To think my BF baby is overweight?

[Rowenleaves]

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?

My baby was overweight according to HV. She said to feed her less.

I continued the way I was feeding before. She is quite normal 18 months old now.

My dd2 was a complete butterball. Seriously chubby looking. She looked like that (with curls she was a fat cherub) unyil toddlerhood when she became very average. Exclusively breastfed. She wasn't a very active baby, she was entertained by her older sister perhaps?!

DD was born on the 50th percentile and within three months was off the charts for weight. By 1yo she had quadrupled her birth weight, however it all started falling off when she started walking. She is now 5yo and very tall, 95th percentile, but thin so her BMI is in the middle of the normal range. I do think the early weight gain fueled the height. She was ebf to six months.

DS is similar though not quite as big or tall.

DS is 1yo and is over the top line in the red book for height, weight and head circumference. He's in 18-24mo clothes and has size 4.5 feet!

DD was nearly as big and she's a tall, skinny 6yo.

I'm actually so angry at this post I don't even no where to start...

Babies can't be overweight breastfed or formula fed, babies are babies. They eat what they need. If they are losing weight it means you are doing something wrong, gaining weight, no.

A older child minder at a baby/toddler group told me that the chubby ones always end up tall! My DD (not exactly the same, who had moved from BF to bottle) was embarrassingly fat at the time - she's now 7 and very tall!

I don't know about overweight but you can overfeed. Especially if you had a refluxy baby who wants to feed a lot for comfort.

I used to feed Dc1 to sleep, he fed every 1.5 hours and piled weight on. I had a crazy supply.

He never really slimmed down or had a big growth spurt and now as a preschooler he is certainly carrying more weight for his height than almost all the other children.

I'm hoping he will start to thin out a bit before school. I worry my frequent feeding and forceful letdown over-rode his natural appetite.

You can't overfeed, they regulate themselves.

If your child is overweight at 4 its because he eats too much NOW, not as a BF baby.

I'm glad most people are saying you can't overfeed. I was feeding my baby at a baby group the other day and another mother said something about seeing why he was so big because I had to feed him twice in the space of 2 hours. He doesn't normally feed that often but he was only having a little each time and her comment made me feel bad!

My friend's breastfed baby was massive, off the centile charts, my friend had to stop seeing HVs because they made her feel so bad. Even I assumed there was something medically wrong (I never said so!). Then suddenly around age 3 the child grew... And slimmed... And grew and grew some more... He is now taller than many children a year older than him, and not at all chubby. Your child is probably just going to be tall. It takes a lot of food to make all that extra bone!

Feed on demand.

*You can't overfeed, they regulate themselves.

If your child is overweight at 4 its because he eats too much NOW, not as a BF baby*

Babies wih reflux CAN and DO overfeed.

And of course if a child is overweight it's because they are eating too much at that point in time, what I'm saying is that it's possible that overfeeding as a baby could override or disrupt the hormones which control appetite, leading to overeating later in life.

I'm not saying this IS the case because I can't find any credible research proving or disproving it. But I think It's possible to overfeed a FF baby too and is that one of the reasons FF babies are more likely to be overweight as adults?

OP my posts aren't aimed at you by the way, chances are you are just growing a big baby and I dont think you should be at all concerned, this is just an area which interests me and in which there seems to be little research. As the mother of a child who cleared their plate and demanded more while surrounded by his peers who appeared to self regulate I am keen to understand why.

My DS went from 10th percentile to around 80th in three months and carried on into the 90s. Lovely smooth curve on the chart as well. Was very chubby, but now at three he's not at all, but is quite tall for his age, so I guess a lot of it was burnt off in growth spurts!

I am very late to this and haven't read all replies, but wanted to reassure you. My ds was exclusively bf till almost 10 months (not interested in solids at all before then) and was incredibly Rubenesque. Our nickname for him was the 'naked baby cherub', because that is exactly what he looked like - a fat, naked cherub from a Rubens painting! He is coming up to 5 now and is slim, active, healthy, with a naturally good attitude to what he puts into his body - I can see his ribs, he has muscle definition in his arms and abdomen. You have nothing to worry about.

Just to add, he was technically overweight from a bmi point of view until he was about 3 (my older 2 had been chubby babies, but became slim earlier) and I worried a lot, but he has got there eventually! And he is tall! BUT, he did have reflux and whilst he vomited quite merrily and wasn't distressed, that may have been a factor based on comments above.

My babies are big ones. Ds2 was 10lb at birth (98 centile) and then went off the chart for both weight and height. He is 21mo but has been in age 3-4 clothes since 18mo. His waist is 54cms and ds1 who is 4 is 51cm. Some babies are just whoppers they are also great to squeeze.

But I think It's possible to overfeed a FF baby too

It is absolutely possible to over feed a FF baby because they do not have to really work at getting the milk out and, of course, the parent is deciding what to feed them (type of formula etc). Breastfeeding on demand is not the same.

SoupDragon my DC1 didn't have to work hard to get milk either, and thrived despite a pretty poor latch (although this caused issues down the line with supply). My letdown was so forceful I was ejecting 60-70ml from a single side in less than a minute, with no suckling. I can't see how that's very different from FF except in milk composition obviously.