Additionally, I believe this is disempowering to mothers as they are
"finding their way." We should be encouraging them to watch their baby, not
the clock, the scale, the doctor, etc. They should be educated about
"warning signs" but otherwise should be spending the newborn period falling
in love with their babies, getting the hang of breastfeeding, and
RESTING--not driving around to doctor and clinic appointments because
they're in a constant state of anxiety. It furthers the cycle of them
needing someone else to reassure them their baby is doing well, when they
are the ones who are best equipped to make that assessment on their own.
I'm sure some will say that seeing a "good weight" is reassuring and allows
a mother to relax, but what about when there is a one-time low volume feed
in an otherwise thriving baby? Do we then encourage worry and angst?
Absolutely.

Also, babies shouldn't be weighed at birth until well after the first feed,
IMO. There is nothing so important about that number that it should be
interfering with those precious first few hours together.

Gina, IBCLC, Student Midwife
Colorado, USA

On Sat, Jan 10, 2009 at 2:46 AM, Magda Sachs <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> That doesn't tell you a whole lot about 24 hour intake and reallly should
>> be reserved for babies in dire straits, not as a casual check kind of thing,
>> IMNSHO :-)  Pat in SNJ
>>
>
>   However, women doing their own pre and post feed weights looks, from this
> side of the Atlantic, like a massive retrograde step back to the disasterous
> practices of the early to mid 20th century that nearly destroyed
> breastfeeding.
> Magda Sachs, PhD
> Registered Breastfeeding Supporter
> The Breastfeeding Network, UK
>
>

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