Heather, you said:

>Here in the UK there is a charity called the Child Growth Foundation.
It has done some good work in the past drawing professional attention
to the need to take poor growth seriously<

Just to say that this charity is the one who has developed the growth charts
(1990 reference) which are in wide use in the UK.  They have also developed
an acetate which shows 'thrive lines' -- you lay it over the chart and
determine if the growth has faltered sufficiently to be in need of referal.
They are in the process of developing a set of thrive lines specifically for
breastfed babies.  (Be very interesting to know the data source on this
one!)

CGF hosted a meeting of Pediatrcians here in the UK in 1998, and the company
which sells their charts, etc, also sells books and products developed
bysome of the leading paeds in this country.  They have quite an influential
position.

It is therefore so disturbing to have been to a conference and seen the
stand shared between CGF and SMA,  heard the talk by the CGF man, who was
sponsored to be at the conference by SMA.  He gave out the shared logo
head-tape.  He talked about identifying the earliest point of failure to
thrive, he never mentioned what intervention should be condsdered, but, at
his elbow on the stall was an SMA sales rep talking about the new SMA
formula for babies which 'bulks them up'.

see their site: www.cgf.org.uk

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter, BfN, UK

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