>Digital exams can be extremely helpful in some cases and I cannot see the=
harm if done properly.  What parents anywhere do not let their babies suck=
on their fingers?  This is simply the diagnostic use of a very normal=
activity.  The AIDS tie-in seems a bit obtuse at this point in time.  No=
one has duplicated the Coutsoudis study nor do we know yet the mechanism=
that explains their findings.  No offense, but this seems like quite a=
scare tactic - I am thinking now of those who are new to this profession.=
  I repect the professional ethics of those who choose not to do digital=
exams, but I do kind of resent the implication that those of us who do may=
be causing harm to these babies.<

I was mildly astonished to read this reaction to my suggestion that one
piece of the puzzle we might want to consider when assessing the usefullness
of digital examination is the implications suggested by some of the HIV
transmission research.  I certainly wasn't attempting a scare tactic!!!!

I agree that parents do often put fingers in babiy's mouths -- and so do
professionals for reasons other than suck assessment -- and I am interested
in the idea that because 'everyone' does it, it has no adverse consequences.

It can be challenging and painful to discover oneself to have particiapted
in some practice which has caused  iatrogenic harm.  Yet who among us can
say that has never happened for them?  I was trying to contribute to a
'thinking aloud' debate about the wider consequences of this practice, I
regret that this seems to have been taken as some kind of attack.

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter, The Breastfeeding Network, UK

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