on 6/21/03 1:52 PM, [log in to unmask] at [log in to unmask] wrote:

In a message dated 6/21/2003 9:32:24 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

Do parents (or even health care providers) really get it that a baby is only
4 days old on Day 5?  That the transition diapers we expect to see on Day 3
or 4 should be happening when a baby is 2 or 3 days old?


Diane, I've mulled over this myself and then decided maybe I'm just too
anal. Day 1 could be called day of birth, then the 2nd day would be day 1.
However, if baby is born late in the evening, not much is left of day of
birth. Maybe the log could say first 24 hr., second 24 hr., etc. but I'm
afraid this might drive people nuts. Or is the present way of doing things
OK? Are we getting into problems due to the fuzzy nature of how old the baby
really is? I very specifically figure out exactly how old the baby is when I
assess things like wt. and output, but I'm not sure too many people get that
exact. It must be the ex NICU nurse in me (we measured things at times in
nannograms to make sure the tiniest babies were getting the proper amounts).
I'll be interested in what others think.

Kathy Boggs, RN, IBCLC
Mountain View, CA


The log I use has moms circle the hour when baby feeds, so if baby is born
at 6 pm, they keep circling numbers on Day One until they get back to the 6
pm, when they move to Day Two.  But you're absolutely right, when the baby
is born is going to throw people off too.

But I really don't think you're being anal.  There's no point in our being
so precise about what we want to see and when, if we have no idea whether
the mom thinks we're talking about Tuesday or Wednesday.    Otherwise, we
might as well say "sometime around the middle of the first week," or
something like that.  But we don't.

I'll have to dip back into Lactnet this week just to see if there's any
discussion on this...

Diane

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