All of this reminded me of my own low weight baby.  She was low weight 
for a few years, about 2 1/2.  I did everything, offered high fat, dense 
foods, fed many meals through out the day, and I nursed her as much as 
she wanted.  She had her thumb so she wasn't a comfort nurser, which 
would have helped.  She spent her entire life on the negative 10%, and 
it would have been a problem with some peds, but my nurse practitioner 
was great, and we never supplemented, although we did watch closely.  
She started solids at 5 1/2 months, when she helped herself to a Ruby's 
french fry, and chewed and swallowed it on her own.  She never ate 
commercial food, it was all homemade, and I made it as fatty as 
possible, adding my own milk.  By 10 months she was eating table food 
(my kids get teeth early) but even with that she still fluttered just 
below the chart.  However, when Janene was about 2 1/2, she started 
eating--a lot!  She would wake up at night and a quick nurse and/or 
water wasn't enough--she was hungry all the time.  She ate all day long 
and at night I would add another meal.  She would wake at 2 or 3 am and 
we'd go to the kitchen and have another meal, one I prepared before 
bed.  She did this for about 2 months, and then she no longer needed the 
middle of the night meals.  Shortly after this growth spurt, we went 
into the ped for some reason and realized Janene was now at the 75%.  It 
was a shock, but the eating had been explained.  She is now 8, and very 
tall, although slender, and at the 50% for weight and 80% for height.  
Not that I care about the percentiles but I think it's an interesting 
story and telling, although it's 2am and I'm unsure what it tells... 
Something about how children are all different and growth charts are a 
guide and with Janene, it was just important for us to trust her, and 
relax a bit about food.  I think if we had reacted in another way, we 
might have made a child who had real food issues.

Joylyn

Magda Sachs wrote:

>
> From the way you have reported this, it is a classic of how not to use 
> weight -- of course I realise that this case comes to us third hand, 
> so this may not be an entirely fair judgement!

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