My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Infant feeding

Anyone else BF a BIG baby?

18 replies

monkeybird · 27/11/2007 11:11

Hi,

I seem to have big whopping babies and wonder whether anyone else has and what issues have come up?

Leaving aside the having to give away all the newborn clothes I bought and other people gave since they went straight into 0-3 size and v quickly into 3-6 months (he's just growing out of 3-6 now and is only 3 months!)

My 3 boys were 9lb15, 8lb12 and 9lb7. Each has been a VERY strong sucker and frequent sucker (dunno if this is summat to do with being big?) but each has sucked me into oversupply which I've had to sort out...

And I think one of the reasons I found BF each hard at the beginning was that holding a large heavy baby with no head control was pretty difficult when you don't know what you're doing. Just a theory but I've had latch problems with all 3 at the beginning and I'm sure it's because I've had to juggle them slipping off with holding them too firmly etc...

And for the other two (and I'm anticipating it with this one!) there's been about 1 day around now (3 months-ish) when they've seemed to be feeding regularly every 3ish hours and a longer stretch through the night; and then it shifted back to smaller and smaller periods. I've always assumed this was hunger and I just couldn't make enough with one feed.

The advantages though with mine were they were pretty much on a 2-3 hour schedule from day one, apart from cluster feeding in the evening. I've always assumed this was because they must have had a slightly bigger stomach than other babies and so could take a bit more.

Of course all of this could be complete myth and assumption and I've just got babies who are, er, like this, but I'd be interested to know if other big babies are similar?

OP posts:
Report
TillyScoutsmum · 27/11/2007 11:18

Hi

My "little" girl was 9lb 12 oz at birth and has been big since (she's 7 months now and 22lb - so on 99.6th centile)

She's my first so have nothing to compare it to, but I found bf'ng her really difficult.

I always used a pillow on my lap to help support her and had latch/positioning problems. Spent most of the first 3 months feeding her lying down.

She also fed very regularly (pretty much hourly during the day for the first 8-10 weeks) and cluster fed almost constantly from 6pm-midnight. She did then go down and sleep through until 5am ish - pretty much from day 1 so she wasn't too bad at night.

The 3 month growth spurt was a killer and I started mixed feeding from then (1 bottle per day). I started weaning her at 20 weeks and have stopped bf'ing completely now.

I found it incredibly difficult but still miss it a little bit now sometimes - clearly must be some kind of sado masochist

Report
DUSTIN · 27/11/2007 11:18

My DS weighed 9lb6oz when he was born and he would feed every hour during the day- wore me out!! I am only a small person (weighed 7 1/2 stone before I became pregnant) so always worried I was not producing enough milk but he gained weight well so must have been doing ok.

Report
ChubbyScotsBurd · 27/11/2007 11:20

My DS was 8lb 2oz so not huge but very very sucky and shot up to 91st centile quickly. His wind improved tons when I went to single-sided feeding (re your other thread). He would feed 24/7 at first, limpetesque! Now the world's too much fun so he snacks all day and feasts at night (18wks). He's been in 6-9m clothes for a fortnight!

I suspect it's just their nature rather than size but who knows!

Report
OrmIrian · 27/11/2007 11:20

Yes. Three. DS#1 was 10 4, DD was 9 6 and DS#2 was 10 4. I fed all of them for years.

I will confess to introducing ff as well when they went to the CM when I went back to work. And even earlier for DS#1 because the HV said it might help him sleep (it didn't)!

Report
Denny185 · 27/11/2007 11:23

My ds was 10.2, he initially fed for an hour at a time, but after 5/6 weeks settled into pattern of 3-4 hourly, had to rugby ball postition him to start. Dh used to do 10pm feed and that was formula so i could get a chunk of sleep

Report
geekgirl · 27/11/2007 11:28

I bf all mine - 9lb7oz, 9lb4oz and 10lb - didn't really have any problems TBH. All exclusively bf (apart from dd2 who had to be tube-fed prescription formula for medical reasons at one point) till at least 6 months.
I tandem fed dd1 & dd2 too so plenty there for everyone it seemed .

I do think that big babies being harder to bf is a bit of a red herring - they have bigger stomachs too after all. A little baby might need to feed all the time too for some reason or other.

Report
williamsmummy · 27/11/2007 11:36

I fed all my four children and the weights varied, 9lbs, 10 lbs 8oz, 7lbs 3oz 7lbs 8 oz

I found the small ones to be more demanding!
The bigger babies seemed to have the strength to take a good feed in, and slept longer. In fact n2 son fed every three hours from day one, and put on a lb in his first week.

I also think that big newborns are better looking ( apart from the forceps one, who looked good with a hat on) , my smaller ones lost the normal weight during first week, and looked like skinned rabbits.

I had the normal problems learning the game with n1, but had bouts of mastitus with smaller babies.

If i got preggers again ( which am not) I would ask for a big baby. fed by a huge healthy placenta.

Report
Shell001 · 27/11/2007 11:53

Hi,

My DS is nearly 3 months and in 3-6 clothes now.

He was 7lb 15oz when born but seemed to take to bf as he soon put on the pounds and must be heading for 16lb this week. ( was 14lb 15oz two weeks ago ).

He feeds around 3 hourly in the day and at nights is cluster feeds but sleeps though now ..

Trying to express now and build up a store and introduce the bottle. You get so used bf with no sterilziing and bottle feeding seems so much work ..

Ive noticed his trying to bite with his gums and pull anyone else have this ? it hurts ..

Report
MaeWest · 27/11/2007 12:02

Depends what you consider big... DS was (only) 8lb 8oz when he was born but soon chunked up considerably. I didn't have the experience of him feeding continously in the early days as he was sleepy and jaundiced and we had to wake him for feeds (which made those early weeks v stressful). However, once he hit his stride and 'woke up' a little more, around 2-3 months, there was no stopping him . I used to let him feed as much as poss during the day, usually every 1.5 - 2 hrs in the hope that he would go longer at night... He's never been a great sleeper but I don't think that's just hunger related imo.

He was around 20lb at 6 months, but made it to that point with just breastmilk, then took to solids slowly. He was almost spherical between 6-9 months before he started to move. Still bf morning/night at 16 months (plus a few extras ).

Report
monkeybird · 27/11/2007 12:04

geekgirl, you're right I'm sure about the red herrings - and I didn't want to give the impression that big is harder to BF (wouldn't want to put anyone off BF by sounding like one of those loony HVs!). But I just wondered whether there are some similar ishoos to consider. Maybe it was just the juggling wobbly big heads (forgot to mention my babies are 50% head courtesy of their dad who looks like Fozzy bear... evil )

OP posts:
Report
CarGirl · 27/11/2007 12:07

I found my big ones difficult in the beginning because none of them opened their mouths wide enough so it was painful! But also can 2nd the heavy baby with wobbly head, best thing I did was chuck away the supports etc and let them "sit" on my lap - I am tiny though so it worked really well for me.

I always woke mine to fed often during the day and they slept for long stretches at night and through the night at a young age, I used to engorge badly and I remember having to express during the night as babe was fast asleep and I was wide awake and in agony!

Report
ConnorTraceptive · 27/11/2007 12:11

DS was 10lb but was quite a good feeder. Feeds did take an hour at a time but sometimes he would go 5 hours between feeds.

Will deffo be using a feeding pillow this time though.

Report
MegaLegs · 27/11/2007 12:14

Mine were all whoppers 10lbs10, 9lbs, 10lbs15 and 9lbs3. I fed DS1,2 and 3 until 14 monthsish, sadly DS4 (who we later discovered had SN which caused his low muscle tone) couldn't suck, my supply seemed to disappear and I gave up when he was 5 months.

Found it ok, apart from arm ache and the inevitabl egrowth spurts when they seemed to be permantley attache dfor days on end. I really miss breastfeeding, it actually makes me really sad to think I won't do it again.

Report
gegs73 · 27/11/2007 12:25

DS2 is a whopper. He was 'only' 8lb 5oz at birth but quickly shot up to the 98th centile for height and weight. At 6mo now, I'm pretty sure he's off the chart for height and about 98th or higher for weight. He is as big as friends babies of mine with 1yos.

He was actually easier to breast feed than DS1 who was smaller and from day 1 he went 3 hours between feeds (though did the same at night too for 4 months!)I never found he was hard to hold. I did swop to FF at 6 weeks as I had problems and he did drink alot, so my supply must have been good as he was still going 3 hours. I weaned him at 5mo and that is the time when I really thought if I had been breastfeeding I might have had problems as he was drinking so much milk and food too.

Report
lisad123 · 27/11/2007 12:45

My DD was only 5lb 3oz at birth and in 9 weeks has more than doubled to 10lb 8oz.

Report
mistlethrush · 27/11/2007 13:04

Ds a week early and 10.5. After long labour and emergency section, he had 20min feed within 1st 2hrs... I found a feeding pillow really helpful - the ones that wrap round - could just get his head resting on a hand supported on the pillow to get it in the right place, so no tired arms etc. Only problem we had with him was colic from day 3 - cleared up after cranial osteopathy.

Was in 3-6month clothes at 1month, and 6 - 9 month clothes at 4 months, mainly due to length not width.

At 2.7yo no longer such a massive baby - still fairly tall, but not surprisingly so - just chunky and solid, although not fat.

Report
jelliebelly · 27/11/2007 13:09

ds was 10lb 2oz and must echo that holding him was the hardest bit of bfeeding - especially as I had a c-section which meant that I couldn't really sit/lie how I really wanted to either. Good bit was that he slept through the night from 10.30pm ish till 6.30am ish from about 5 weeks old - HV reckoned this was because big babies have big tummies and can therefore hold more to last longer till next feed - that has to be a plus point!

Report
deaconblue · 27/11/2007 13:11

Ds was a big baby and I found bf easier than some of my friends as he seemed able to take huge feeds and go longer between feeds from the beginning. He always went 31/2 to 4 hours between feeds and stayed on the 75th centile throughout the time I fed him.

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.