The comments on slow weight gain have been very interesting and helpful.
Just to add some more info about my daughter: she was already a couple
ounces over her birthweight when weighed at 5 days. She nursed frequently
(30 times a day), day and night, and slept with me; never had a pacifier,
bottle or anything else. She was a very active, lively baby who slept very
little.

While tiny, she was a "rounded" and chubby looking baby, with those plump
breastfeeding cheeks. Developmentally she was somewhat ahead of the
average - walked at 9 months, was speaking 2 and 3 word phrases at a year,
etc.

Her brothers (fed the same way) grew much faster and taller. Two are now
over 6 feet, the third is 5 ft. 10 in.

My concern or question - obviously, in retrospect, Lisa was just fine and is
healthy. But how do we identify this early on? If you as an LC or
breastfeeding counsellor saw Lisa at four weeks, when she had gained about a
pound, or at two months, when she had gained about two pounds, would you be
concerned? What would you have recommended to me?

Clearly we don't want to miss the babies who are hungry and in need of
supplementation. We also don't want to (in my opinion) add supplements
unnecessarily to babies who don't need them.

Teresa Pitman
Guelph, Ontario

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html