to think this is ridiculous advice....

[BigRedDragon]

Been festering about this, not massively, just niggling but annoyed at health visitor and her unsolicited advice. I went to get dc2 weighed in the week. He is a big baby at nearly 28lbs at 6mths. She asked how often he fed overnight and I replied every 3 hours ish but as we co-sleep it wasn't a huge problem. She then went onto tell me she saw me feeding him whilst waiting and I shouldn't make so much eye contact or stroke his cheek whilst feeding him as I'm teaching him feeding is more than nourishment, he'll then feed to get attention. I reassured her that he got plenty of interaction and attention regardless of feeding and left.
Just been niggling me, I couldn't help but picture a mother taking this advice and ignoring her baby. I firstly found this annoying as I didn't ask for advice, I feed on demand happily, but I really found it the most ridiculous advice going, and sad in so many ways!

[HerrenaHarridan]

Babies are sooo different. 28lbs at 6 months is huge but ebf are not overweight.

My dd was 10lbs at 6 months. That is tiny. Ebf on demand.

I had the same problem in reverse.

Definitely don't stop loving your baby during feeds op.

[trashcansinatra]

Sounds a lot like the consensus is that health visitors add no value.

[wonderstuff]

I got told by one HV to wean at 4 months because WHO advice was based on 'African babies' and I bloody believed her. Another told me to shout no at my 5 month old baby when she wriggled on the change mat, cos she needed to learn like, and a third told me if I didn't wean by 26 weeks at the latest I'd miss the 'weaning window' she looked dead serious as I scoffed at the idea of breast feeding until college if ds still wasn't interested in solids at 27 weeks..

[2Tiredtocare]

My 6 year old doesnt weigh 3 stone yet but its all relative

[wonderstuff]

Makes me so angry that HV give shit advice, to the point where we all 'smile and nod' they are graduates with a post-grad certificate, similarly qualified, and I imagine paid to teachers. If teachers gave advice based not on research and training, but their gut instinct, or even frequently ignored research and gave out conflicting advice, you would be straight on the case to the head. No other branch of nursing would act like this. Needs sorting IMO.

[IWishYouWould]

OP my DC's were both big babies. DC2 has always been 98% for height and towers over other children. Always been two clothes sizes bigger than actual age. DH was the same weight at 6 months as your DC and also very tall. Nothing wrong with any of them.
Another vote for complaining. I do suspect it's our area you live in, the HV's are shocking with some of their 'advice'.

[zatyaballerina]

If it was from overfeeding your older son would have continued to gain a huge amount of weight so your right not to get stressed about it if it's genuinely just the way they are. All kids are different.

[SmiteYouWithThunderbolts]

Feeding IS more than nourishment in nutritional terms. It's emotional nourishment too, which is incredibly important.

Please do complain about that HV's advice. Appalling.

[SomePeopleAreIdiots]

You can't overfeed a breastfed baby. Listen to the OP, her ds1 was the same.

OP, my hv also suggested ds breastfed so much (not really into solids for months) as he got cuddles, attention then. I really think a lot of hvs only have a few set ideas that they try to fit to all the children they come across to answer any issues, rather than actually listening to the parent and acknowledging the big variety of personality, behaviour etc.

[Gileswithachainsaw]

Drilling? Dropping that should say

[Gileswithachainsaw]

It is very bad advice to be recommending drilling milk feeds at six months. However I can see why she would be concerned about size. Both mine were three/approaching three before they weighed the same.

Dd was five before she reached the 3st mark that your Ds hit at 1.
You clearly breed sturdy babies :)

[2Tiredtocare]

Babies who are exclusively breast fed will just be the weight they were meant to be, just ignore her and be glad that he is your 2nd so you've been there before and you know you are right. Hate those bloody centime charts

[DirtyDancingCleanLiving]

No one's talking about a diet.

Milk is the most calorific food a baby has.

For a 6 month baby who is just about weaning age, it's not 'bad advice' to suggest cutting down on milk, especially if they are carrying a bit too much weight.

[LambinsideaDuckinsideaTrout]

No exclusively breastfed baby should ever be put on a 'diet'.

Bad, bad advice.

[BigRedDragon]

I know he is huge, 27.8lbs to be exact, and 6.5 mths so not quite so bad but yes ds1 followed pretty much exact same growth chart as did my dh, as did 2 of ds' s cousins. I gave myself hell about the size of ds1, I was constantly worrying about it, at 1yr he was 36lbs, now ds1 is 39lbs so I just think its how they grow. I refuse to get as stressed about his growth rate as I did with ds1.

[Quoteunquote]

He is a big baby at nearly 28lbs at 6mths.

she would of had a heart attack at the size of mine,

Ignore she is clearly inexperienced.

[NoIHaventHadTheBabyYet]

I have had six children, my hv asked me if I knew how to make bottles up, I said yes I have done them for all six children, she then gave me a leaflet about it and read it to me.
I was pissed off but like others have said smile and nod
Enjoy your baby as much as you can, in a few years he will be too busy with friends, music or xbox!

[2Tiredtocare]

28lbs at 6 months is very big, was DD1 of similar weight at that age? If so then you have your answer, ignore

[DianaOfThemyscira]

She sounds like a complete tool.
Complain.
Breastfeeding is about so much more than belly filling, and she of all people should know, appreciate, and encourage!

[Only1scoop]

You don't have to (and obviously don't wish to) take her advice....hv seem to really differ in opinion and advice I find.

[nocheeseinhouse]

Oh, I got told all sorts of shit by HVs. I quickly learned to ignore, and that breastfeeding did appear to confuse them. I'm surprised she didn't go apoplectic at co-sleeping, mind always did. At about 9 months, I needed more sleep, so I asked for advice about weaning at night. She then gave advice on replacing feeds with food during the day ('try babyrice' 'I'm doing BLW' 'Oh... well, babyrice works.') and wrote in the red book 'going to try and wean from milk feeds in the day.' No, no I am most certainly not! Day feeds= good, I want SLEEP!

Complaining will do little good, as I think lots of them firmly believe this shit. No point arguing with fools. (I also know some excellent HVs, they are so variable.)

[DirtyDancingCleanLiving]

Out of interest I just grabbed ds1s red book.

Ds1 was a huge baby. He was very, very tall (above 98th centile from birth) but was however very fat, up until about 10 months. Looking at pictures of him now shocks me, he was like a little bowling ball, with rolls and everything.

At 29 weeks he was 23lbs.

If your 6 month old is 28lbs then to be frank, that is massive and no wonder the hv is trying to advise to reduce feeds.

[zatyaballerina]

If it's not disrupting your sleep then I don't see a problem with it but it sounds like she was giving you advice to cut down on night feeds. Is he very fat? 28lbs is huge for a six month old, how tall is he? If he is massively overweight (despite being tall), then cutting down would be advisable.

[DirtyDancingCleanLiving]

Would she say the same about a bottle fed baby?

Complain!

Er...I was already doing it anyway (at night time...which is what I think this hv was referring to) but my hv suggested this to me and my bottle fed baby.

It can be done regardless of feeding method.

[trashcanjunkie]

mine (singleton then twins) each had five bellies. literally. ebf most of the first year, then blw. All massive babies. Now all tall gangly whippet people. Health Visitor needs re-educating. Stupid, ignorant, thick bint.