Jay and others. My abject apologies for stepping on toes. I should have
put or made clear somewhere in my message about not believing in the
helpfullness of test weighing that my attitude was formed by the
situation in Israel. Since I left the States 27+ years ago, I am not
familiar with WIC on a first-hand basis, but the more that I hear about
it, the more I admire it. That's number one. In Beer Sheva, as I should have
explained previously, well babies are seen, weighed, followed
developmentally, and given routine innoculations by Ministry of Health
nurses, who say "breastfeeding is best" because this is what their orders
are from on high, but if the breastfed baby gains "only" 170 grams the
first week of life, the mother is usually told to immediately supplement
with a
bottle. Occasionally an "enlightened" nurse will suggest test weighing,
but the mother is under such pressure to perform that it is almost a
given that she "fails". And there is no detective work ever since none of
the nurses has had any instruction on lactation management. All they know
is that the baby "must" gain about 250 grams a week or it's on the bottle
for the poor thing. Sorry about my crabbiness in my advanced age. You
tend to forget that there's a wonderful world of knowledgeable LCs out
there who won't be recognized in Israel for another generation :-(
Crabby Judy Knopf in Beer Sheva, Israel