Recently there has been discussion of the practice of test weighing, which I 
know is a staple of LC practice for many of you.  Here in the UK we do not 
do this, and even for professionals who are generally out of date it has 
been accepted for some years that this is not to be done in order to assess 
feeding.  So I am interested in seeing this research -- which I am just now 
printing, so cannot comment on the full study.  I am sure that those of you 
who use this technique will also be interested in knowing about this paper. 

Magda Sachs PhD 

Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed. 2006 May 22; [Epub ahead of print]
Accuracy and precision of test weighing to assess milk intake in newborn 
infants. 

Savenije OE, Brand PL. 

Princess Amalia Children's Clinic, Isala klinieken, Zwolle, Netherlands. 

OBJECTIVE: To assess accuracy and precision of test weighing to estimate the 
amount of milk intake in newborn infants. Study design: 94 newborn infants 
fed by bottle, cup, or nasogastric tube, were weighed before and immediately 
after feeding by a blinded investigator. Actual milk intake was determined 
by reading the ml scale of the milk container before and after feeding. The 
accuracy and precision of test weighing was assessed by examining the 
frequency distribution of the difference between weight change and actual 
milk intake. Weighing performance of the scale was assessed by calculating 
the standard deviation (SD) of repeated weighing standard weights of 1.5 and 
4 kg. RESULTS: The mean difference between weight change and actual milk 
intake (accuracy) was 1.3 ml, with 95% of differences ranging from -12.4 to 
15 ml (precision). The maximum difference was 30 ml. This difference was not 
influenced by the presence of monitor or oxygen saturation wires, 
intravenous lines, or vomiting of the infant. The maximal SD of repeated 
weighings was 0.97 g. CONCLUSIONS: Test weighing is too imprecise to be 
clinically useful in newborn infants. Infant weighing scales are not 
sensitive enough to pick up small changes in infants' weight after feeding. 

             ***********************************************

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(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html