See the archives for thorough discussion of growth charts.  In a nutshell,
the DARLING studies by Kay Dewey et al. showing that breastfed babies don't
grow as fast as the NCHS charts were done on babies (mostly) breastfed on a
schedule and (mostly) sleeping in cribs and through the night at an early
age.  Thus, they may very well not have been growing as well as they should
due to lack of breast milk.

The World Health Organization currently has studies under way in a number of
countries around the world, of the growth of infants fed according to WHO
recommendations.  Those growth charts are supposed to be ready in 2003.
Until then, any baby growing poorly according to the current NCHS charts
probably does deserve a closer look by a breastfeeding-friendly
pediatrician.

As I say in the conference presentation that I do on this topic, growth
charts are misinterpreted and misused all the time by some health care
professionals, and new charts based on breastfed babies will continue to be
misinterpreted and misused.  It isn't the charts that are the problem, it's
how they are used/abused that is the problem, and new charts won't help with
that problem.

I didn't like the growth chart site mentioned because it repeats the
inaccurate claim that the original NCHS charts (the ones that came out in
1977) were based on white, formula-fed kids.  Most of the kids were
European-American, and most were formula-fed, but some were not.  It just
isn't true that the current charts are based on 'formula-fed kids'.

Kathy Dettwyler

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