>What I saw was that every tiny fingernail had an infected hangnail on each
side of >it. Three quarters of one thumb had turned black. What a mess. I
guess I must >weigh in on the side of allowing those little hands to feel
the soft warmth of the >mother's breast and knead the tissue like they were
intended. 

 

>Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC

>Weston, MA

 

 

Marsha,

Are you suggesting that the nails became infected because they were kept
covered (warm dark place), maybe becoming contaminated from mother's
infected nipples because the nails were clipped?  Or that the baby's
infected nails contaminated the cracks in the mother's nipples and caused
her infection?  Were the nails clipped at all, or maybe bitten?  If they
weren't clipped this is very disturbing.

And, by the way, I agree with you that hands must be uncovered when feeding.
I don't object so much to parents covering them between feedings but I
remind them that baby has been sucking on his fingers for nearly 9 months
and they are a source of comfort and pleasure.  When parents put the
removable mittens on the baby they usually end up on the floor and then back
in baby's mouth. Yuk!

Linda Anderegg, RNC, IBCLC, RLC


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

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