>
>Many may not feel that scales are appropriate for breastfeeding evaluations
>- that they give moms stress - that has not been my experience. I find them
>reassuring for moms - or informative.
I have changed my mind over the past few years, as I was never in
favour of frequent weighing. Now, I think we weigh too infrequently
in the UK, and many midwives and health visitors weigh inaccurately,
and things need to change. The old argument was that mothers got
stressed out when their newborns were weighed, and that the worry
about weights could lead to unnecessary supplementation.
Both these worries can be well-founded. If all that is being looked
at is the weight (and not the whole baby) and if the only response to
a 'poor' result is 'supplement' rather than 'lets fix the
breastfeeding' then of course it can be a 'bad thing' to weigh.
However, this recent paper is very reassuring. Monitoring weight does
not discourage bf, and this study found that careful monitoring (in a
context where the monitoring people were supportive and informed
about breastfeeding) actually improved bf maintenance:
MCKIE, A., YOUNG D., MACDONALD, PD., 2006. Does monitoring newborn
weight discourage breastfeeding? Archives of Disease in Childhood
91(1):44-6.
I really don't think there is any justification for using poor
weighing techniques/equipment unless all we are doing is weighing
for fun.
As a lay person, I don't weigh babies of course, but every mother I
speak to has had her baby weighed. If the concern is about the baby's
weight/intake, and the baby has been weighed poorly (eg on a spring
balance, and/or not naked), I encourage her to get the baby weighed
properly. Fortunately in the UK, it is easy to do this - you either
turn up at a scheduled baby clinic (held frequently in most urban
areas) or you could ask your GP or the GP's nurse to do it for you.
Clinic scales are never spring balance, fortunately.
Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK
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