The most common task done during a lactation consult is weighing the baby. Often the baby is weighed before and after feeding. This practice is called many things: pre and post feed weights, PC/AC weights ( pre-consumption, after consumption), or weighted feeding. The purpose of this weighing is to determine how much milk the baby is transferring for that feed.

Human milk has roughly the same weight per volume as water: 1 gram per milliliter. We use this 1:1 ratio to get a pretty good idea of how well the baby is drinking at the breast. A baby who gains about 2oz after a feed too in about 2oz of milk from the breast.

The sensitivity of the scale used if a factor in determining the accuracy of the weighted feed. In this episode, Danielle meets up with Katherine Morrison IBCLC, CLC of Atlanta Lactation and Christie Coursey IBCLC of Breastfeed Atlanta to discuss scales, weighs, and how to decide on volumes to supplement based on weighted feeds.

Key takeaways from the video:

• every baby should be fed to satiety at every feed
• scales can give good data that needs to be examined along side data like diaper count and growth patterns
• stool frequency and volume are important indicators of intake when scales are not available

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