Hi all,

Been away for a week and just getting re-settled on LN and all other lists, I
want to react to this thread.
Carol wrote in answer to Anne:
''Anne, I agree wholeheartedly regarding our putting a finger into a baby's
mouth. The ''oral area is highly sensitive--therefore, we may be doing harm to
the sucking ''mechanism/reflexes through this intrusion. ''
I agree that rough or indifferent fooling around in every baby's mouth is not a
good practice, but when done gentle and with respect for baby's dignity, it can
be a good tool for assessment of several conditions.
and Carol continues: ''The only time I think it might be necessary is when we
have ''observational data that says there may be an oral abnormality---i.g.cleft
of the soft ''palate. But we have very little data to support suck assessment
using our finger and no ''research to support intervention using the finger. So,
before we put our finger into an ''infant's mouth we need more data to support
what we are doing!''
But do we have data on assessment of sucking with other techniques that we can
use without using ultrasound or radation? I really wouldn't know how to assess
sucking without using my finger.
I really think it in large depends on how and with what attitude we digitally
exam a baby (or perform all kinds of other things, like breastexams)

Gonneke van Veldhuizen, IBCLC, living in Maaseik, Belgium
http://www.users.skynet.be/eurolac
[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(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html