Laurie,
You are absolutely right to question our guideline of "back to birthweight by
2 weeks".  I did a lit search recently on this and discovered some references
(sorry, they're at the office) that showed in hospitals where babies are not
separated from mother and have unrestricted access to the breast, babies
*may* lose 4-5% of birthweight before regaining.  Babies in these studies
also regained birthweight by 7-10 days.

Dr. Ruth Lawrence spoke at the National Association of WIC Directors (NAWD)
Conference in December 1996 in Houston, TX.  She said that babies may lose
some weight until the mature milk begins to come in.  At that point (day 2-5)
babies should begin re-gaining.  The lowest weight baby should attain is the
day the mature milk begins to come in.  Makes perfect sense.

In my experience with midwives and homebirths, I found that homebirthed
babies lose very little weight, or none at all.  If we use unrestricted
access to the breast and normal, unmedicated deliveries as a model, we
shouldn't accept 10% weight loss as normal.

In the Texas Department of Health breastfeeding trainings, we are using 7%
weight loss as the point at which a full assessment should determine if we
need to change the management of breastfeeding.

I'll find those references on Monday.
Jeanne Fisher
Austin, TX