Dear all,

I have been reading with interest the posts sparked by my comments on test
weighing.  Some have been very persuasive that this technique, used in
well-defined circumstances and with a clear idea of what can be gathered from
the proceedure,  has some use.

I would suggest the following:  test weighing might appear more acceptable if
these circumstances were more explicitly laid out and there were a protocol for
its use.  This is, after all, the case with many proceedures used in the type of
situations described with babies who are not normal healthy newborns.  And, as
there is variation in how weighing is used, it seems to me that it would be of
benefit to set some parameters.  Otherwise LC practice may get associated with
all kinds of other, less well-thought out practices.  In the UK what has
happened (I think) is that the unintelligent use of weighing in the past has
made the practice unacceptable. Perhaps we are deprived of a useful tool.
Perhaps we use other tools to acheive similar ends.

Certainly previous reading of Lactnet had given me no awareness that there was
*such* variation in the use of scales and I respectfully suggest that it would
help the LC profession to spend some time and thought on gaining a consensus in
this area.

I was also astounded to hear that scales are sold in the US to parents.  I have
not heard of this in the UK and hope fervently that this is not the next thing
to cross the Atlantic.  (BTW what do people use the scales for afterwards?
Baking?)  Just goes to show the eternal inventiveness of companies in making
money out of parents, I guess.

Thanks for the instructive discussion.

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter
The Breastfeeding Network
Saddleworth, Greater Manchester, UK