Is there a way to start postgresql v907 as non daemon process

I have observed by default posgresql 8.x onwards starts as daemon process.
Is there a way to avoid it. I want it to run as normal process. The parent
of the server process should be the process that starts the server instead
of being PID 1 ( init ). Till 7.4.2 ( Which was the older version used by us
) was using running in normal mode. The same behavior is necessary as we
have our watchdog failing to identify that it server is actually running.

( Transcript to help you what I am talking about )

c670e04:rkananth 16] /usr/local/bin/postgres --version
postgres (PostgreSQL) 9.0.7

c670e04:rkananth 11] postgres -D /data/db/postgres
c670e04:rkananth 12] ps -A | grep post
65165 ?? Ss 0:00.01 /usr/local/bin/postgres
65167 ?? Ss 0:00.00 postgres: writer process (postgres)
65168 ?? Ss 0:00.00 postgres: wal writer process (postgres)
65169 ?? Ss 0:00.00 postgres: autovacuum launcher process
(postgres)
65170 ?? Ss 0:00.00 postgres: stats collector process (postgres)
65224 0 S+ 0:00.00 grep post

c670e04:rkananth 14] ps -p 65165 -o ppid
PPID
1

c670e04:rkananth 15] ps 1
PID TT STAT TIME COMMAND
1 ?? SLs 0:00.17 /sbin/init --

I would be happy to provide further information if required.