Dear all:

Preliminary results:

I'm not done yet, but have competed well over 200 measurements so far with various 
assorted bottles and fat contents.  Test weighing shows a high degree of precision to 
within the specified 2 g difference of the scale manufacturer.  Eyeballing bottles has far 
better precision than I expected even with drop in liners!!  At fat levels of 33% you start 
to get a decrease in precision with the eyeballing the bottle method. 

Eyeballing a bottle consistently overestimates the weight of the bottle by a mere 2 - 3 g.  
Again, you lose accuracy as the fat content climbs and I base this conclusion on the fact 
that at 33% fat it is hard to read the measurements because the fatty cream sticks to the 
bottle.  I highly doubt anyone makes milk at a 33% concentration.  The ranges I saw in 
my brief look at Lawrence were up to 6% only.  I think most of the error is in reading the 
bottom of the meniscus.

What remains to be seen if the measurement of a static object is fairly precise and 
accurate --- is what the dribble factor and wiggle factor is when you measure the baby 
itself.

The wiggle factor from measuring babies feeding from the breast is very low --- again 
within the precision of the weighing scale of 2 g.  The difference between error rates with 
breastfeeding babies and bottle feeding babies should be the dribble.

So, I have more faith in eyeballing bottles than I did before.  Of course, I didn't smoosh 
up the drop in liners like some mothers do, but even so, who would have thought you 
could reasonably estimate the contents with a drop in liner with 1 oz increments?

Best, Susan Burger

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