I appreciate all the discussion on this thread. I think Karen Querna's
practice of having the parents do the finger "exam" and report to her their
sensations/impressions might have a place in some situations. I don't think
I could get by with this in every case where I think an oral exam might be
useful. My feelings are that (1) LCs helping the general population of bf
dyads, like on a postpartum ward, should not be doing this exam as a routine
(2) LCs working with bf problems, either in the hosp consult or in priv.
practice, would have reason to examine some babies this way, for example
tongue tie evaluation (3) gloves are necessary in the hosp setting, in the
USA anyway, due to requirements of universal precautions and I would do this
also in private practice setting since it is a guideline for health
professionals (4) use of latex-free gloves seems prudent (5) LCs need to
think more about this, the theory, and clinical practice and learn same from
experts, in other words keep refining our practice - the art and the
science. Again, lactnet comes through.

Laurie Wheeler, RN, MN, IBCLC
Violet Louisiana, s.e. USA

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