Thanks to all who have shared on Lactnet in recent days!! The quality of the posts; the information shared and the passion behind it has left my head spinning!! Below are a sample of*only a few* of the finer; In a message dated 10.1.03 7:47:56 PM, Rachel writes: > <<But a > condition that is observed in a third of healthy, term newborn babies should > not be regarded as incipient pathology in all of them.<< > Beautifully said! As usual Rachel, reading your eloquent posts is like eating candy (too bad it doesn't stop me from eating candy :)! ) Katharine writes <<Putting these two observations together and oblivious of the danger in extrapolating from in vitro to in vivo photochemistry, the investigators then tested whether exposure to sunlight would oxidize or degrade bilirubin in vivo in a jaundiced infant. They found that sunlight exposure did indeed lower the serum bilirubin concentration of icteric newborns and, further, that the same effect could be achieved using blue fluorescent lights in lieu of sunlight.>> Thank-you so much Katharine. This clearly points to the fact that despite the need for further research sunlight can be therapeutic for jaundice. Anectodally, my now 15 yo son had a serum bilirubin of 17 on day 4 and when placed in a sunny window (per midwife rec) came out resembling a harlequin- one side yellow-other side pink-much more dramatic visually than anything I have seen in my 20+ years treating with phototx! Unfortunately, he didn't have any followup levels drawn to correlate with the visual appearance. I have since that time recommended sunlight for what presents as "not enough breastmilk jaundice" once milk is in and levels seem low enough but was told (admonished) by a pedi a year or so ago that the sunlight didn't lower blood levels only bleached the skin to make it appear that the levels were lower. This assertion caused me to panic about my son's treatment .....so thanks also for offering me a little piece of mind!!! Valerie writes; >>Landrigan states, "Nursing infants feed from the top of the food chain." This concept annoys me. I learned that human milk was white blood, a live substance. Is it accurate to equate the breastfeeding relationship to eating off the top of the food chain? It would seem to me that breastmilk is the next step in mammalian protection from the umbilical cord which provided red blood. Human babies nursing at their mother's breasts are not one species eating another species. Human infants are feeding from human mothers, an extension of prenatal existence. If contamination has occured, it rightfully should be focused prenatally.<< WOW, how good is that?! Wish I could include more as I hate to see some of these amazing insights seemingly lost to the archives-thanks again!! Lynn Shea Rn,Bsn,Ibclc Franklin,Massachusetts *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] 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