I am perplexed by the explanation of evaporative weight losses contributing
to a weight loss during a feed.  I guess I would like to know how much
weight we are trying to account for.  The Harriet Lane Handbook - the
numbers bible of pediatrics says that evaporative losses from skin and lungs
total approximately 65g on an average day, for an average child.  Higher
values can be observed, however, these usually occur during heat stress (eg.
being under a radiant warmer, or in an overwarm environment).  If one
assumes that there is absolutely no other intake (i.e. not a drop of
breastmilk is getting into this child), then this averages approximately 0.9
grams every 20 minutes.  As you can see, it is hard to account for weight
changes this way.  Again, I would insure that there are not more obvious
losses (such as weighing the child without a diaper after the baby
eliminated during a feed) and fall back on scale variations for the rest.
                                Giosi Di Meglio, MD
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