A distraught mother came to me last week with her four month old
daughter.  She had visited the ped. the previous day and was told her
baby was failing to thrive.  She weighed 7 lbs at birth and weighed 12
lbs in the ped's office at her 4 month visit.  She gained two pounds the
first month and one pound each month since then.  That lead the ped. to
conclude the baby was failing to thrive!

I reassured mother that this weight gain was quite normal.  We looked at
the baby who was bright-eyed, chubby-cheeked, smiling and active.  She
rolled about on the floor chewing on a toy.  She was even trying to sit
herself up already.

We decided to weigh her and let her nurse and reweigh to gauge how much
she was getting at a feeding.  On my scale (calibrated correctly) the
baby weighed 14 lbs.!  Evidently the ped's scale was quite wrong and the
mother had needlessly spent a sleepless night.  I sent a report of the
visit to the ped.  Neither mother nor I have received a reply.

I was happy for the baby, but quite angry with this situation where a
mother was needlessly worried about her beautiful, growing, healthy baby
by someone who should know better! FTT seems to have become a catch-all
for professionals who don't know what they are talking about, don't
respect or value breastfeeding and don't know a perfectly healthy baby
when they see one.  Thanks for letting me vent.

Diane Perrone, RNC
Materna Wellborn
Algonquin  IL  USA

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