In response to Heather's question about noticing less engorgement with rooming-in and unrestricted feeds, I have spoken to some midwives who work in the only private clinic in Florence that still does L&D, and they told me that since introducing rooming-in and basically abandoning the newborn *nursery*, they spend a lot less time running around with hot water bottles for mothers with engorged breasts. As far as so-called *test weighing* goes, it is still very much alive and well here in Florence. Not only alive, but considered, yes, a *test* of how much milk a mother produces. Most mothers go home from the hospital with instructions to weigh baby before and after EACH feed, and supplement if the baby has not taken *enough* breast milk. Naturally, there are huge numbers of women who stop bf during the first month because it is so stressful to be put to the test as a mother at every feed (they have also probably been told not to feed more often than every 3 or 4 hours). Depressing at best. Auguri per l'anno nuovo (Happy New Year) Elise __________________________________________________ Elise M. Chapin Firenze, Italy mailto:[log in to unmask]