During my first year out as a non-nurse, hospital based lactation consultant, I have been challenged (and sometimes dismayed) by the reality of those breastfed babies who for whatever reason are not transfering milk well at the breast and need to be supplemented while we are working on the breastfeeding issues. I have made some steps forward at our hospital: quantities of supplement are now thought of in mls and tsps and not ounces (thank you especially Kay Hoover for the info on feeding amounts in the early days). We have mothers pump or hand express (as they prefer) and offer expressed colostrum by alt. feeding method. But sometimes baby's lab work tells us he needs a little bit more...sometimes its a ped. who is nervous, sometimes the parents, or sometimes the nurse is concerned. I keep the ABM's guidelines on when suppl. is medically indicated posted and we refer to it frequently when we are concerned with how the bf. is going. But we all know the number one rule: feed the baby! So I've thought, why not be able to offer these babies banked milk? Just until mother's milk comes in and baby is nursing well or mother is pumping. How hard could it be? I guess I am going to find out: I just sent for the guidelines from HMBANA on starting a milk bank. Its my New Years resolution. Wish me luck! Kristen Panzer MS IBCLC _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/ *********************************************** 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