I agree with all who've said this baby sounds normal.  My own 3rd baby grew
this way.  He was 7 lbs 9 oz at birth, 13 lbs by 4 mos, and then essentially
stopped growing and was just 14 lbs at 9 mos.  He crawled well by 6 mos, and
by 9 mos was cruising all over the house.  He did have bronchiolitis in
there somewhere and was ill for a week, but other than that was very
healthy.  My ped at the time actually suggested not starting solids, and
suggested I not encourage him to sleep through the night so that he would
get some extra feeds at night when he wasn't distracted.  We saw one of her
partners for a sick visit at 7 1/2 mos and this new ped flipped out and
accused me of starving my baby.  She went on and on about how terrible it
was that he wasn't being given any formula, and accused me of not caring
about his health!  Fortunately, I was able to avoid her from then on and
went back to my own ped who reassured me and encouraged me to look at the
baby, not the charts.  Oddly, the baby picked up after 9 mos and gained more
quickly again, and was 19lbs at a year.  My ped was equally calm about this
growth spurt and assured me that some babies just don't read the textbooks
and do things there own way.  This great lady was my pediatrician while I
was in medical school and residency and greatly influenced my own style with
her common sense and calm manner with my children.  She retired 1 year
before I finished residency and my kids and I really missed her.
When faced with a slow grower in my own practice, I try to do a couple of
things.  First, take an adequate diet history to be sure there isn't a
feeding problem.  Second, assure that there isn't a medical condition
(congenital heart disease, GI problem, silent UTI, etc.)  Third, take into
account family history and parent and sibling size.  If all checks out
normal, then I remind parents that there is no proven benefit to being
bigger, and encourage them to enjoy there smaller child who remains easier
to carry around for a longer time!
Jennifer Tieman
Family Physician
Mom to 4, including nursling Caroline Rose born 5/31/03 (who at 20 lbs now
is not one on my slow growers!)

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