Just have to jump in on this one!  Where I work, it is not unusual for
babies to be at or above birthweight on discharge from hospital 72-96 hours
postpartum.  These are the babies who latch well, nurse eagerly and well
from the start, and are with mother all the time with unrestricted access to
the breast.  But a baby who fulfills all these criteria may still have a
lower weight on the third day than at birth if passage of meconium the first
days exceeds intake, whereas a baby who has passed meconium in utero will be
weighed for the first time without getting 'credit' for the contents of its
gut on its birthweight, and thus without the same potential for weight loss
in the immediate postpartum period.
BTW, after getting all the data for the birth records, we don't weight
babies again until the third day, which often is discharge day as well.  Our
official policy is no supplements to term, AGA babies unless weight loss on
day 3 exceeds 10 per cent of birthweight and baby is not feeding well.  I
say official because I know there are deviations from policy all the time,
arrgghh!  Earlier discharge is unusual (it doesn't cost women anything out
of pocket to stay in hospital and many find it comfy).

My own home birth clients also show very little weight loss post partum, and
those who do have a drop before they start gaining seem to be the ones with
huge amounts of meconium to get rid of in the first day or two.

Watching the baby is ALWAYS the most important task.  The next most
important one is quashing one's impulse to do something when doing nothing
but watching is the best response.  Listening to mother ranks high too.

regards from Rachel Myr, Kristiansand, back from over two weeks of no mail,
having taken The Exam and then gone sailing for 12 days in Skagerrak and
Kattegat.  No one overboard, no shipwrecks, no pirates, just sun, wind and
salt spray and many memorable moorages.  Looking forward to mid-October,
because we have a week of island strolling in the Cyclades scheduled for the
week before exam results come!

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