To want to dig a large hole and put my hv in it?!!!!!

mamabear2b: I'm only posting because my DS is virtually the twin of yours. He's coming up for 13 weeks, was 6lb 4oz at birth, and is now 11lb 1oz.

No-one has suggested I should worry about him, and he's obviously a healthy, happy, active little baby.

Join us on the March postnatal thread if you like.

im a hv, no kids yet, i lurk on the conception bit. i think the problem is that years ago hv's were given these charts and all were happy. that was 11 years ago and things have changed. i always look at the baby. if they are feeding, sleeping, peeing,pooing and developing all tends to be ok. i get so annoyed when my colleages see my clients and scare the shit out of them about weight.
there are 'thrive lines' produced by the child growth foundation, ask your hv about these. they are acitates that you can put over the red book to deterime whether a child is thriving or not. i doubt they will have heard of them.
ignore the old boot. if you are happy with your little just keep doing what you are doing. you have no legal obligation to see us! xxx

Your boy is doing just fine. Babies are so individual. You should go with your instincts and carry on listening to what your baby is telling you. You're doing brilliantly.

My DS was constantly feeding until about four months. It was pretty wearing but he seemed to need to. He was off the top of the centile charts which the HV couldn't understand as apparently breastfed babies are never up at that level because they're never that heavy.

Although HVs can be annoying, they've not got much else to go on beyond the centile charts. I guess they just think they've got the child's best interests at heart. Does it go back to that silly old fashioned notion that all babies should be very plump and podgy?

Also, don't forget;

We didn't have charts or health visitors when we lived in caves and we managed to survive!!!

Instinct is an amazing thing.....

I agree with all that's been said my son was 9lb 1oz and was on the 75th percentile but from about 12 weeks dropped off this percentile and HV just bugged me about it. He went down and down and got to the point where helath visitor was referring him to a peadeatrician (sorry for spelling!) she then went on sick leave and i saw another HV who asked was he weeing and pooing (Oh good god he was) and was he an active baby? Which he was/is as he never sits still. She said he must have a high metabolic rate looked at me -size 10 and said he takes after you....
From then on I never got him weighed as it was far to stressful...

Why do they give us these bloody charts as all babies are different, eat different amounts, move more or less than others. Remeber the charts are based on the 'average' baby to which there is no 'average'!!

Btw he's now a VERY active 3 year old who eats meat/veg and tons of fruit....

He's fine Mama.
These people are not authorities on this stuff. However, my HVs were lovely. I never had anyone work out my babies centiles until one day i saw the chart and asked out of interest.

Just had lots of encouragement and b/f support.

Hi
yes agree with previous posters - don't go.
I saw HV precisely ONCE with my third ( and last) babe which was a developmental check at about 18 months as I just wanted an independent view on how she was doing.
Some HV's are brilliant (like my previous one who researched ASD like a woman possessed as soon as son got diagnosis) others do what I call a 'tick the box' which is that as long as when you have left they can note that they have lectured and advised you on something they have filled their quota. My DD's HV was the latter type so I just didn't go. This stuff isn't compulsory - it is optional and supposed to be their to support you. If it isn't doing that then don't go.

I had all this. DS tumbled down the centiles big-time. He didn't even 'perform' well according to the BF charts. He had (and still has) skinny thighs (it didn't seem to adversely affect how he took his injections BTW). You could count his ribs, and still can. His arms were and are weedy. But he was meeting all his milestones. Even now, at nearly 2, he eats more than his little buddies, but is significantly skinnier than all of them. Personally, I am green with envy and wish that I, too, could eat my own bodyweight and remain slim.

I have already warned the HV that with the next baby, she is most unlikely to see very much of me, if anything! She was not surprised - apparently most second-time mothers are much less likely to pop baby on the scales. Which makes me wonder why the HVs don't put 2 and 2 together and realise that perhaps their obsessing with charts and scales is somewhat counter-productive!

If you are confident, then reduce the weighing to once a month. HVs should be concentrating on parents that need help, not families that are doing just fine.

Sounds a good, thriving little boy there Mamabear2b.

Take her grumbles with a large handful of salt.

I had this nagging over weight from my HV with dd (she was 6.5 as well). It got as far as her frightening me half to death by referring dd to the GP. The GP couldn't see a problem and obviously thought I was an over-paranoid first time mum so I made sure I told her it was all the HV's idea!

Not read whole thread so sorry if dupicating...

Ask your GP practice if they have another HV you can see instead. If your son is happy and contented he is obviously getting all he needs. My ds fed virtually continuously and slept on the boob too during the day with only very short gaps. Later found out he had a tongue tie so this might have been why. But if you're not bothered about the 2 hour feeds and he's fine then don't worry.

mamabear2be. I have had exactly the same thing with my HV. I wonder sometimes whether HVs can't see that the world is made up of people of all different shapes and sizes! My dd is now 7.5 months and I am still bfing. My dd only used to feed for 5-10 mins on one side which really worried me and the HV. I stopped going to get her weighed so frequently because it just used to freak me out.

I have the new centile charts and so he started between the 2nd and 9th and is now happy healthy and between the 0.4th and 2nd.

Someone has to be ther and that isn't that big of a drop.

HV crack me up, lots of motions, smiles filling out clothes and good sleeping are better indicators of a satisfied baby than charts.

Go with your instinct, you know where to go if your worried.

eveyone else has already said it....give her the boot , just don't bother going unless you want to. I had a different HV with DD than DS1 as we had moved areas, she was shocked by my declinig of everything from vit k to imms, second time round with her DS2 and she knows not to even bother asking [gron], just put her in her place with some well researched evidence about b/f babies anf the growth charts being complete crap and then leve her there

DS fed every 2 hrs till about 5 months and for 10-15 mins at a time. Sounds normal. Tell hv to sod off

I don't bother with DS's weight - I can tell by his chubby little cheeks and chunky little thighs that he's doing just fine! Mum's instinct is always the best imo!!

The weight charts are about to be re-issued, apparently, because they are designed for bottle fed babies, not breastfed babies. The former put on weight more quickly. 7052.ece

Agree agree! - my HV with 1st child put me through that 'she's not big enough, put her on bottle' and cos I was young & naive I went along with it and gave up bf, wish i'd listened to my Mum instead .
2nd time around I took no notice of her weight gain other than making sure she was generally getting bigger; luckily had much better hv who didn't interfere too much and managed to bf until dd was well over 12 months.
Trust your instincts, he sounds fine, that seems like a great weight gain to me, certainly more than mine were at that age... some dcs are just littler than others!