I don't have any references on hand right now about cortisol levels, but I can tell you how I get around delaying feeds until other rituals have been performed. I explain to mothers how when a new baby awakes crying he is usually starving hungry. He needs to eat NOW. Of course I also explain about early feeding cues etc. And then I tell them how whatever else may be wrong - like a wet diaper - it is much easier to deal with it if the baby is calm rather than thrashing around. So why not make it easier on themselves by nursing FIRST and THEN checking out the other stuff :) Just a thought :) norma >Teresa, recently the stress levels of the babies in our unit have been causing *me* great stress! There is just no respect for their sleep/wake cycles, their eyes, ears, skin etc. The nurses love bathing the babies - a few hours after birth - and seem immune to their cries. Mothers *have* to change the nappy (diaper) before each feed - even if baby is already screaming - and a new mom can take forever to accomplish this task. By the time she is finished baby is often too disorganised to feed effectively or too exhausted and falls asleep - thus "missing" a feed and then having to have a heel stick to check glucose levels and the cycle continues. We are teaching mothers not to respond to baby's cries! And I have a hard time teaching about baby's pre-crying cues. I would love the reference re the cortisol levels when babies are bathed by the nurse/own mother is you have it to hand. -- __________________________________________________________ Sign-up for your own personalized E-mail at Mail.com http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup Search Smarter - get the new eXact Search Bar for free! http://www.exactsearchbar.com/ *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html