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