Jonathan Kramer asked about new growth charts for breast-fed babies.  The
work of Kay Dewey and colleagues at UC Davis has been published in many
medical journals, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, etc.  Many of them
have growth charts comparing breastfed to bottle-fed babies, or breastfed
babies to the NCHS/WHO standards (the ones kindly copied in pink and blue
for your pediatrician by R--- Labs).  Their research shows breastfed babies
are leaner (less weight-for-height and less weight-for-age) than bottle-fed
babies.

HOWEVER, as I have discussed in my publication "Infant Feeding and Growth"
(Annual Review of Anthropology, 1991, or was it 1992?), their research
sample of "breastfed" babies consisted mostly of babies fed on a 3-4 hour
schedule, who were encouraged to sleep through the night at a very early
age.  Since other research has shown that frequent nursing increases for the
quantity of milk and the fat content of milk, I hesitate to suggest that
breastfed babies as a group grow more slowly than bottle-fed babies.  Babies
breastfed on an infrequent schedule, who sleep through the night at an early
age, may not grow as fast as bottle-fed babies.  Breastfed babies fed on
cue, including many times a night, may very well grow as fast if not faster
than bottle-fed babies -- we have no studies to date of healthy babies fed
on what I call a "pattern of physiological breastfeeding" (very frequently,
through the night).

Kathy Dettwyler