Trepidation is expressed over potential legal or clinical ramifications of
having babies come into a hospital for a weight check, without a formal
means of charting or providing immediate lactation care.
Look. We have got to stop being scared of helping families by offering
them simple pieces of information.
What is the proposed alternative? NOT to offer a place for a reliable
weight check (versus those parents who sneak the baby onto the scale at the
post office or grocery), for fear we'll get sued?
Is anyone fretting about the blood pressure cuffs at the drug store? Heck
no. They are even SOLD in the medical supplies aisle. And there are no
medical charts there; no cardiologists at the ready to advise the person
whose numbers are too high.
What about those quickie blood sugar checks they do for diabetes risk, at
the annual hospital health fair? Anyone freaking out that dietitians and
nephrologists are not around the corner?
What about those hearing and eyesight checks our kids all get in
kindergarten? Are we worried about lawsuits if we can't whisk the child
who can't see that Big E straight into the opthamologist's chair?
This is a SIMPLE WEIGHT CHECK. What is the first thing we tell families,
before they discharge the hospital, to assure that BFg is going well?
"Check the baby's weight." And now we are going to turn them away from a
safe place to do that, for fear that (gasp!) the screening might actually
work?
Let me suggest instead:
(1) Prepare a two-part carbonless form -- on the hosital's letterhead. Have
a place to put today's date and weight (and whether baby was clothed), the
baby's date of birth and birth weight, and the baby's current age, adjusted
if need be. Put down the parent's name and contact information. Indicate
who did the weighing, and leave a few blank lines for that person to
scribble any pertinent notes.
(2) Have a standard paragraph at the bottom that says something like: "This
weighing does not replace a thorough assessment by your primary healthcare
providers, or an IBCLC, if you have any health or lactation concerns.
Please show this paper to your doctors when you next see them." If you are
really on your game, have the form ALSO include the contact information for
community-based BFg care they can access (WIC, LLL, IBCLCs, etc). That
demonstrates a necessary element of BFHI *and* the Surgeon General's Call
to Support BFg
(3) Give the family one part of the two-part form
(4) Yes, keep a log of who comes in. It can be a notebook with all the
second parts of the two-part form.
--
Liz Brooks, JD, IBCLC, FILCA
Wyndmoor, PA, USA
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