Re: the great scale dilemma is NOT - ART AND SCIENCE are compatable

March 30, 2012

There really should be no dilemma. I have repeatedly posted that the

information from the scale is USELESS without doing a thorough history and

active listening with the mother and a very careful observation of the baby.

The scale should be used to reinforce the mother's observations of her baby's

cues.

Basically, the ART and the SCIENCE of breastfeeding go hand in hand -- good

listening, good observation, and behind the scenes good objective data.

I have to say, however, routinely mop up on cases of six week olds, three month

olds, six month olds and nine month olds where there WAS a problem that was

ignored. These mothers KNEW something was off and they were RIGHT. When I go

over their growth charts it was clearly evidence much earlier on and they were

give false reassurance. Then what would have been an easy fix, becomes a very

difficult fix.

The most devastating of these was a mother of five children. The last two were

twins. She was an incredible mother and wonderful to work with. She KNEW

something was wrong and was told everything was fine. Both her babies will be

permanently stunted. They will not ever catch up in length. It is very sad

because it was entirely preventable. FORTUNATELY, because she is such a stellar

mother, they were able to recuperate from the developmental delays they were

suffering because she gave them lot of healthy interaction. With a lot of work

they resumed healthy growth along an lower curve than it should have been, but

still healthy given that they were stunted. They will grow up to be healthy,

albeit shorter than they should have been. She was very angry about the false

reassurance that caused her so much extra unmecessary work.

The signs of their poor growth were evident between the 2nd and 3rd month. The

problem was not caught until they were 8 months old.

She was NEITHER listened to, NOR was growth assessed. BOTH listening and

objective assessment were necessary in helping her return her babies to healthy

growth.

sburgernutr@...

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