Whew -- just plowed through 22 LactNet digests from when I was gone to Boston! Place has been busy . . . thought I would add my .02 worth to several discussions. For those of you not familiar with my background, I am an anthropologist who specializes in breastfeeding, weaning, and the growth and development of children.
Someone wrote about a child's progress on the growth charts: "He commented to me, that that was most important - consistant, even growth - no matter how small or weirdly placed."
It is a misunderstanding for the doctor to think that consistent, even growth is normal or healthy. In fact, most children do not grow evenly or consistently, but rather in fits and starts. The nice smooth curves you see on the WHO/CDC/NCHS/Ross Labs growth charts are based on averages from thousands of children, and then additionally they are "smoothed" statistically to take out the dips and bumps. No real child grows steadily along one percentile their whole life. For more info, see the research of anthropologist Michelle Lampl from Emory University for meticulous documenting of the stop-and-go nature of children's growth in height. It can be perfectly normal for a child to start at the 75th percentile, drop to the 20th, go back up to the 35th and eventually creep up to the 50th. Or any of many other combinations.
Remember that 5% of NORMAL, HEALTHY children will be at or below the 5th percentile of weight and height on the charts. That's what the 5th percentile means.
Someone mentioned zinc deficiency. Children who are zinc deficient have a loss of taste sensation -- thus foods tastes bland and blah, and they don't particularly enjoy eating. They eat less, and can become malnourished and not grow properly. Boys who are zinc deficient will have delayed puberty. You can be zinc deficient either because your diet doesn't have sufficient zinc OR because your diet is high in carbohydrate sources that have lots of phytate (such as millet and sorghum, as well as others). Phytate actually pulls zinc out of the body and binds it in the intestines, from whence it is eliminated.
Someone wrote, quoting from the "Baby Whipper" : "Feeding him every hour or so, i explained, meant that she had to be misinterpeting his cues. No normal baby needs to eat every hour."
This woman doesn't know anything about normal babies. Normal babies eat several times an hour.
Someone wrote: "I am curious if the NCHS growth charts are the tables primarily used throughout the world"
Yes, the WHO/CDC/NCHS/Ross Labs growth charts are used throughout the world. They have been the standard for several decades. You may find them labelled specifically as "WHO Growth Charts For Use In Africa" -- but they're exactly the same as the pink and blue ones Ross Labs sends to US pediatricians.
And continued: "and/or if the charts for bfed babies were ever developed. I keep hearing of the need for change and thought WHO was going to develop one, but haven't seen it. Can anyone lead me in the right direction."
The WHO growth charts based on babies from around the world, fed according to the WHO Infant Feeding Recommendations (exclusive bf til 4-6 months, continued breastfeeding til age 2 years at least, with appropriate solids started at 4-6 months), are scheduled to be published in 2003. In my humble opinion, they will probably not differ very much from the current charts, and will be just as likely to be misused and abused, thus not solving the problems.
Someone wrote about the saying: "It takes a village to raise a child." This is a common proverb found throughout West Africa, where the cultural traditions include many proverbs and wise sayings. What it primarily refers to is that EVERY adult takes responsibility for EVERY child, whether they are genetically related or not. Thus, any adult will chastise a child caught misbehaving, and children know they must behave around any adult, not just their parents. I picked this habit up during my 2 years in Mali when I was a first time mother (Miranda was 15-39 months old when we lived in Mali). Thus, I don't hesitate to yell at other people's kids at the bus stop when they are misbehaving, to tell them if something they say or do is inappropriate, to yank them out of the street when a car is coming -- even if their own mother is standing right there. Many US children are scandalized at this -- they are used to feeling free to act any way they want as long as their parents aren't around. It can be quite an amusing past time. You should see the looks on children's faces when I explain to them why it isn't appropriate to refer to someone as being "Such a retard." Or why it isn't appropriate to ride their bicycle without a helmet. Or why they shouldn't be shoving and pushing in line at the movies.
The flip side of this is helping children in need when their parents aren't around. Thus I comfort a crying child who is lost in the grocery store and help him find his mother (even though other adults in the store just ignore him). When a little girl falls off her bike at the park and scrapes her knees bloody, I give her a tissue for her tears and walk her home and make sure someone is there. When my (now grown) daughter Miranda met her little brother off the school bus one day and a kindergartner was upset because no one was there to meet him, she walked the 5 year old to his house and then waited with him there until his dad drove up a few minutes late. West Africans know that parents can't always be with their children, but they can count on extended family, friends, neighbors, and even complete strangers to both keep their kids in line and to help them when they need help. This is what is meant by "It takes a village to raise a child."
Someone wrote about the death of the author of the "What to Expect" series: "More important, the big points Arlene always pressed home is that your child is an individual, and that he or she is entirely lovable."
I certainly mean no disrespect for the dead, especially considering that Arelene died of breast cancer :( but I have picked up any number of editions of the "What to Expect" series over the years in bookstores, checking to see if they'd gotten any better, and the main message that always came across to me from just a quick glance at certain sections on breastfeeding, weaning, and sleeping, was: "Children are a huge pain in the ass, little demanding tyrants, and you'd better whip them into shape when they're young or you'll regret it the rest of your days."
It wasn't as blatantly anti-child as the Ezzo material, but I always thought their main message was, none-the-less, distinctly anti-child.
Re: Metabolife -- metabolife has some nasty stuff in it, that no one should be taking. Many people react very badly to the ingredients.
OK, end of comments from the Peanut Gallery.
Kathy Dettwyler