Hi all
 
The thing that I do not understand about this thread is that one does not
just look for the suck/swallow.  It is the whole picture that is important. 
It is the 24 hour output picture, baby behaviour at the breast, after a feed
 baby health, and what the mother reports as happening.    I have never seen
a baby who has borderline or low nappy counts and not growing appropriately
not need feeding intervention (increasing feeds, supplimentation,
domperidone, and perhaps expressing)  The baby who is not having adequate
nappies, who is sleepy, or tugging at the nipple or wide eyed through out a
feed and still looking for more or wide eyed at the end of feed is in need
of more milk.  Both babies need to be evaluated for reasons for poor milk
transfer.  Mum also needs to be screened for thyroid, anemia, breast surgery
 etc.   There is also always the possibility for allergy to be part of the
picture.
 
 
Recent posts have only been concentrating on suck/swallow observations. 
There is more.  There is the whole picture.  The scale simply confirms what
the LC knows and observes - that I have no problem with.  I wonder if scales
are sometimes substitutes for detailed history and skilled observation?  Now
that concerns me.  I know that in nursing circles when a new monitor comes
round, the monitor and it's readings are held in higher esteem than detailed
history and skilled observation.  I would really hate to see LC's move down
the same direction and would fight with every thing within against this.
 
Mothers need to grow in intuition to feed and nurture their babies.  They
come to us because they know they have a problem or are uncertain of what is
normal.  They need to read baby signs that things are improving or not
improving so that they can manage at home.  Just how do they do this if they
do not have scales at home?
 
Just airing my concerns and questions.  
 
Kind regards
 
Ruth Fiedler
Australia
 
 

             ***********************************************

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