I can't imagine how bad this mother must feel having been told that she is starving her child! ("Babies don't starve themselves, parents starve babies") Why does it seem that breastfeeding somehow sets off a "must make this mother wean" mechanism in some healthcare providers? What if something else is wrong with this baby and they are missing it because they are focusing on bullying this mom into weaning and giving formula? How much more sensible it would be to take an accurate diet history, figure out if it is meeting this baby's caloric needs, assess the baby for other physical problems, and support the mother either in continued breastfeeding if she wishes, or gentle weaning if she prefers! My own 3rd child (ds #2) weighed 13 lbs at 4 mos, and only 14 lbs at 9 mos. His weight gain really fell off right at about 4 mos, coinciding with a prolonged viral illness. He had asthma as well, and was ill several times between 4 and 8 mos. My pediatrician of the time was so wonderful at dealing with this, which after having had 2 lovely, fat babies was very stressful for me. She did suggest some tests around 6 mos which came back negative, and she pointed out to me repeatedly that it was lucky he was nursing. She actually suggested that I not rush to add solids, since he had been ill frequently. She did make sure I was nursing him frequently, and since I was gone full time during the day, that he was given enough expressed breastmilk during the day. He was active and cheerful and crawled at 6 mos. Except the times he was ill, he was always bright and happy and nursed avidly. He started solids around 6 mos, with a focus on calorie dense foods. After 9 mos, he had no more asthma exacerbations and his weight gain took off again and he weighed 20 lbs at a year. He's now a normal sized 6 year old. This pediatrician made a huge difference in how I felt about this weight problem -- since she was encouraging and supportive, I felt very comfortable with how she dealt with the problem. Although I felt stressed that baby wasn't gaining well, I felt we were working on this together and never felt threatened or belittled. I'm quite sure I would have been devastated had someone told me I was starving my baby. I completely agree that it would be a shame if this situation caused this mother to not breastfeed her next baby due to the information she has been given about this baby. Jennifer Tieman Family Physician Mom to 4, including nursling Caroline Rose born 5/31/03 *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html