9 month old weighs nearly 2stone

[notasleep]

I was at the children's centre today, the clinic had closed but they have self weigh scales.

My ds weighs 27lb - he is 9months old in a couple of weeks.

He is bf, and have been weaning since 6 months but he doesn't eat much, but bfs a lot - especially at night.

I haven't been to the hv with him since his 6 week check - I could tell he was gaining weight - and some it turns out..

My dd, now nearly 3 weighs 29lb.. She was a big baby, but was never off the charts, hvs made me feel awful when I went to get her weighed, told me I was over feeding her etc - anyway from 14 months and 25 lbs she has only gained 4lbs, and now is around 60th centile for weight.

Ds is way off the charts. He is long too but not off the chart - about 91st centile.

I can't believe he weighs as much as my nearly 3yo - what can I do about it?! He started crawling a couple of weeks ago at 8 months, much earlier than dd.

[notasleep]

Oops, didn't mean to post yet. I will take him to hvs but am prepared to be criticised again. Should I get a paed referral?

My dp was a very big baby, now a solidly built adult but not overweight. I am very slim and tall.

[notasleep]

Thread title should read 8month old! Argh.

[callamia]

I'd be tempted to wait until he's really moving around. I had a large baby, but once he started to crawl quickly and walk, his weight gain has really slowed down and he's starting to drop percentiles. I suspect this is also due to less breastfeeding and more vegetables.

He IS big, for sure, but if you're breastfeeding and weaning sensibly, then I think I'd be inclined to monitor it for another month or so. What would you change anyway?

[notasleep]

Thanks for your kind reply, I have been feeling awful all day, just how I did with my dd when she was a huge baby! And hvs told me to feed less/ give water instead of milk at 4 months old

I was very careful when weaning her to give a low sugar diet high in veg, not too much fruit and that's what I've been giving him though as I said he doesn't eat much yet.

The only thing I thought I could perhaps change were the numerous night feeds.. Which he obviously doesn't need in a nutritional sense but uses to get himself back to sleep (he does have a dummy too)

[ChoudeBruxelles]

Ds was 20lbs at 20wks. Fat little thing. He's now 8 1/2, 4'8" and solid muscle. But not an ounce of fat on him.

I wouldn't worry about baby fat just if they don't start to slim down a bit once they are properly running around

[HansieLove]

I will tell you what my son's pediatrician said 46 years ago. My baby had been sleeping thru since eight weeks but wanted to nurse during the night at five months.

The Dr. said if you had a sandwich every night at 3 a.m., you would get used to it.

[Showy]

My dd was 23lbs at 23 weeks, can't remember what she was at 8 months. More than that obviously. She was exclusively bf until 27 weeks and was looooong too.

She's 7 now, v tall, whippet thin and muscular. She was just tall all along but without the physicality to carry it off.

I would get a hv to do a proper weight and height check for you and see if you're looking at a similar position on the centile charts for both.

Feeding in the night at 8 months is fine if you're happy with it btw.

[CharlesRyder]

DS was massive. Just over 30lb on his 1st birthday. He went through a really spherical phase just before he crawled at 9mo.

He's been off the top of the chart for height and weight equally by exactly the same amount since he was a month old (now 4.3).

DH is 6'4 and broad shouldered and MIL reports he was exactly the same as a baby. Somebody has to be at the top of the chart or it wouldn't BE the top of the chart!! I've just given in signed him up for mud wrestling rugby.

[notasleep]

Thanks,Showy - he is way off the charts for weight and around 91st for height (my own measurement, not hv)

I will take him to hv clinic and get him properly weighed and measured.

I wouldn't have been that worried, as was expecting another big baby like dd, but he has far surpassed her sumo-like qualities!

I'm ok with night feeds though I am pretty knackered.. He's in the bed and it's the path of least resistance.

[notasleep]

X posts, Charles - thanks for the reassurance and good to know about your chunky baby! Hopefully he will be similar, and crawling will help.

[Pico2]

As a sense check, when you pick him up, does he feel almost as heavy as your DD?

[notasleep]

Pico - Yes.. I was persuading myself that it was because she holds on and wraps her legs round my waist whereas he as a baby is more like a sack of potatoes!
I just couldn't quite believe that an 8 month old could be quite so enormous. I feel awful for not taking him to be weighed since he was born..

[notasleep]

When dd was a baby, hvs kept telling me that you couldn't over feed a breastfed baby - they changed their tune when she got massive though.

So can you over feed a breastfed baby? Without giving bottles of expressed milk..? I don't offer feeds unless he obviously wants to!

[hollie84]

I have a slim DS1 (15kg and 4 years old) and a porky DS2 (10kg at 8 months old). DS2 is about 91st for weight and 75th for height, DS1 was always just under the 25th and didn't weigh 10kg until he was 18 months!

DS2 is chunky but active, snugly fits 9-12 month clothes, but I think eats healthily and looks healthy. I wouldn't worry.

[Fluffycloudland77]

I don't see how a bf baby can be over fed

I was a hefty baby until I started to walk.

[notasleep]

No I don't see how either really fluffy .. But if he doesn't need night feeds, am i over feeding?

Thanks for reassurance hollie! Good to hear of other chunky babies.

[Pico2]

If a BF baby is sucking for comfort rather than hunger and could be pacified with a dummy, then they will take more calories from milk than a baby who doesn't do that or is offered a dummy instead. I know conventional wisdom is that you can't "over feed" a BF baby, but I just don't see why that is the case. Though it is a bit mean to describe it as "over feeding" as you aren't doing anything that goes against advice or is deliberate, nor is it clear that his weight is actually a problem.

[notasleep]

He does have a dummy for sleeping but when he wants to bf he will spit it out and get cross if I try to get him to sleep with the dummy instead..

Thanks for all the helpful and kind responses, was worried about posting!

[Karasea]

Bf babies self regulate, they can spend ages at the breast and take little or little time and take lots. Bf babies in cultures where mums routinely bf on demand and cosleep etc aren't probe to being fatter- the self regulation continues as bf babies are less likely to be obese in the long term.

You have done nothing wrong and your baby will have more of the healthy brown fat in his chub too:) some bf babies are huge, mine was 26lbs at 5.5 months. I have a picture of him at 9 months butt naked and looking like a sumo. He would have been easily bigger than yours by then! He then did a few years where he put no weight on and grew into his frame instead.

By 5 he was tall and lean by 8 he was a giant whose height was off the chart but whose weight was 50centile. Now he is the leanest most sinewy creature around, still tall though.

You have done nothing wrong. Your baby is thriving, you don't need to change anything.

[notasleep]

Karasea - thank you, that's really helpful! At your photo of your chubby ds - I took one exactly like that this evening. The rolls are quite something!

My gut feeling is that he's ok, he's a very active and happy baby. Just shocked me that his weight plotted about an inch above the 99.9 centile line in the red book.. I don't take those charts as gospel but even so!

Good to know about your ds and thanks for pointing that out about cultures that bf on demand and cosleep etc. good point.

I'll give it a month or so now he's crawling and see how he is then. Thanks for all your posts!

[Bartlebee]

I don't know where my red books are, but I do know that my ds1 was on the 98th centile from 6 months to about 2 years.

He was enormously fat with Michelin Man style rolls of fat. He was ebf too. I used to take him to the clinic to be weighed and he was like a sumo wrestler, and the staff would always say 'bf babies can't be fat..'.

He slimmed down from about 3 onwards and is now a slinky and gorgeous 16 year old.

[notasleep]

Thanks bartle! It's reassuring to hear about other chunky babies who grew up to be slim.

Interesting to hear that the hvs said bf babies couldn't be fat. I get the impression that now hvs are so concerned about heading off childhood obesity (with good reason) that they possibly go too far in the other direction and at such a young age.. Hence why they told me my dd was 'too big' at 4months old and ebf.

[Karasea]

The hv who spike about your dd was applying info for ff mums to bf babies. She wasn't listening on her update day:))

It isn't unusual for bf babies to be chunky, my skinny one was 24 lbs at 8 months...my friends' babies were all bigger still and her oldest is a 6ft size 8-10 these days.

Enjoy those rolls, so much better to snuggle than the bony bums and elbows that sit in my knee these days!

[LuluBrush]

My DS1 was a huge baby, he was way off the charts too. He was tall but he was fat too. I breastfed him and he used to quickly glug the milk down. I think he was getting too many calories from his milk. I only fed him milk first thing in the morning and late at night after about 6 months but he was clearly still getting too many calories.
He was a bit chubby as a toddler but fortunately he grew out of it and he is now a skinny 6'3 23 year old I was more careful not to over feed the rest of my kids.

Personally I would stop giving any night feeds. It will be difficult for a few nights but hopefully won't take long. I stopped breastfeeding my DC at 9 months (it was pre the current guidelines, I'm old!) It only took them a few day to stop minding and they all suddenly started to really enjoy their food.

[AdoraBell]

What was your DH like as a baby? You say he is large but not over weight now, could be your DS is following a family trend. I'd agree with waiting a while To see what effect the excersise of crawling has and then see if you can Get DH along To the HV with you so they can see both the gene sources.