Weight gain is but one tool to assess whether a baby is doing well.
It is certainly not the only one.  As one recent post pointed out,
babies can gain at different rates and still "end up" perfectly
normal.
This was really pointed out to me several years ago with a
friend/co-worker.  She had had several "failed" pregnancies, had
complications of her own (bicornate uterus, Marfan's syndrome with
its heart risks, etc.)  She finally managed to maintain a pregnancy
to viability and the baby was born at 28 weeks.  She was bound and
determined to breastfeed.  It was a slow start, but she persisted.
The baby gained VERY slowly.  She had an extremely supportive doctor
who felt the baby was progressing fine.  Even those of us very
supportive and positive about breastfeeding were concerned when at
3-4 months he looked more like a 6 week baby.  He was a little
behind the average in some of his early developomental milestones,
but mom and the doc weren't worried.  I lost touch when she moved
away.  A few years later she came back for a visit.  The little boy
was lean and lanky (may well have inherited mom's Marfan syndrome),
but very active and quite smart.  His ability to read, comment on
what he was reading, and go back to reading was beyond what one
would expect for his age.
I'm sure with a different doctor, he would have been stuffed with
ABM, early solids, etc.  Mom might even have been accused of
neglecting him based on his appearance alone.  While weight gain in
this case was well below the "charts", baby was growing at the rate
that was right for him.
Winnie

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