Just to clarify: when I said that Hey reckons only 1 term baby in 1000
needs medical treatment for jaundice,  and, by implication, agreeing that
the concerns he raises are worthy, I do not regard improving the
breastfeeding as medical treatment, though it could, I suppose, be regarded
as 'treatment'.  Many babies who seem jaundiced need their feeding
improved.

It worries me sometimes that babies here are taken back into hospital or
given phototherapy while they are still in there for 'jaundice'....and no
one has thought to see how well these babies are feeding, and adjusting
that as a first step before and instead of anything else.

Being told your baby is jaundiced is very undermining for mothers. The
treatment means less mother-baby contact and less feeding.

Fortunately, here, mothers *are* seen by midwives after discharge - if a
mother goes home on day 2 or 3 she is likely to have at least a daily visit
for the next few days, and the baby is seen.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc Newcastle upon Tyne UK

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