To wonder if fat people overfeed their babies....

[LittlebearH]

Ok...bit of a judgy one I am guilty. I am ready to get flamed!

But I have been to a few baby groups there and cannot help but wonder why a few (VERY) large mothers seem to have overweight babies.

One this morning had a 4 and a half month old who weighed 20lbs and she was weaning him already too. She also told me he has 7 7oz bottles a day. He was just over 8lb when born 2 weeks over due.

My DD is 9 months and only weighs 18lbs and is fully weaned. She is on the 25th centile and I am not underfeeding her!! :)

I was a bit when she told me he is weaning him. Is she over feeding??
Has anyone else wondered this?

It isn't possible to overfeed an EBF baby.

It is possible to overfeed a FF one though - there is a specific calculation for the amount of formula a baby needs based on their weight. Some babies want to drink more than that though. Weaning ar 4 months is I think inevitable consequence of overfeeding formula (baby gets too big too quickly and hen is too hungry just on milk even though only 4 months etc)

I am not sure it follows though that fat people would overfed their babies, although it has been shown that the biggest risk factor for a child being overweight is that the same sex parent is overweight (eg girl more likely to be overweight if mum is overweight)

You are stupid.

My baby was 11lb when he was born and is 10 weeks now and weighs 14lb. He isn't fat, just big, but I do worry about over feeding him.
Obviously he is going to carry on being bigger than average because he was bigger than average when he was born, I assume until he can crawl and starts moving around.
The health visitor said he is fine and nothing to worry about but I still do, I don't want to set him up for a weight problem when he is older. :-(

I am not fat by the way!

If he weighs 20lbs he probably needs loads of feeds and I would like to see the mother who is heartless enough to put a baby on a diet without medical reasons.

Lol VinegarT Think I may need your hard hat

NW20 once he is walking they mostly average out

OTT you need a hardhard like me, its made of special steel and err wood of some sort

Yep they do average out. Some of mine have been born chubby, others went through chubby phases. The minute they started crawling, walking and running it dropped off.

lol @ 6 buttocks.

OP, are you sure you are not underfeeding your DD? 25th centile seems low to me.

Ooooohhhh, flamegrilledMama How long were your dcs ??

DS was 23inches long at birth, the doctor muttered, we don't usually bother measuring them these days but bring me a tape measure' to the midwife, in the top 0.5%. He also weighed 9.5ibs.

Anyways op, yabu, and talking rubbish, i'm a porker, my dcs certainly are not, tbh your own child sounds rather underweight to me, have you sought help for it ?

I hope so!
I don't really know how I produced such a whopper, he seems to go through little phases where he is constantly hungry, which I assume are just growth spurts as he does settle back down, but sometimes he gets out of his routine and I end up feeding him a couple more times a day than usual.
Sorry I am rambling now! I just don't want to do him any harm!

You won't do him any harm if you feed him when he's hungry. Not sure how you would force feed a baby tbh. They tend to be self regulating.

Oh for goodness sake, stop being so precious everyone! She is not nuts - maybe she could've phrased it better, and it was probably not a great idea to focus on one mother's weaning programme.

It is not always the case, obviously, but it's NOT completely unheard of for overweight parents to have overweight children/babies - so let's all stop pretending it is.
This might be for several reasons - family eating habits, family fitness habits, genetics, or a complex combination of many things. No one is saying it makes overweight parents bad people, for heavens sake! Just that food/lifestyle choices are important - for babies and children, as much as for adults. We don't argue that some adults' frenetic dieting to achieve a size zero is bad, do we? Not least in the way that their children might copy them.

Honestly all this defensive hand-flapping gets in the way of discussing an important issue in the health of the next generation - the generation, let's not forget, that is forecasted to die before their parents due to increases in heart disease and diabetes, linked to diet and lifestyle. So, whilst not vilifying anyone, the issue should be talked about, without having to deal with the "Well if fat babies are overfed then doesn't it follow that your thin baby must be underfed?" remark.

There is definitely a link between childhood obesity and parental obesity. There is also a clinical link between obese mothers bearing larger babies.
As you have said the wording is going to provoke some outrage but yes 20lbs sounds a lot for a 41/2 month old I think mine was 20lbs at 2 years!

It could be that this baby is overfed. Not necessarily because the mother is overweight, but maybe she has issues around food/emotions that make her overeat that also cause her to overfeed the baby. Similarly an underweight mother with an eating disorder might restrict her child's food intake.

Could be pure coincidence or genetics though.

My daughter was 9 pounds 3 born. By 6 months, she was 12kg - that's 26 pounds. Its off the chart - its well over the 100th centile.

I fed her on demand like we are encouraged to do.

She got there on milk alone.

I would see women like you with their beady eyes judging me. I was chunky at the time but not obese. I have now lost my baby weight.

You are very judgemental but I suppose its a relatively normal assumption to make.

ps: thread moved on whilst I was busy typing, so sorry if it's out of date!

He was 59cms or 23 1/4 inches, but he was only 7lbs 2 so he was all skin and bones I used to hate changing him because there was no fat att all and I am only 5 foot

Grrr. Usually I read the whole thread before replying, but not this time. my 4 and a half month old is 19 pounds, and 8 pounds when he was born. I am yes, overweight, but only by a stone and a half by my preferences.

My baby is ALWAYS hungry. ALWAYS. He has 7 250 ml bottle a day on average, Yesterday he was very tired and only had 5, he woke up 3 times in the night ravenous.

I used to be tied up in knows with guilt, as he ALWAYS ate much more than the little guidelines on the packet. I finally decided to go by him, and our lives looked up immeasurably. He was not waking up every 90 minutes for a start.

I refuse to keep my baby hungry.

um... i have no point actually. Just saying.

rant over.

All fat people overfeed their babies, to make themselves look less gross. They'd look really massive if they had to hold an average sized baby

YABU. Do you think everyone with a big baby is overfeeding, or just those thick gluttons who know no better?

It's not universal; I am Mum to 4 under 11, I've been very overweight (was 18-20, now 14-16 and heading downwards) but DH has always been slim- he did get to 12st but lost 1.5- and my boys at the age of your child were 0.4th centile, 7th, 0.25 and 0.25.

Now, at 11 ds1 has been treated for under eating issues (SN, asd); ds2 (9) is a great eater but very active; ds3 (7) is pretty bang on average (also ASD but loves pasta and fruit) and ds4 is thriving at 2. My largest baby at birth was 8lb 4ox, smallest 5lb 5 oz. All weaned at suggested age at the time, ds4 fully BF until 6 months then still has BF now.

independiente

Thank you. Yes I could have (and should have) worded it better!!

No DD is not underweight...very active! Thanks!

flame- ds1 was 49cm born at 5lb 5oz. It was quite disturning (placental failure due to eclampsia)