>heather wrestled with a keyboard and this emerged:
>
>> an icterometer (mentioned on this list a week or so ago!) which is a
>> pocket-held colour-matching tool costing 20 US dollars; staff learning to
>> train their eyes; and lab blood sample ordered when there is a reading of
>> 3.5 on the icterometer.
>
>I, not being in a position where the numbers are crucial but often
>needing to buttress a mom's flagging resolve, use the baby as it's
>own comparison tool.  Since the color goes into the palms and soles
>last, I hold the baby's palm up to it's face, then it's tummy.  That
>way any individual skin tones that might otherwise be confusing are
>eliminated.

Yes, this is one of the things Hey teaches his students to do.

The advantage of the icterometer is that it is useful for babies from
non-white ethnic groups (held pressed against the gums, rather than the
nose).

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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