I'm one of those "slavishly devoted to weights" :-)  I use it to back up
my clinical impressions (not the other way around.)  I make myself only
look at a baby's own progress, not in comparison to   every other baby, but
in comparison to self, upwards, steady etc.  From my reading I've also
learned to expect plateaus and dips and understand why.  It is really just
one more part of the picture, not THE picture, if you get what I mean.

Baby's weight and progress in this area, according to Hrdy is something
that all parents have always honed in on, as a predictor of baby survival.
I know parents are definetely preoccupied with kids' weight.  No one (but
me) seems to worry about overfeeding kids, but let me tell you that all
parents focus on "too skinny", "doesn't eat enough", "small appetite",
"eats NOTHING" ad nauseam every day in the ped office!  (and culturally
some parents are worse about it.)  And let me assure you that these are all
nice, well developed little kids, doing their own thing.
Sincerely, Pat in SNJ

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