When I absolutely must tell a mom what to expect for weight gain/loss when they are being discharged from the hospital, yes we HAVE to go over discharge instructions with each family, rightly so. And yes you can see why, the hospital must cover themselves, I generally tell them once their weight is back up to birth weight, they can expect to see a gain of around 4 - 8 ounces/week. Babies almost always are below birth weight when discharged because its before the "mature" milk is in. Being discharged on or around day 2. Of course their are exceptions to every rule. But because we get "pinned down" to a number from most parents I think thats a fairly safe and accurate amount.......At least in my experience. New parents do need to be aware when their babies are NOT thriving. Sometimes, we do need to emphasize that their 5.2 lb 37 week baby needs to be reminded to eat. I don't ever like to see babies get readmitted because parents weren't informed of a baseline number or looking for wet or poopy diapers. When working with the public you must cover your bases for the babies sake. And hospital protocol. I once had a mom call me out of the blue,(i don't even remember how she got my number) as she was driving around my area of town. It was a friday, i will never forget it. She was concerned her baby was not satisfied at the breast and was always hungry and crying or sleeping....okay, little red flag,... I asked her when she last saw the peds, she said today. Well, " how much did your baby weigh? The amt she told me and the amt the baby weighed meant the baby was a complete pound under birth weight at one month old. yikes, I asked her if she wanted to come by and I would weigh the baby myself, and if needed call her pediatrician. Low and behold, this poor little baby was indeed failing to thrive. The staff at the ped clinic did NOT pick up on this and told her to come back next TUESDAY 4 more days for a f/u weight check. Long story short. Mom had severe hypoplasia, we immediately gave the baby some abm, I swear she smiled at me, and I called the doctor and politely informed her what had just happened in her office. She was back at the Peds within an hour/ saw the Pediatrician in person. Thank goodness mom's instincts kicked in. She had just been assured all was well. This was one case that obviously fell thru the cracks. And I won't name the ped group. I don't know if this baby would have made it till tuesdays appt. So, for the most part parents can worry quite excessively, I understand. But in my experience, guidelines must be given. robin *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask] COMMANDS: 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome