While I agree that this is at the low end of 'normal' for babies feeding
well, it is not pathological without certain other features.
If a baby is happy, developmentally and socially on track, and otherwise
well, I don't think there is any benefit to supplementing simply to increase
the weekly weight gain. Also, some babies seem to prioritize longitudinal
growth ahead of weight gain. At least where I live, slow gaining babies are
weighed without being measured in length for weeks on end. I always
encourage mothers of slow gainers to have the baby's length measured too,
and it can be very reassuring to see that they are actually growing by leaps
and bounds, just not getting heavier. It is deeply troubling for mothers to
feel they are undernourishing their babies, and focusing only on weight
without looking at the whole picture may shake the mother's confidence in
breastfeeding so much that she may decide to wean to formula. That isn't
what we want, is it?
There is really no evidence that getting heavier faster is always better
than the growth shown by the baby who is feeding effectively and on cue,
even when the parameter of weight gain is below average.
Simply supplying more calories is a very primitive way of altering growth.
There is a lot of interesting stuff about growth trajectories in the work of
David Barker (fetal imprinting, involving mainly the endocrine system); we
have different levels of growth hormone, for example.
That said, it is infinitely easier to bring one's roly-poly baby for
well-child checks, than to have the clinician say, as one said to me at my
daughter's one year check, 'So, why do you think she's not growing?' when
she was simply growing slowly, and in fact matched my own growth pattern to
within ounces the entire first year of her life. It turned out she had
juvenile rheumatoid arthritis which manifested itself about 6 months later,
and she really did suffer a growth setback then, but had classic catch-up
growth when her illness was treated. She is visiting at the moment, and we
stood in front of a large mirror today, laughing over our identical feet and
nearly identical hands, and heights, if you can call 5 feet a height! I
have broadened more than just my horizons since I was her age, but she is
like a copy of me at 24. Her younger brother was the opposite extreme, and
his growth matched his father's, which in infancy meant a daily weight gain
of well over 2 ounces for the first 4 months. For me it was total
vindication as he was my second child, and even with everything I knew about
infant growth it was frighteningly gratifying to have a baby who just
expanded like bread dough from day to day. Father and son are now almost
the exact same height, and shape, although my breastfed son was a slimmer
young child than his artificially fed father. For the record, neither one
of them is overweight.
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway
Starting to think about packing for Australia :-)
***********************************************
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|