Madeline Haucke, “Test Weighing of Breastfeeding Infants to Measure Breast Milk Transfer”
Mentors: Barbra Haase and Teresa Johnson, Nursing
Poster #57

Test weighing infants before and after breastfeeding provides immediate feedback on breast milk intake for mothers and healthcare professionals. The amount of breast milk transferred to an infant during a feeding is imperative to determine if they received a sufficient quantity of milk. This quantity is the first step to estimate nutritional intake for the infant. The purpose of this project is to conduct a Scoping Review on infant test weighing. A second purpose is to review studies that reported the reliability and validity of test weights. The third purpose is to explore the impact of test weighing on maternal stress and healthcare providers’ confidence levels with the procedure. An evidence table is being developed to include all of these research studies and to describe the development of the technique within scholarly studies. To begin this work, I reviewed background information from previous experiments to distinguish how it relates to our research study. The purpose of an evidence table will provide the reader with information about how reliable the evidence underpinning the clinical question is. Having background information allows us into the next steps of the study. We will attempt to identify which scale is most reliable to use when collecting test weight data in the clinical and home settings. The test weighing procedure requires the infant to be weighed with the same clothing, blankets, and diapers before and after each feeding. This procedure provides mothers and healthcare professionals with accurate information about breastmilk transfer. Knowing the amount of breastmilk transferred to the infant can relieve stress of mothers that are struggling to breastfeed their infant.