Does everyone know about the new infant growth curves from the World Health Organization? The ones that included breastfed babies in their sample? There's a good article about them here. One of the other moms on a message board I frequent posted these links a few days ago, and I finally took a good look at them. Weight-wise, Madeline started out on the 50th percentile of the old charts, and promptly fell to the 25th percentile, and then to below the 15th percentile over the course of eighteen months. Her fall from the curve even prompted the nurses at the public health clinic to send a note to her doctor's office informing him of her lack-of-weight-gain (which he wasn't too concerned about). Madeline's diet was never supplemented with baby formula.
Honestly, the difference between this new set of growth charts and the old ones is amazing! When I looked up her weight at her 12-month check-up on the new charts, she came in at the 50th percentile. When I looked up her weight from her 18-month immunizations - she was still at the 50th percentile. Wow! Intellectually, I know that she was never underweight or unhealthy, but it still feels good to have her growth pattern reflected as normal somewhere ...
Nikyla would have been and is still under the 'average'. However Jersey is above, and they were both breastfed... Who is to say what is normal.
Posted by: Jaime | May 07, 2006 at 06:46 PM