Hello to old friends and new:

I will start by way of introduction. (I have been an off-and-on lurker for
many years, and an addicted daily lurker for several months now.) My name
is Kathy Chiu, and I have been an LLLL since 1980, and and IBCLC since
1987.  I am the mother of 3 breastfed daughters, ages 25, 22, and 17 years,
plus 2 breastfed grandsons, ages 4 years and 18 months.  I have most
recently finished 6 years in a clinical pediatric practice as the
director/lactation consultant for their breastfeeding center.  I am
currently the national director of sales for Whisper Wear, Inc, a breast
pump manufacturer.

There have been many discussions that interested me, but the current thread
about IV fluids and the potential for these fluids to artificially increase
a baby's birth weight has intrigued me for many years, back to my time as a
CCE in the early 80's.

Per Pat Young's recent post, I do remember recent research looking at IV's
not making a difference in newborn weight loss. However, what bothered me
in that research was the volume of fluid.  I believe the volume they used
was only 250ml.  That's like a cup of extra fluid, "a glass of water".
Haven't seen many mothers who have had only a quarter of a liter bag during
their labor and birth.  I would not think such a small volume would affect
the baby's weight.

In Nicki Lee's recent post, in which she mentions seeing mom's receiving 3
or more liter bags of IV fluids, (plus usually, other drugs), is often more
like it, and results in the mothers we see with the lower limbs that have
blown up like balloons.  It seems we will need much more research in this
area, looking at different volumes of IV fluids infused, what other types
and amounts of meds are also infused with the IV fluids, and what other
extenuating circumstances, for mom and baby, could be affecting the
possibility of fluid retention.

Again, thank you to all of you who make my morning cup of coffee so much
more interesting the the front page of a newspaper!

Kathy, Chiu, IBCLC, LLLL
Whisper Wear, Inc.
Atlanta

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