In a message dated 97-03-24 23:32:39 EST, you write:

<< About the weight parameters...I sometimes think we should be watching
 weight closely and actively intervening (to correct breastfeeding
 techniques) when weight drops below 7%.  Don't you feel that by 10% we
 are playing catch-up?  By 18% we had better be feeding aggresively!
 Edie Armstrong, BSN, IBCLC, Fairfax, Va. >>

I may be sounding like a broken record here, but I think there is more to
look at than just weight loss.  Look at the baby her/himself -- demeanor,
skin turgor, etc etc.  I firmly believe that many babies have false high
birth weights due to a fluid shift from mom to baby when mom receives lots of
IV fluids in labor.  Marsha Walker has cited a study from Birth -- I think on
Ringers Lactate, but I'm not sure -- another study definitely implicated D5W
in this.  So before we go jumping on some sort of bandwagon looking for
certain percentages, we need to look at the whole picture of individual
babies, not just a number.  I'm always astonished when people get nervous
about babies that lose "a pound" in 24 hours -- generally a big baby, mom's
had way more IV fluids than normal, and the assumption is that baby is
dehydrated -- I don't think so; I think he's just losing some of the excess
fluid that shouldn't have been there in the first place.  And, what about
radiant warmers causing insensible heat loss?

But looking carefully at the baby is VERY important.....especially when you
do see a 10% or more loss.  Remember too that moms are very vulnerable, and
are terrified that anything they do is wrong.  A mom came to me to purchase a
sling (not one of my usual clients) and in the course of conversation I found
out she was supplementing her 2 week old baby with formula after every feed.
 Why?  Because the nurses in the hospital had told her she needed to because
the blood glucose was low that first day -- and they NEVER told her to
stop!!!!  So she went home with this darling baby thinking his glucose was
not stable and she still needed to give formula after every breastfeed.  Made
me want to throttle someone!!!!

Jan Barger -- in Wheaton where it is COLD and miserable.....