The Observer | UK News | Why big babies are not so healthy
Sunday January 23, 2005
The Observer
"A Chubby baby has been seen for years as the epitome of good health, but new research on the way children grow is set to overturn the belief that big is beautiful. A six-year study by the World Health Organisation into how more than 8,000 children across different continents put on weight in their first years has revealed that those given the best start in life - by being breast-fed and having non-smoking mothers - ended up significantly lighter than the optimum weights suggested by current guidelines. Child growth charts are now based largely on studies that mostly looked at babies fed on formula milk. The new work suggests that for years experts across the world have been significantly overestimating how many pounds babies should weigh.... "

A gift to remember
Family still touched by generosity of milk donations in 1984
By MARK BONNE, Rockford Register Star
"In the infancy of his life, Matt DeVries depended on the kindness of strangers. Until this week, he never fully understood the extent of their kindness. DeVries was born 21 years ago with a birth defect that kept him in the hospital and fed intravenously for three months. In that time, Matt's mother, Jacki Rose-DeVries, quit producing breast milk. When the time came to remove the IVs, no one could find a formula Matt could hold down. Enter the strangers...."