Wow. Lee, Wow. OK - so no flames, but I have to say I am most disheartened by your opinion of those of us who 'lug around these heavy scales'. Your comments come across glaringly as a slap in the face and with heavy disdain and disrespect for those of us who choose to practice differently than those who do not 'lug around these heavy scales'. So here is my take on it: First and foremost, IBCLC's are NOT JUST counselors - we are far, far more than that. We are in fact Health Care Providers and it behooves us to act as such or we will never be treated with the respect we deserve as part of the Allied Health Care Team. Second, many of us are in communities where the Drs just plain don't care or don't know what is acceptable or not when it comes to breastfed babies. Far too many times the only person, HCP, who can give mom the proper care is the IBCLC - and in many cases a scale is indeed needed to be able to monitor baby closely and properly. Moms do not always have the luxury of working with an HCP who can get her in at the same time, on the same scale, nor one who is interested in working with her breastfeeding issues. Their answer is far more often to just feed formula if there is an issue. My scale use has saved/helped far more babies than even I care to recognize simply because I was the one with my heavy scale who was able to see that there was a problem - one I would not have seen as quickly without it. And I for one prefer NOT to take days or weeks to figure out what is wrong. My scale often assists me to accurately and quickly determine what the problem is. It is not always a necessity - but it always comes with me. Third - many of us are on the front lines - catching issues that the Dr does not. How many of us have had those babies who have the wets, borderline poops, sound like they are swallowing - do the pre-post weight and guess what? MINIMAL intake. How many of us have walked into a consult and found a baby at 2 wks who is scrawny and yet the Dr gave him a clean bill of health even tho he is well under birth-weight and does not look good?? How do we track his weight gain if the DR doesn't even recognize there is a problem? What does mom do if the ONLY person (HCP) who is validating HER concern is us? Fourth - Scale use has been discussed ad nauseum on Lactnet. The simple fact is: Some of us use them and some do not. Some of use them correctly, some do not. Scales are an incredibly helpful TOOL (as are nipple shields, bottles, syringes, formula...) that when used properly can be a tremendous benefit to a mother to know exactly what is going on with her baby. They have NOT been found to freak moms out at all. I have found my scale to be far more a benefit than a pain to carry. I use it with every consult - regardless of the situation. It gives ME a baseline of where the baby is at time of consult and then moms come back to ME as their HCP (while continuing to work with their Dr) so that proper follow up is done regularly with someone who is intimately aware of the nuances of their situation because I guarantee you their Dr's do NOT have the time. The moms are MORE than grateful for at least on HCP (ME) who cares enough to look at ALL aspects of their situation and to monitor closely as needed. Lastly, many of us are IT in our communities. We don't have other LC's with more experience to refer out to. In my community, as far as I know, I am the LAST remaining full time private practice LC. Everyone else works full time for WIC or a hospital. I don't have anyone to refer out to - and my level of experience now leaves me without need for the most part. However - a big part of that skill level includes my trusty scale...that I bought from another former IBCLC. So - Please consider that many of us who routinely use scales do so not to give the scale companies money but to help moms and babies to the best of our ability. Please consider your word choice, as, while I am not mad and am not flaming you, I am hurt and I feel badly that you would see US in such a negative and insulting way. It would have been enough to say you don't use a scale in your practice and that works for you without blasting the hell out of those of us who do. Just because we practice differently does not make us anything less than or better than anyone else...it simply makes us different. You do what you do and I will do what I will do - and as long as we are both comfortable with how we practice, there should be absolutely nothing but acceptance and respect. Judgment has no place here. Respectfully, Jaye Jaye Simpson, IBCLC, CIIM Breastfeeding Network Sacramento, CA www.breastfeedingnetwork.net *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask] COMMANDS: 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome