I went through a similiar experience with my 19 yr old. He disappeared off the growth charts at about 6 months. Was 6 lb 4 oz at birth, about 12 lbs at 6 months and only about 15 lbs at a year. He was bright, alert, walked at 7 and 1/2 months but was never fat, chubby, with no rolls of fat as an infant. He refused food of any kind until 10 months of age. If I touched food to his mouth he would spit and spit. He only took breastmilk. The MD got concerned at a yr and threated to call Social Services if I refused to let them test my son because he was 2 SD's off the growth charts ! The MD recommended stopping Bfing and giving him milk shakes made with ice cream, butter and whole milk ( I told the MD that with my husband's family history of heart disease all that would do is cause him to be a short, fat kid with a bad heart!). I was also told to give him bits of Milky Way candy bars cut up small enough for him to not choke on! We went through bone age x rays, thyroid tests etc for 6 months. They even contacted NIH for info on growth hormones ( back when kids were dying from those) even though Jason 's hormone levels were normal. Finally a nurse practictioner noticed the family history--my husband is 5 foot 6 inches, I am 5 ft 3 in and the grandmothers are 5 ft tall, the grandfathers about 5 ft 8 in, and they finally began to think that perhaps this child is just going to be small. The threat of calling Social Services is what made me submit to the tests, and LLL is what kept me believing in breastfeeding. Some children are going to be small but that doesn't mean they are not healthy. Jason is now 19 yr old, and is 5 ft 5 in and weighs about 125 lbs. He is very healthy, has not been seen at the MD except for 1 sinus infection, and 3 sports injuries in his life. He never again made it on the growth charts but he said there are worse things in the world then not making it to the growth charts. I always wondered if a child is in the minus 15th percentile, what does that mean except as a comparision to a bunch of other children. Sure we want the children to be healthy but being small doesn't necessarily equal unhealthy. One advantage I had with my kids is they always wore out their clothes as opposed to growing out of them. And sometimes, they even wore the same shoes for 2-3 years! Cody is now 12 yrs old and wears a size 10 clothes. He has worn the same coat since fourth grade!! And that is the same coat Jason wore for 4 yrs! Barb Whitehead, IBCLC Eastern NC ( shaking her head at the milkshake suggestion once again!) *********************************************** 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