Dear Kathy, our medical center also requires that babies be NPO one hour
before circs - so crazy! Our OB manager, also President of San Diego AWHONN
chapter thinks it is archaic. "Breastfeeding and Human Lactation", discusses
milk volume on page 107 as about 37 ml (range 7-123) in the first 24 hours
postpartum. The other fact is that like blood,it is a body fluid and the ph
is non-caustic if aspirated(like blood, in small amounts of course). These
facts, shared with some of our peds has curbed some of the insistence on the
NPO.BUT, for a poor formula fed/forced fed as far as I'm concerned they
should be wary of aspiration (usually after a 2 oz feeding if not more) and
NPO should be practiced. Not being a man, with a penis, I allowed my husband
to make the decision about circumcising our son (I was leaning away from
doing it,but his feeling was that they should 'look alike'. It sounds so
ridiculous now.) We have both grown and learned and if this next child is a
boy there absolutely will be no circumcision, not just because of pain, but
because his body was mutilated (general sense of the word-thank goodnes he
still has his penis). I remember being incensed for days after caring for a
woman who had been circumcised in her home country. It later dawned on me, we
should also be incensed at male circumcision. I admire the nurses in New
Mexico who fought hard not to have to assist with circumcisions, because they
felt it was a cruel, unnecessary procedure.  Anne Williams RN BSN IBCLC San
Diego