>
>I would not expect a baby who sounds so physically active to gain as much as
>my son did, for example, when all he did was lie there and feed and coo and
>work on deepening the cracks between the fat rolls on his arms and legs.  It
>was a lot more gratifying to go have him weighed than it was with his
>sister, whose weight at age two was about the same as his at four months.



Indeed - this is a normal mother reaction, to be 'gratified' when a 
baby gains weight fast! We just love it - it proves something....what 
I am not quite sure, but something!

I am aware of another, opposite tendency, even so, probably partly a 
result of the current concern about childhood obesity.

For every seven or eight mothers who contact me and my colleagues 
with concerns (real or perceived) about slow weight gain, there will 
be one from someone who has started to worry that her baby is gaining 
too fast.

The latest for me was just this week, from a mother of a baby aged 7 
weeks, who was fully and responsively breastfed. Her own mother had 
warned her that her baby was feeding 'too much' and that she needed 
to cut back in case the baby was being 'over fed' and would become 
obese. The baby's weight and weight gain was normal (on the 91st 
centile) and no HCP had expressed any concerns about health and 
behaviour.  No reason to think the baby was anything other than a 
fine, healthy, thriving specimen!

I think in these cases it is not just 'overweight' where the concern 
lies, but there is a real worry about 'indulging' the baby - this is 
what lies behind the idea that babies should be scheduled and 
regulated, after all.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK

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