Ceremonia ritual de Danza del Sol

It was evident that the weight of their baby was important to women. At the first interview after the birth of their baby, mothers were asked about their baby’s birthweight, which all could recall, and reported using imperial measures (pounds and ounces). Monitoring the weight of their baby was one way in which they judged his or her well-being and progress and how the weight of her baby may encourage a mother to commence weaning has been mentioned previously. Women enjoyed having their babies weighed, and during the interviews displayed the growth charts in their ‘red book’, where the weight of their baby was plotted, often with great pride. The importance they attached to their baby gaining weight was discernable. For example, one woman described the problems her baby had experienced with lactose intolerance and was evidently pleased that, despite this, her son was gaining weight. She said:

‘But he’s put weight on really, really well even when he was having a lot of pain with his stomach and being sick all the time, he still put weight on fine, like he stayed right on the curve [percentile line] didn’t he?’ (005/2).

Another woman explained that, as she was breast feeding and did not know what quantity of milk her baby was taking, having him weighed reassured her that he was growing adequately. When asked if she liked to know the weight of her baby she explained:

‘Yeah, definitely, not obsessed by it but it’s just nice to know that he’s…. especially ’cos I’m breastfeeding, you don’t really know how much they’re getting and you just want that reassurance really that they are getting enough.’ (010/2).

Different responses were evoked when a baby was deemed to be either under or overweight. In general, being small, losing weight, or not putting on enough weight generated more concern and anxiety than being heavier or gaining weight. One woman, who was formula feeding her baby, described how she understood her baby to be underweight because he had fallen below a percentile line which his weight had been following. It is likely that the health professional in this consultation was saying that the baby was under the percentile line on which he had previously been, rather than he was actually underweight, but the mother thought her baby was underweight, which generated much concern and made her question her ability to care for her child. She explained:

‘She weighed him and she said “Oh, he’s a bit underweight” and I was like “What do you mean, he’s a bit underweight?”, so I started panicking then thinking “Oh, maybe I’m not feeding him enough, maybe I’m not doing this, maybe I’m not doing that” you think all kinds, don’t you, you’re thinking “Oh my God, I’m a terrible mother now”.’

(009/2).

Three babies had been referred by health visitors to other health professionals (one to a GP and two to a dietician) because of low weight. One mother, who had breastfed for six weeks and had moved to formula feeding by the time of the referral, was reassured by this, describing the response of her GP. She said:

‘She got weighed and she’s put on three ounces, which isn’t a lot, so then the health visitor said speak to the doctor, but the doctor said it’s fine, it’s just her way kind of thing, as long as she’s drinking her bottles there’s nothing else really, and as long as she’s putting on and not losing.’ (008/2).

However, the two mothers who had been referred to a dietician felt that they were being blamed for their baby’s lack of weight gain, or that their ability to care for their child was being questioned. One mother, who had breastfed for four weeks but had been advised to formula feed because of her baby’s throat problem by the time of her referral, said that she was asked if she could ‘make’ (019/3) her baby drink more milk, the implication being that she should be able to. Another mother, who mainly

breastfed her baby but also gave him supplementary formula feeds, reported that she had felt ‘very defensive’ (004/4) about her baby’s referral to a dietician. She said:

‘It’s just a bit kind of frustrating really because you feel that you’re going to have to try and explain yourself to the dietician and she’s lovely, it’s not like she’s kind of going “God you’re doing it all wrong”, but you kind of feel like she’s thinking, “Well, you obviously aren’t doing it right though, are you?”.’ (004/4).

At her subsequent interview this woman also said that she felt there was pressure to make sure that your baby ate enough, saying: ‘You do feel it’s your kind of failing if

your child doesn’t take a bottle well or isn’t eating what they should be eating or whatever’ (004/4).

Having a bigger baby or a baby putting weight on quickly did not provoke the same level of anxiety. One woman, who was formula feeding, described how her baby had crossed percentile lines in an upward direction and was pleased with this. She said: ‘I know that I had him weighed, it’s in here anyway, he was on the 75th

percentile, and then the last time I had him weighed he was on the 91st, so he’s doing alright’ (005/2). Women tended to laugh about bigger babies and weight gain.

For example, a mother whose daughter was between the 50th and 75th percentile for weight laughed about her rapid weight gain, saying: ‘She just rocketed after that,

and she carried on rocketing, she’s a monster’ (006/2). Another mother, whose baby

was on the 95th percentile for weight and height, commented:

‘I used to take him to the massage class and he’s about twice the height of the little ones of four months old. It’s quite shocking actually how big he is (laughs). He’s a big bruiser!’ (020/2).

One woman expressed concern about her baby being heavier, saying that her grandfather had commented that the baby was big. She had taken him to be weighed in order to gain reassurance that he was not overweight. The health visitor had told her: ‘He’s fine, from the centile chart, he’s just following his birth [percentile] (014/2). This had reassured her, and when she was interviewed when her baby was 11 months old she did not know what he weighed. She commented:

‘I don’t know how much he weighs, I was going to take him tomorrow. He’s big but he’s not fat, he’s just tall and solid. He hasn’t got a fat face and he hasn’t, he just seems like a big boy.’ (014/4).