Hi everyone.  I couldn't stand being away any longer, so I'm back.  I've
missed LactNet dreadfully.

> Does anyone have
>studies to back up infants having extra water weight related to maternal
>IV fluids during labor.

This is something I talk about in the lectures I give.  No, I don't have any
studies.  The suggestion that *perhaps* this is one contributor to apparent
weight loss comes from logical deduction.  We know that some mothers get a
LOT of IV fluid during labor, while the baby is still connected via the
placenta and umbilical cord.  We know that maternal tissues can become
edematous from all this IV fluid, including the nipples/areolas (perhaps
contributing to difficulties with latch-on during initial breastfeeding
attempts??).  Is makes sense that the baby would be born with extra fluid in
his system from the IV as well, fluid that would be peed out as soon as the
kidneys could handle it after birth, perhaps in the first day or two,
resulting in a large apparent weight loss.

  In the hospital, every time I have been
>consulted about an infant with excessive weight loss (over 7% of
>birthweight in first 1-2 days of life), I have found a problem with the
>breastfeeding, usually latch.

It wouldn't surprise me to find out that a baby who had a lot of edematous
fluid from the mother's labor IV also had difficulty latching onto her
edematous breasts.

 Is it possible that those of you who see
>the baby later are guessing other causes of weight loss because you
>weren't aware of initial latch difficulties or poor early feeds?

When I talk about this, I'm speaking in general, usually logical reasoning,
not about specific babies who lost too much weight and I was "guessing" what
might be the cause.

I believe the research shows that with midwife-attended home births, you
have much less weight loss in the baby.  You probably also have less IV
fluids, and better early breastfeeding experiences.

Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition