Kathy says,


> <<I am working on a campaign to teach our nursing
> staff to teach the mothers to look for active sucking and swallowing, with
> short pauses, eyes open, and the baby nursing vigorously for at least the
> first 10 minutes,  then slowing down it's sucking and swallowing for a total
> of 15-20 minutes per side.>>



> I'm wondering what happens if the baby doesn't nurse vigorously for 10
> minutes and then stay on the breast sucking and swallowing for a total of
> 15-20 minutes per side.  What do you do?  What if the baby only actively
> breastfeeds for 5 minutes and then comes off the breast, sated?  Do you
> wake him up and put him through his paces again?  How do you MAKE a baby
> breastfeed for x number of minutes?  And why 10?  Why not 12 -- or 8 -- or
> 3 -- or 6?  I'm not trying to be argumentative, but why on earth are we
> putting minutes on babies breastfeeding?  What's the point?  What
> information does it give us?  If we are bottle feeding an infant (gasp!!),
> do we make sure that he actively sucks and swallows for x number of minutes
> before we deem that he is finished?  Or do we watch the baby cues?
>
> How long does it take for an infant to access the 7 to 14 ml that mom has
> in available colostrum (on average) the first 24 hours anyway?
>
> While I definitely agree that moms and nurses need to be able to ascertain
> whether or not the baby is *drinking* vs. using the breast as a pillow or
> just hanging out, I don't agree that we need to be watching the clock to
> make sure the baby is doing whatever for a certain number of minutes.
>
> Please, teach folks to WATCH THE BABY, not the CLOCK.

When I am teaching about bf documentation in our courses, I still find that
the vast majority of hospitals are documenting stuff like "Breast well 10
minutes x 2" or a reasonable facsimile thereof.   Would someone please
explain to me what that means?  (Not literally -- I KNOW what it means).  But
what is the definition of a "good" a "fair" or a "poor" breastfeed?  And what
do minutes have to do with it?  Unless your hospital has a written definition
of what that means, then the documentation is worthless, and an attorney
would have a field day with it.


>

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