Jane responds to my statement....
Back in the mid 1990's we used a "sliding scale" to determine how much to
supplement our preemies in the following manner:
It stated as follows:
If baby sucks and swallows:
1. Less than 5 minutes the full feeding was supplemented
2. If 5 to 10 minutes 1/2 the feeding was supplememted
3. Greater than 10 minutes - no supplement.
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I love "back in the day" stories....
When I first became a lactation consultant (back in the day before the Baby
Weigh scale was invented), it was generally assumed, and I read in an
article, that if you counted swallows you could determine how much the baby had
taken. Theoretically one swallow equaled 1/2 ml. So -- 60 swallows and
the baby would have taken an ounce.
Putting it to the test one day after I had my BW scale, I had a baby that
was swallowing very nicely. A minute or so into the feed, I decided to
count, and count I did until I got to 60. He continued to nurse for a few
minutes beyond that....at which point, I weighed him. He had transferred a
total of 14 ml. And since he had fed for longer than 10 minutes, had he been
in the old NICU Jane was talking about, he wouldn't have been supplemented
because it would be a "full feed."
I have learned to never comment on how *well* a baby is feeding except to
point out the type of suckling the baby is doing, because inevitably, I am
made to look rather foolish when it looks as though the baby has done
exceptionally well, and I found out she took < 1 ounce, or whatever it is.
Thank you for sharing, Jane,
Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC, FILCA
Lactation Education Consultants
Wheaton IL
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