I met a mother on the street the other day who said her now 4 month old 
baby had been weighed at age 2 months at which time he had gained 2 lbs 
since birth (not clear if this is since birth, d/c wt, or post-d/c 
wt).  Ballpark of 4 oz/week, which bothers me and concerned her.  But the 
pediatrician had said "not to worry, breastfed babies grow more slowly 
anyway."  Baby not weighed in the 2 months since.  (This is the least 
bf-knowledgeable MD who looks after any of our babies.  He has a large 
practice but he is a bit far away and most of the moms who take their 
babies to him delivered elsewhere.)  This baby did not look good to me.  He 
is pale, the skin on his arms is not filling out properly, and there are 
circles under his eyes.
So, anyway, here's this MD telling her *not* to worry about this baby, when 
indeed she should worry, and on the other hand there are those people 
telling a million Chinese mothers they're wrong to think their milk will 
sustain their babies past 7 months.  It's bitter.
My last action as an LC here will be to send the current WHO growth charts 
(from kellymom's website) to all the area physicians and WIC offices, in a 
3-page post-on-the-wall format headed "Recognize Normalcy".  Don't know if 
it will help!  The other thing is we're starting to send all breastfeeding 
mothers home with those same charts and a note explaining typical breastfed 
baby growth.  They're the ones who will educate the doctors in the end.
Elise
New Hampshire, USA
*really* going nomail now....

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