If it's truly important to measure intake in the baby post-cardiac surgery,
a digital scale is the obvious way to do it.

Even to suggest post-surgery bottle-feeding says volumes about the doctors'
lack of understanding of the many roles breastfeeding plays.  I worked with
one scrawny little cardiac patient who'd been doing well pre-surgery.  The
doctors insisted that intake be measured post-surgery, so mom pumped for
bottles.  The baby was absolutely miserable.  Imagine being post-chest
surgery and simultaneously being deprived of the center of your universe!
(And being asked to eat in a way that's documented to be more stressful...)

The baby I saw responded to bottles by pretty much refusing to eat.  Mom's
supply dwindled, baby's weight gain stopped, and the doctor finally sent
them to me for a feeding tube, which baby *also* refused.  Would he take the
bare breast?  Yes!  Happily and with good swallowing, despite her reduced
supply.

They went home simply... nursing, both of them much happier than they'd been
since the surgery.  And the baby, of course, started thriving again.

If it ain't broke - if, indeed, it's in better shape than most of American
babyhood - why on earth would we deliberately break it?
--
Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY
www.wiessinger.baka.com

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