Nursing Matters is currently advocating for a 16 month old, 
breastfeeding toddler.  The mother is in involved in another matter with 
Social Services, and the official NHS paediatrician has stated the 
toddler's weight is 'too low' and has ordered weighing every two days.  
This is a classic signal that the paed. is going to claim parental 
neglect via extended breastfeeding. 

The paediatrician announced the toddler's weight was 'too low' on the 
basis that the toddler was on the 9th percentile.  (15th percentile, WHO 
charts)  All other developmental milestones have been checked and are 
perfectly normal.

We're anxious to put a stop to further futile exploration of the 
toddler's weight, by making a clear advocacy statement that it is not 
position on any chart, but pattern, that is the most immediate indicator 
that further investigation may be required.  The toddler is indeed on 
the 15th WHO percentile, and has followed the line perfectly since it 
was 7 and a half _weeks_ old.   We've had the actual toddler's official 
UK 'red book' charts, checked by a fully qualified IBCLC, who has 
prepared a statement that this toddler's chart does not indicate any 
weight gain problem at all.

What we now need is a facing page, with shiny qualified quotes and 
references, that allows a lay person to understand that a child on the 
first percentile, is as healthy as a child on the 99th.  In other words, 
we need to challenge the assumption that a low percentile =  
underweight.  (Yes, I know this shouldn't be an issue, but it is.)

If you are aware of any quotes or references, that will illustrate this 
simply and concisely, please let me have them.  We have the WHO 
statement that the charts are an indicator of normal growth, but we 
haven't been able to find anything that explains pattern, versus 
percentile position, clearly.   The world does seem to equate low 
percentile number, with underweight and a subsequent health issue.  
(Remembering that this infant is following the curve perfectly.)

However, the reference cannot be from a La Leche League source.  (Don't 
ask, I can't explain.)

If you are working in this field, and can supply your own tailor made 
quote (generic to principle, not the infant) and would be happy to do 
so, please email me. 

It's worth stating that this is an area that arises throughout the 
globe, a great deal.  The quotes and references we garner, will be 
databased and made available to anyone fighting this ignorance, for the 
future.  So for that reason, if you do have LLL resources that cover 
this, please forward them to me for databasing, but be aware that they 
can't be used presently, to advocate for this particular toddler.

Hoping I've made all that clear - it's quite a tricky thing to 'unmake' 
knowledge, and present to you the precise piece of ignorance we are 
framing our advocacy statement to refute.

Thanks in advance...

Morgan Gallagher

www.nursingmatters.org.uk

("We will not rest, until every toddler on the planet has an above 
average weight!")

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