I had to laugh at the description of setting a mom up with a stopwatch to
monitor 15 minutes of active suckling - but not because it was impossible -
my co-Leader in La Leche League did just that the frist time she had a
baby.  She is a nutritionist, and was well aware babies paused, so that was
her way of assuring the "standard" for her baby.  (The stopwatch was thrown
away after the first two weeks...)

The truth is, those new in ANY profession are more likely to go "by the
numbers" and "by the book" as they learn where to "fudge" and where their
experience and common sense is more correct.  Teachers write elaborate
teaching plans, nurses keep elaborate notes, even engineers (my husband
tells me) learn where things can be more flexible.  

Right now I'm trying to work with a nurse who spends her first visit with
every baby poking him over and oever all over his body "to check jaundice"
on a baby who is alert, active, eating well and pooping like a champ.  (By
the way, does anyone have any studies that show that this physiologic
jaundice is not life-threatening - she has "protocols" that make her report
every baby with ANY visible jaundice.)

The important thing, (back to "by the numbers") is that the "numbers" be
evidence based and correct - or else we will be teaching our new
professionals to go "by the gut" long before they have developed a good
"gut instinct"....

Jeanette Panchula, BSW, RN, IBCLC
Vacaville, CA
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