I know that the story of one baby isn't "evidence" but sometimes it helps to
see how it can work out. I have three boys and one girl. My daughter (2nd
child) was born weighing exactly 8 pounds, but only gained about 4 to 6
ounces a week, despite frequent nursing and a good latch. (Her older brother
had gained much more rapidly.) She was a very active baby from birth, rarely
slept, and rarely stopped moving.
While her brother had been interested in solid foods at 5 months, she
refused them. She started to walk (okay, run) at 8 months, and still refused
solid foods. At ten months, she was taking tiny amounts, and at a year she
would eat 2 or 3 teaspoons a day. At a year, she weighed just over 17
pounds - a little more than double her birthweight.
My doctor told me that a baby's weight at birth does not correlate to their
adult size, but the weight at one year does. So some babies are born "bigger
than they should be" and will seem to be gaining very slowly, especially in
the second half of the first year. My daughter is still small at age 21 -
she's 5'2" and weighs about 100 pounds - and she's still very active. She is
also celiac, but we didn't know that until she was 18 years old - but I
think it may well have been the reason she refused food for a long time,
especially cereal.
I really support the idea of looking at "the whole baby" in these
situations. When I fretted over my daughter's low weight gain, my doctor
pointed out to me her high energy level, her rapid development - she was
walking, talking, climbing, etc. - and how these are all indicators of a
baby who is doing just fine. And when I look at her baby photos, I see that
she never looked thin - she had that rounded, healthy breastfed baby look,
even though she was small.
Teresa Pitman
Guelph, Ontario
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