Heather Welford Neil asked whether the babies in the aforementioned case were
ill, and whether they lost 'lots' of weight.  Julie Rosen has responded:
>Each boy lost about a half a pound to a pound within a couple of weeks =
>and were extremely irritable.  Knowing this mom, who is also a =
>pediatrician, I don't think she suddenly stopped feeding them often =
>enough or running around a lot or otherwise doing too much.  Also, she =
>did not go back to work after her second.  The first child has =
>developmental issues (PDD, I believe), but no health problems.  The =
>second child has no issues at all.   And, like I said, she worked with =
>LLL to rectify the situation and was highly motivated to improve things, =
>so I imagine they covered all of these issues with her.

I am with Heather in believing that it is HIGHLY abnormal for a three month
old baby even to stop gaining, even more abnormal for them to lose weight.  I
have not encountered this phenomenon, but I am familiar with mothers who call
around 3 months post partum because their breasts are softer and the babies
are spending less time eating.  Some are increasing number of feeds which
mother interprets as 'decline in supply'.  Some may even be gaining less
quickly than in the first surge of growth after birth, and some may be
arousing the concern of health care providers.  But I have not seen babies
lose weight, certainly not to this degree, if they were well and getting fed
when they signaled interest.
A pound is about 450 grams.  I more commonly see babies who are gaining half a
pound to a pound every two weeks at that age.  These babies were irritable.  I
see why one would want to assume everything had been done right by the mother
and by the LLL leader who worked with her.  I still would want to ask very
specifically about BF practice: frequency, who determines duration of feed
(child or mother), growth pattern before the 3 month crisis, etc.  And I would
want the mother to have an endocrinology work-up if everything else checks
out.  Things that argue against endocrine problems: apparent disappearance of
problem in pregnancy and early postpartum.
Rachel Myr
Kristiansand, Norway

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