidelines" that are out there seem to focus on quality/quantity of feeding as the "only" predictive factor in how high a bili goes. But what about baby's gestational age, number and type of interventions during labor and birth, as well as the typical hospital rountines (separation, etc)? I feel these things count way more than feeding in many instances, with the quality of feedings suffering because of typical interventions and hospital routines thus starting the predisposition toward jaundice. My 2nd baby was born healthy at 35 weeks (24 hour discharge - my choice) and at 72 hours of age her bili was 23 and she was a lovely orange color. Her ped wanted me to stop nursing for 48 hrs and give her formula. When my power of speech returned I told him "I don't think so". After all she was eating, peeing, and pooping. What else should we have expected of her? A recitation of the Gettysburg address? She spent about a week on a bili blanket, eating, peeing, and pooping, and was yellow for about a month and today is in the honors program in her middle school. What was her issue? Probably a 35 week liver just not able to process RBCs as efficiently as a 40 week liver. But I am glad to see that breastfeeding promotion and support is figuring so prominently in these guidelines. Now, if we could only realize what we do in hospitals also plays an important negative role in all this. Pam Hirsch, RN,BSN,CLC Clinical Lead, Lactation Services Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital Barrington, IL USA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html