The posts about who should do what, and whether test-weighing is appropriate, have been fascinating. Susan, I hope you can conduct a study along the lines you describe, to lay to rest whether weighing does or does not assist breastfeeding mothers and their babies. As an LC in private practice from 1990 - 2003 in Zimbabwe, and who yearns to start another PP in UK as soon as possible, I have to confess that I have never done a test-weighing, for the simple reason that I never owned any digital scales. However, one of my specialties was working with low weight gain or failure to thrive babies, and - for me - a baby's weights, from birth, always tell a story. If the primary purpose of breastfeeding is to feed the baby, and if a baby fails to gain roughly 30g per day from about Day 3 and for the first 3 months of life, then it is a sign that something is not quite right with the breastfeeding, that intake is inadequate for some reason, and the quicker the cause is discovered, addressed and remedied, the easier it is to preserve breastfeeding. If intake is adequate but the baby still fails to gain, or actually loses, then a medical reason needs to be found and treated, and I would refer on to the baby's paediatrician if he hadn't already referred the mother-baby pair to me. In my experience, the first response of mothers of low-gaining babies seeking LC services is relief - they usually "knew" something was wrong, and are eager to find out what it was, and do whatever it takes to put it right. The mother's cultural background - whether breastfeeding is seen as desirable, or not very important - is what makes the difference in whether she goes on to do the very hard and time-consuming work of increasing her milk supply, and perhaps gradually to replace needed formula supplements. Or not, as the case may be. Digital scales would seem like an accurate way of measuring intake at a single breastfeed, a super diagnostic tool, saving much time and guess-work. As such, had I owned them, I would have used them. Instead, I had to make do with doing weight checks daily or every couple of days to assess gain, or loss, and to work out the need for supplements, how much, and when to reduce, as the baby achieved a catch-up gain and the mother's milk supply increased. Mothers of previously inadequately gaining babies are then fantastically reassured to know that their babies are doing well, and often motivated to keep going. So just as I've observed that bottle-feeding per se is not usually the direct cause of a breastfeeding difficulty, but rather a last-resort marker of a pre-existing problem, so I would anticipate that test-weighing by itself would not discourage a sufficiently motivated mother from breastfeeding - even if the amount taken per breastfeed was quite low. It would, however, indicate the need for some kind of intervention - and quickly. I guess I may be the first IBCLC in UK to use a digital scale Heather ..... I'll keep you posted! Pamela Morrison IBCLC Rustington, England *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET email list is powered by LISTSERV (R). There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html