It's pretty often that we have conversations with moms who are concerned because their obstetrician, pediatrician or a well-meaning friend has commented that their babies are not being born when they "should", growing as they "should", sitting up when they "should", crawling when they "should", or (insert anything you want here) when they "should". This can be very stressful and anxiety-producing to moms who up until that moment had no thought of anything being out of the ordinary. Two that are of special concern to us are when they tell a pregnant mom that her due date is passed and that labor need to be induced or a mom who is exclusively breastfeeding that her baby is not growing according to the growth charts.
Babies come when they are ready and in the majority of instances an induction is not only unnecessary, but in fact dangerous because it sets up a domino effect of more interventions, which ultimately leads to a c-section.
Babies grow differently depending on the food they eat. Most often growth charts are based on an average of many babies, most of which have been formula fed. It is not fair to compare formula fed babies to breastfed babies. They grow differently and the same chart should not be used for both. A much better way to judge how baby is doing is to actually look at THAT baby. Is he getting sick often? is he lethargic? is he able to sleep peacefully? if the baby is healthy, happy, energetic and looks good, those are more important measurements than his weight or length.
Here is a good read about developmental milestones from Pathways. We are always so thankful to Dr. Jeanne Ohm and to Pathways for showing us an alternative view of things