Jan, I hate to admit it but I am fooled by the long slow sucks too. In the general hospital postpartum population, I point out the open pause close sucks (or as I sometimes say the "long, strong sucks), the swallowing sounds etc. If I have a consultation, however, this means there is a problem and very often I do the pre and post weights. Not infrequently I get much less or even much more of a milk transfer than I had judged. If the BF just needs a little fine tuning, the output is pretty good, the milk is there, then I usually don't do the weights. But if the baby is losing weight, the breasts are not full, there is surgical history or other red flags, I will do the wts. I feel they are very valuable in this context. <<But I do want to point out that I've been fooled more than once by "hearing swallows" and SEEING long, drawing, nutritive suckling, ... and to check the weight and find out he took a whole lot less than I thought he did.>> with are happy to do it, and don't view it as a "test" they have to pass.>> Laurie Wheeler, RN, MN, IBCLC Violet Louisiana, s.e. USA ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com *********************************************** 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