Anonymous wrote:My son was born at 32 weeks, and was very fragile when I had to return to in-person work. It broke my heart to leave him at daycare, and indeed, he developed failure to thrive, and I had to quit my job and care for him. He turned out to have a global developmental delay.
This is a conversation your niece needs to have with the pediatrician, OP. Weight alone is not as much a factor has developmental milestones and the skills and attention of the people at that particular daycare (ours was terrible).
I do think there are serious grounds for concern, here. It's not the fact that your niece works from home! Just because she works on her computer at home, doesn't mean she can get up and care for a baby!
I think if funds are tight for your niece, you should all contribute to a nanny for at least 3 months while the baby catches up and gains strength. The nanny can watch the baby in your niece's home, or perhaps a relative's home, if one is near. This is what we tried to do, to save my job, but unfortunately we could not afford it.
Me again. Also there might be some post-partum depression going on there. Sometimes it's hard to bond with a premature baby, especially one with special needs like mine. Please do not accuse your niece of poor parenting, she might be struggling with a lot of undefined feelings.