Once again, Andrew, you completely misinterpret what I wrote.  I did not say
damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead, who cares about the baby's life. I did
not even insinuate such a thing in my post. Anyone who has observed how I
work in the clinic knows I spend a lot of time observing the baby
breastfeeding.  I know when the baby is getting milk.  And when the baby is
getting milk, I show the mother how to know, and I follow up.  And if the
baby is not getting milk, I help the mother fix the latch so the baby *does*
get milk, and use compression.  And if it isn't good enough, then I show the
mother how to supplement, using a lactation aid as the first choice.  So
please, don't accuse me of playing with babies' lives.  And I think you
should be less cavalier about how you write your posts.

I do weigh babies, incidentally. What I am objecting to is this 10% or 7% or
11.8503845845% weight loss.  It is beside the point.  And if we do not move
away from it, there is no hope for us. Because the way things should be done
is to fix the problem before the baby leaves hospital, so there is never any
question of this.

An inaccurate weight is an inaccurate weight.  Scales are not the word of
God.  I have personally seen a digital scale reading say 3.62 kg, and the
weight was written down 3.26 kg.  I have seen a mother come from a family
doctor 1 hour before, with the baby weighing in at 3.75 kg. And on our
scale, one hour later, the baby weighs 3.29 kg. Now, since, on our scale,
the baby weighed 3.02 kg one week before, I believed our scale, because when
I observed the baby, the baby was obviously drinking and getting milk very
well.  But not so well that he gained 730 grams in one week.

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC