To Heather Welford Neill and Lactnetters:
Dear Heather,
      I applaud your lovely letter to Lactnet today on test weighings.  So many excellent points!  Test weighings were standard in this part of the world for many years, and I share your concerns about (a) negative effects on the MER, (b) the unscientific nature of extrapolating from one feed (or even two feeds) for a whole day's worth of feeds, given the variable nature of milk transfer throughout the day, and (c) possible variations in the milk weight related to content.
      Although some Queensland Mums in my supervised research on the postwar period found test feeds "reassuring", this wasn't necessarily a good thing.  For some, they felt reassured that they were producing "enough" milk.  For others, they felt reassured that the baby could be given a cow's milk mixture to make up the supposed shortfall.  (Unrestricted breastfeeding was not recommended.)  There were already suspicions in the literature in the 1950s that the test feed in unfamiliar surroundings could underestimate yield.
      In the first  edition of Successsful Breastfeeding (Sydney, 1974) I took issue with the then-common use of a single test to determine whether the mother's milk supply measured up, especially as the the surroundings were unfamiliar, the mother often felt "on trial", and the test weight was usually done at times of day which didn't coincide with the higher-volume feeds.  (Similar concerns were expressed in later editions of the book, now out-of-print.)  As a first-time mother in 1965, I found test feeds scary and they affected my MER, to the extent that they could always "prove' I had "nothing there".  I was not unique!
    Heather makes some excellent points in her posting, which I shall not repeat here, on clinical judgment, culture and other factors.  If you missed it, please check the archives.
           Virginia
           In Sunny Brisbane, after heavy rain last night
(Still on Lactnet for today, as I sent the wrong message when attempting to go NOMAIL.)

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