One of the most difficult situations that I encounter is the poorly wetting, brick staining, not stooling baby who at 2 weeks is over a pound UNDErR birth weight whose mother (or father) does not want to consider supplementing and whose health care provider is "willing" to wait another week for some magic to occur. A poorly fed baby with no energy will not be able to bring a supply in. I have to spend a considerable part of the visit to convince parents that feeding the baby and building the supply is needed to promote breastfeeding. Once I do a test weight of one of these feeds and report to the ped., they are usually relieved that I have suggested suppplementing.The question is why did they wait to refer to a lactation consultant. One of the worst situations I have seen was an 8 week old baby who was still 1oz below birth weight. The ped recommended use of a nipple shield for the painful latch (and no referral) and to come back in 2 months. this mother had little to no milk. She was told by others to just feed all day long. She did and all night too. This baby thrived when formula feeding was begun but this mother was never able to get a supply. She was shocked to find that just nursing more did not guarentee a supply like "everybody" said. The new WHO guidelines for growth have the breastfeeding baby regain birth weight before 10 days, not at 2 or 3 weeks. In my opinion, there are too many fast rules that mothers are bombarded with. (Just breastfeed more often, supplementing ruins breastfeeding, nipple confusion, never pump before 3 weeks etc.) It does feel strange to be the only one recommending supplementing in these situations. Ann Anderson, RN,IBCLC NJ > -----Original Message----- > From: Lactation Information and Discussion > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of LACTNET automatic > digest system > Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2008 3:52 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: LACTNET Digest - 22 Jun 2008 - Special issue (#2008-694) > > << Message: LACTNET Digest - 22 Jun 2008 - Special issue (#2008-694) > (1.43 KB) >> << Message: babies (669 bytes) >> << Message: schedules > (1.46 KB) >> << Message: Posterior Tongue Tie (5.17 KB) >> << Message: > Scheduling (2.98 KB) >> << Message: grrr.... (4.23 KB) >> *********************************************** 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