Hi I was delighted to see Jan Riordan's article in the November 2005 JHL, which reached me a week ago, as it validates the observations to assess milk transfer used for years by experienced IBCLCs and others in Australia and the UK. Riordan J, Gill-Hopple K. Indicators of effective breastfeeding and estimates of breast milk intake. JHL 2005:21(4):406-412. Now that the numbers have been crunched, I hope this will convince doubters that the use of well-honed clinical skills and judgment is valid. Whichever method is used, I hope people will remember that other infant indicators continue to need to be noted, to support the evidence from a single feed, i.e. urinary and faecal output, growth, skin tone, alertness, etc. Years ago in Australia, too often assessment of breastfeeding adequacy had slipped into a lazy dependence on a single test weigh and the previous week's weight gain, with other indicators largely ignored (quite apart from a lack of understanding of varying milk yields from feed to feed). Anywhere that scales have become the main or only guide, skills in other observations can be lost - but they can be taught and learnt. Cheers Virginia in rainy Brisbane *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html