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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think my BF baby is overweight?

93 replies

Rowenleaves · 30/06/2016 15:17

My baby is 3 months old and, despite being born at an average 8lb 5oz, is now on the 98th percentile and always looks so chubby when next to babies of similar ages. My HV says that exclusively breastfed babies can't be overweight and I should continue to feed him on demand. He does love feeding and sometimes I think I should try and space it out a bit but don't want to ignore him if he's hungry. What do you think?

OP posts:

Julju · 30/06/2016 15:20

Personally, I would just continue feeding on demand. Once he has a few growth spurts or starts rolling, crawling and walking he'll probably "slim down" (for want of a better phrase). He might also plateau or drop centiles when you start weaning.

Assuming he was around 75th when he was born it's not a huge leap to 98th.

Julju · 30/06/2016 15:20

Assuming he was around 75th when he was born it's not a huge leap to 98th.

PlanBwastaken · 30/06/2016 15:20

I think your HV is right - he's too young to do anything other than feed on demand. You're breastfeeding, the extra weight will come off when he gets mobile. Enjoy the chubby cuddles :)

MarcelineTheVampire · 30/06/2016 15:21

BF babies can't be overweight as you only produce what they need.

As long as he is on 98th percentile and remains on it then I wouldn't worry too much.

My friends baby is twice the size of mine and he is 3 months younger- he is just a big boy.

Just monitor it and if he continues to put on weight above percentile chart speak to HV again.

DownWithThisSortaThing · 30/06/2016 15:21

I would continue feeding on demand.
He will look chubby next to some babies but it's perfectly normal. He is growing, once he starts crawling and walking it will balance out. Don't worry

splendide · 30/06/2016 15:26

My friend had a baby like this, she's a skinny 4 year old now. The health visitor said she must be producing clotted cream!

Babysafari · 30/06/2016 15:30

Oh just keep feeding on demand.

The even out with growth spurts. Ds went through a really chubby stage before a length growth spurt.

There's no way a breastfed baby can be overweight.

PragmaticWench · 30/06/2016 15:30

DS went off the top of the weight chart and kept going upwards! He was the most incredible size with beautiful rolls of chub. I asked the hv, the doctor, his consultant if it was a problem and they all said just keep feeding him.

It wasn't until an unrelated hospital stay and I was expressing for him to be tube fed that the nurses were stunned at my milk, it was very creamy. Maybe I'm a jersey cow?!

Original poster

Rowenleaves · 30/06/2016 15:30

Thanks guys. You've reassured me. He's also 91st percentile for height so at least he's sort of in proportion! Me and DH are both average height and slim so weren't expecting such a big baby!

OP posts:

wheresthel1ght · 30/06/2016 15:30

No baby of that age can be overweight! Although my Hv tried to tell me that dd was overweight at 4 weeks old. I ff and she had massive chip on her shoulder about it. She had me beside myself so spoke to the GP at her 6 week check who backed up what people are saying here. A baby cannot over feed. Their tummies simply aren't big enough and if you try to over feed they will be sick.

All babies are different, my dd and by friends dd are 3 weeks apart in age and her dd weighs about the same. However to look at them you would say she weighs loads more because she has the gorgeous chubby baby legs - dd is taller so looks skinny - dd has always been long and never had the proper baby chubby legs and arms etc. I feel cheated!!

Original poster

Rowenleaves · 30/06/2016 15:32

Lol pragmatic, I also have comments about my milk quality! How old is he now and is he still big?

OP posts:

whifflesqueak · 30/06/2016 15:34

this was my baby!

carry on as you are.

he's 2 now. very tall for his age and quite slim.

incidentally, are you losing weight? I was a scrawny wee thing when I was feeding my fat baby. I guess he got all the calories.

Cakescakescakes · 30/06/2016 15:34

My boys were chubby big BF babies but as 2 and 5 yr olds now are tall and slim. Once they start moving it all falls off!

DollyBarton · 30/06/2016 15:35

Of course exclusively bf babies can be overweight (you don't 'only make what they need!!' You make what they want....that's very different) but what exactly is 'overweight' in the context of a 3 month old! I wouldn't worry and would just keep feeding on demand but at 1 year I would start wondering if baby was significantly fatter (not bigger because some babies are simply going to be taller and broader) than peers. I don't know, I don't think weight on little babies is usually an issue as they change so dramatically when they start to move and have growth spurts etc.

Babysafari · 30/06/2016 15:39

Oh btw op, ds was born 75th centile then went up to 92nd for weight and 50th for height when he was about 4 months! So not even in proportion he was pure chub!

He went back to 75th/75th eventually and at 12 months now he's spot on.

I kind of think it's ok for babies to have some reserves for if they're ever ill.

Original poster

Rowenleaves · 30/06/2016 15:41

Whiffle, I am losing weight but am definitely not underweight. I'm generally quite slim but did put on weight during pregnancy so am grateful to be losing it now!

OP posts:

ZippyNeedsFeeding · 30/06/2016 15:42

My first baby was exclusively breastfed and very, very fat. My HV would lecture me about making him wait longer between feeds and just stopping feeds after so many minutes. I asked one of my relatives who had BF 8 children and another one who had BF 17(!) and they both said the HV was talking out of her hat. I continued feeding on demand and he continued to be quite chunky (but also very tall) until he was about 4 and then he thinned. He is now 14 and still tall but also skinny.
It isn't uncommon for babies to store up fat and then use it in a massive growth spurt- mine have all done this and not one of them is overweight.

queenMab99 · 30/06/2016 15:42

My son was born at 33 weeks, and was only 4lb 10oz at birth, I expressed so he could be tube fed at first, then breast fed him when he was strong enough, by 6 months he was embarrassingly enormous, but was tall and skinny by the time he was school age.

RockCrushesLizard · 30/06/2016 15:42

My first DD was born on the 50th, and by six months, hit the 91st centile. All EBF. The professionals I saw weren't concerned and sure enough, by a year she was back on the 50th, which matches her height. From memory I believe that the research says because BF babies control their own intake more, this continues when they are on solids and they self regulate.

iPost · 30/06/2016 15:45

My (quite svelte at birth) breastfed baby looked like the Michelin Man after a particularly energetic binge.

Which caused utter horror over here in Italy. His pediatrician put him on a diet at four months of age. He was to have bottles of baby tea (basically sugary water that once had camomile or fennel waved at it as far as I could tell from the ingredients). as substitutes for two of his six feeds. Unfortunate he only had one feed per 24 cycle. He rarely let go of my nipple and I had no idea when one offically ended and another began. It just went on forever.

So I pretended I was doing the baby tea diet thing to keep the world and its mother off my back and he stayed massive.

He's 16 now. From post toddlerhood till now he's done a nice line in looking exactly like a stick of spaghetti. Except now he has a four and half pack. Which he is inordinately proud of.

I really wouldn't worry love. Even though that is easier said than done. I don't think I've stopped worrying since he was born and when he was a baby it was pretty much my full time occupation.

Mistigri · 30/06/2016 15:45

My bf DS was enormous at 3-4 months, in fact there was a period around the 5 month mark when he was more or less the same weight as his sister who is 20 months older.

His weight gain slowed after 5 months (early crawler, very active) and came to a grinding halt between 8 and 18 months, by which time he was an average weight for his height. As an older child he was always slim for his age/height and now he's a classic beanpole teenager.

Original poster

Rowenleaves · 30/06/2016 15:45

Very reassuring to hear of similar babies! It's basically the first thing anyone ever says about him and he always gets comments about his chubby cheeks and double (triple!) chin so I was starting to get paranoid!

OP posts:

pointythings · 30/06/2016 15:45

BF babies are often chubby and fast growing in their first three months - then they slim right down as they start moving. My DD1 was a complete chubster as a baby, by the time she was 2, she was insanely tall and I had to take in all her clothes.

Schwabischeweihnachtskanne · 30/06/2016 15:46

Another one whose BF child went off the charts at 4 months exclusively on breast milk.

Now at 9 he's at the top of the chart for height but about 75th centile for weight (and if you take his age out of the equation and enter height and weight with a birthday 2 years earlier he's near the bottom of the normal BMI range).

Another of my BF babies was like a string bean, long and thin, as a baby, and another again was a total round butter ball, but because she was tiny height wise never went off the weight chart.

Now they are all children not babies they are remarkably similar builds.

Your HV has it right in this case :o

TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams · 30/06/2016 15:47

Chubby babies are gorgeous. He'll stretch out very quickly and lose it as he grows. It's handy to have some reserves on them when they inevitably get sick at some point and eat badly for a few days too.

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