during my orientation at evergreen, I was taught that "we always weigh babies on their tummies" and why. it was the first time I'd heard it and it made sense and is how I've weighed babies ever since. but over the years I've seen inconsistency in that practice, mainly from staff turnover (on the floor, not in our pp and bf clinic): either firsthand seeing babies flailing on their backs on the scale when the floor nurse/tech was weighing the baby for discharge when I walked into the room on LC rounds, or hearing the parents express surprise at the postpartum appt a few days later when I weighed the baby prone- "wow, nobody's done it that way yet, look how calm he is!"
    somehow lachlan got weighed on his back after birth and I didn't realize it at the time (maybe because I wasn't dying to know how much he weighed, it was a few hours after his birth and lots of leisurely s2s and nursing) but I did notice it in the photos. he's stretching his arms out in a panic and crying. then I look at the photos of him being weighed prone at our postpartum clinic appt day3, he curled up into a nice comfy little ball with his little butt in the air.  he was weighed before and after nursing on both sides at that appt, all on his tummy, and he maintained that milk-drunk calmness without any disruption from the weighing because we didn't ilicit a fear or startle reflex by putting him on his back.
    if anyone would like to see a great visual of the difference between weighing supine and prone in the same baby, email me off list and I'll email you the pics.
vicki hayes rn ibclc, mom to sean, harrison & lachlan, lake stevens washington (for only 6 more weeks.....)
ps we also have heating pads on low setting under a blanket or pillowcase on the scales in our pp and bf clinic. we zero the scale with that on it before baby goes on. parents and babies love it

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