Tricia asked about feeding logs for patients in her hospital. The words
Good, Fair, and Poor are extremely subjective and really do not describe a
feeding at the breast, We certainly do not want to use minutes at the
breast since this is irrelevant. If a baby is not swallowing milk for 5
minutes, then 20 minutes at the breast still yields next to nothing! Rather
than using the words good, fair and poor, why not develop a short checklist
that describes what actually happened at the feeding.

- baby latched with no pain (yes, no, need help with this)
- baby swallowed colostrum (yes most of the time after 1-3 sucks, no I
could not tell if baby was swallowing)
- baby fed on one side or both sides
- baby was fed on cue (8-10 times/24 hours)

This would allow you to better assess what went on at a feeding when a
nurse or lactation consultant was not present to evaluate the feed. It also
may alert you to what the mother needs help with.

There are a number of breastfeeding assessment tools already out there that
the mother could be taught to use or that you could modify for her use
(LATCH, Via Christi Breastfeeding Assessment Tool).

Marsha Walker, RN, IBCLC
Weston, MA

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