Dear Cindy and others,
My name is Linda Rosetti.  I am an RN, IBCLC, ACCE and just about any other
initial you'd like.  We've been using the Latch scoring system for about 6
months at our hospital.  This is the system outlined in JOGNN last year.  The
system is a quick assessment of the essentials or a good latch.  The numbers
that you come up with are based on a score similar to APGARS.  We've found it
to be a great learning tool for the staff and Drs.!!  Of course we've had
some difficultys too.  Recently the authors of that study noted an error on
the assessment tool which cleared up some of our problems.

On our nursing care plans we use the latch score as a criteria for discharge.
 We aim to have a latch score or at least 7 at discharge.  If mothers are
having difficultys it is quickly apparent in the latch score.  We score each
nursing pair at least once a shift.  It's made our staff much more aware of
the need for observing moms !  We really like it.  We are talking about doing
a small research project on the use of this tool so I would also like to hear
how people are using it.