Elisheva wrote: "I understand the principle of "universal precautions." But is gloving in fact safer all around than good scrubbing and using a finger without any pre-existing cuts etc, given the possibility of sensitizing babies to latex?" According to Chele Marmet, gloving should be done indeed because of "universal precautions" though she seems to think that with proper scrubbing and intact skin, it is not necessarily safer. She does not have the parents glove when doing finger feeding; only the LC examining the baby. She washes her hands with the glove (or finger cot) on, to decrease that latex smell/taste. Regarding latex allergies, Chele says that if a baby is latex allergic, he will so obviously reject, almost spit out the finger as it comes near his mouth, that it will not be possible to do a gentle oral exam. Yael Wyshogrod IBCLC Rechovot, Israel *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html