A couple of decades ago, "Breastfeeding clinics" mushroomed in our town.
Most of them did routine testweights on healthy term babies and then based
their advice on that weight at that particular feed. (I know that those LCs
on this list doing testweights do not fall into this category!)  Anyway, I
guess we had a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to this when we began our
practice.

We acquired a scale - of course it's a useful tool.  However, the babies we
see usually have a weight history, (birth, discharge and follow-up weights
from a local well-baby clinic) so we often do not weigh at all.  If we are
dealing with a slow gaining baby or FTT, then we do weigh on our own scale
for a base-line.  We work out an appropriate care-plan with the mother and
then check the weight in  2 or 3 days - maybe even daily in exceptional
circumstances.   This works well for us.

I need to add that we have the luxury of an initial consultation that lasts 
at least an hour, usually more. Plenty of time for detailed history-taking 
and observation.

In the hospital where I work part-time, we have a scale that increases in
20g increments, so our preterm babies are not testweighed.  Daily weights 
are done.  They are
discharged fully breastfeeding and come in for weight checks a couple of
times in the first week at home.

Jean Ridler  RN  RM  IBCLC  (Private and Hospital practice)
South Africa   [log in to unmask]

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