Chris said: "there is NO REPLACEMENT FOR WATCHING THE BABY CAREFULLY, LISTENING TO THE MOM, AND JUST PLAIN EXPERIENCE WITH COMMON SENSE. I know that we all, on LN that is, truly know this, it's all the rest I worry about." Having watched this thread with interest I wish to humbly add my two cent's worth. Where I live it is "the rest I worry about". When a mother of a normal, healthy full term baby is told on the basis of one test weight per week that she has too little/ too much/ enough milk, despite the fact that baby is consistently gaining above average every week - well, I just despair! The scale is being "watched carefully", not the baby! This is so disempowering and I am so tired of picking up the pieces. Over the last fifteen years or so test weighing has become common practice in some well-baby clinics and pharmacies and mothers now expect that this is what needs to be done to "check" the breastfeeding. Since being in private practice (10 years) I have never done a test weight - but I am *not* saying that I never will. All tools have their uses. I do not often see the kind of problems that Jan and others have shared with us. The few babies that I have seen with weight gain problems have been weighed every two or three days after changes in bf management. If and when I do use this tool, I will find another name for it! The word "test" can cause anxiety all on its own. Jean Ridler RN RM IBCLC Cape Town, South Africa [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(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html