I know this has been discussed on Lactnet before. How do you know that looking at the line on the bottle is accurate? Jennifer Stevens, RN In a message dated 11/11/2006 3:33:52 PM Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: Savenije OE, Brand PL. Accuracy and precision of test weighing to assess milk intake in newborn infants. Arch Dis Child Fetal Neonatal Ed 2006;10.1136/adc.2005.091876 [doi]. 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. And I can't access the text of this yet but the title is interesting: Weighing babies to assess milk intake is unreliable BMJ 2006;333:1012 *********************************************** 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 email list is powered by LISTSERV (R). There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html