Dear all:

All it took was just one ocaission when a mom put a baby on the scale without a diaper and my 
not noticing to convince me to never ever let a mother near the scale without that diaper.  I spent 
a half hour cleaning up the explosive poop out of all the nooks and crannies of the scale.  
Fortunately, the scale belonged to Elizabeth Seton and seems to have survived the experience 
because it still works fine at Realbirth many years later.  It was not my scale.

I don't like to weigh babies on the scale without a soft blanket so I always tare the scale to their 
own receiving blanket and their own type of diaper be it cloth, 7th generation, or disposable.  I 
really hate doing math, so the only time I don't tare to these items is when I walk in on a baby 
whose mother decided to wait until I came and the baby is clearly ravenous.  Then I do my math.

I am amazed at the cavalier attitudes in pediatrician's offices about weighing babies naked and 
wonder about who really gets the yucky job of cleaning that scale.  Once was more than enough 
for me, thank you.

On the other hand I am totally reckless when it comes to spit up.  I cannot count how many times 
I've been puked on because I can never remember about that burp cloth.


Now, for all of you might be afraid to use a scale and worry about the impact on moms -- I have a 
challenge.  Moms in Tanzania who are illiterate have learned how to use a scale and analyze the 
information appropriately enough to use that information for problem solving not knee jerk rote 
responses based on some totally generalized public health dictum.  So, I think you can learn to 
use a scale appropriately in the right circumstances to give yourselves that extra tidbit of 
information and use that information wisely.  

Best regards, Susan Burger

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