At 07:21 PM 3/26/97 -0700, you wrote:

>that just seem to want to control people! This baby is
>2 1/2 times his birth weight, what does this guy expect?  Also, the fact
>that the baby was born early should be taken into consideration and
>obviously has not.

Thank you!!  I have been trying to tell her this.  My own daughter did not
double her birthweight until *over* 6 months.  Her son doubled in less than
*2* !!!  My daughter is petite (and I was harassed at her 9 month check
because she had only 'gained'  1 lb 10 oz-- but she had grown over 2.5
inches in length!!  And she was walking!!  When will these charts be tossed
out the window???  :(

>There are times when mothers need to veto what physicians say and go
>with their own instincts and common sense instead.  It is often

Often though, they are told they are causing 'irreparable neurological
damage'  Even *I* had negative things written in my child's medical chart--
"Mother is still breastfeeding and refuses to supplement despite an
inadequate diet [I had mentioned honestly that i don't eat many vegetables]
 that probably is not providing adequate nutrition for the child.  "
Amazing, considering that my daughter had never even been to that doctor
for anything other than a well baby check in 9 months of her life!!   My
daughter even had adequate *iron* yet this doctor still 'prescribed' iron
drops at the nine month visit because of Peyton's "inadequate weight gain."
 Luckily, I knew for a fact i was even *smaller* than my child as a baby-
barely weighed 25 pounds in *kindergaten" so i was able to tell the
pediatrician that i would *not8 be supplementing *nor8 would I be forcing
Peyton to 'eat more solids.'

>difficult for mothers, especially first time mothers, to do this without
>alot of support.
>I'm glad this mother has decided not to go to this ped again and go to
>someone else instead.  Hopefully, the next one will be reasonable.

Unfortunately this other pedi also concurred with the first on the
'hospitalization' issue.  She has a local IBCLC working with her as well.

>I know I haven't said anything earth-shattering, but I do wish this
>mother the best!

Thanks for the reassurance.


Heidi Murphy
Peer Counselor, BSN Student