Should you put a 3 month old baby on a diet?! Starting to worry after percentile jump!

[MotherofKitties]

Hi all,

So my DD is 15 weeks and she was born full term at 6lb 11oz and was 9th percentile, and we’ve been weighing her every two weeks and she’s stayed right in the middle of the 9th percentile. Weighed her today and she’s gained 2lb in Just under two weeks, making her jump from the 9th percentile to the 50th!

Our HV said we her last visit (6 weeks) that if she jumped more than 2 percentiles/lines either way we would have a problem on our hands; well she’s jumped nearly 3 lines!

DD is now exclusively FF after refusing to combi-feed after 8 weeks where she did BF (had various issues with latching which meant I was never able to EBF ).

Did anyone else’s baby jump in weight similar to this? Was it an issue? There’s all these articles saying it means she’s twice as likely to be obese and I’ve started panicking!

She’s a really happy, good natured baby and I don’t use the bottle to placate her or anything, so I don’t know how I would restrict her milk intake even if I wanted too! Would you take her to the doctors or just wait a few weeks to see how her weight goes? She’s my first so I’m new to monitoring a babies weight!

" Some of these replies are worrying. If your baby eats it, they want it and need it."

Not one poster has suggested that the baby should be fed less, go on a diet, or anything of the sort.

Absolutely not, OP. DD went from the 50th percentile when born to the 90th at 10 months. At her 2 year check the HV said she was on the line between overweight and obese! After chatting with NCT buddies turns out every one of their children was classed as overweight or obese. It was nonsense. None of them even looked chubby. I think it's a ridiculous thing for HV to be obsessed with at such a young age.
DD is nearly 3 now and perfectly healthy (if freakishly tall!!!)

You can measure height yourself by lying them on a tape measure. It’s not quite as accurate as those measuring mats, but you get a rough idea. Just have to be careful to straighten DC’s legs out properly.

Thank you all so much for your replies, I really appreciate everyone sharing their experiences!

I initially thought it was ridiculous to try and limit a 3 month old babies milk intake, but the more we read the HV book and looked at ‘official’ advice the more worried I became!

I think I’m just going to carry on as normal. She’s a happy baby and it had never occurred to me previously that quick weight gain at this age was an issue, and given all the positive stories and outcomes you’ve all provided there’s clearly nothing to gain from worrying too much about the HVs comments!

Thank you all again xx

The charts are for identification of failure to thrive. They are not suitable for any other use & your hv needs to know that.

Just to add. Every 2 weeks? I think you're weighing your baby too often. Every month or so is fine.

My 2nd daughter looked like a roll or several rolls of butter. She looked like that until she started moving. Her weight leapt all over the lines as she seemed to hit growth spurts differently timed to her usual centile line.

I believe the concern with jumping more than 2 percentiles is for much older babies (toddlers- school
Children) bearing in mind obesity on one end and neglect on the other. Not under 2s!

Hv at weighing clinic told me to do this at 4 months... we never went again. He was a ginormous baby. Started weaning, crawling etc it fell off he's fine now!

Hell no!

Ds was on 50th centile at birth and was on 98th after a couple of months. We had the HV fussing about over feeding. When he became active he went back to the 50th and is definitely not overweight as an older child.

No no no! Keep doing what you are doing and don't listen to health visitor. She is on 50th percentile which is average.

definitely don't put her on a diet! Just feed her when she's hungry like it sounds like you are doing. My babies were mostly bottle fed and just turned away from the bottle when they were full.
They also both jumped around those centile charts like nobody's business, finally settling on being tall children of an average weight.

Don't worry op, just feed her if she asks for milk.

Dd was 1lb heavier than your DD when she was born. She is up over 91st centile before her first birthday. She is in no way overweight now at 2 (stayed the same centile) and her height is on the same centile.
I wouldn’t worry. Your baby is far too young to be concerned about weight now. I was worried too but when they start moving they do slim down

We had much drama about centipede with our preemie who barely ever gained weight. It was her consultant who reminded us there are two centiles to look at not just one. There should only be a concern if there is a massive difference between height and weight. If your LO is around 50th for height and has reached 50 for weight, then it’s happy days. If LO is 2 for height and heading over 50 for weight, then it’s worth having a chat with a GP (or useful HV). There shouldn’t really be more than a 3 or 4 centile difference between the two.

*centile - not centipede! That would have been a real drama 😂😂

Of course you don't 'put her on a diet'! Babies should be demand fed. They don't read the centile charts! Please don't change the way you feed your baby over this (coming at it from having been in the opposite position).

Re PP, I agree weighing her every two weeks is a bit excessive, but my DH really enjoys doing it. Our DD seemed so tiny when she was born, what with her little chicken legs and no rolls of fat on her, so we wanted to make sure that she did gain weight and kept a close eye on it, and weighing her has just become part of our routine.

To be honest, we’ve loved seeing her get bigger since she was born, see her change and grow, and she now has those adorable rolls and thigh creases babies get! I don’t think I can discourage my DH from weighing her, but I think I will discourage both of us from taking the HVs comments to heart as much now!

I think the majority of children tend to put on weight right before a growth spurt. They also sleep more at this time too.

She started out fairly light. She's probably 'catching up' (just as some babies born big 'catch down').

My DD was 5.9lb and 2nd percentile she did a big jump to around the 50th at about the same age. I also mixed fed till about 8 weeks and then ff only for similar reasons to yours. She is now 9 months old still on the 50th and is a lovely weight. Dont worry

Quite interesting to read the comments about placenta playing a role in birth size, I never knew that but am now off to research! All three of mine have been over 9lb, one being 10lb8oz at birth. I've donated the placenta and cord each time and after the birth of both my first and third the midwives actually commented on how big the placenta was. With third baby (biggest) I had a bit of a nosy myself and it really was huge lol.

I do believe other things play a role though. My mum smoke throughout three of her four pregnancies, all those babies (my two brothers and sister) born around 7lb. She didn't smoke when pregnant with me as it made her feel sick, I was born weighing 9lb2. I can't believe that is just coincidence.

Anyway, sorry to blabber about placenta on the thread, just find it interesting!! As for putting a baby on a diet how ridiculous, you just keep doing what you are, sounds like you're doing a fab job

Echo what everyone else has said to just carry on as you are and not worry.

However I would also say stop to have her weighed so often. I literally went to the baby clinic 4 times in the first year. It just seemed a pointless exercise unless you feel something is wrong or you've been explicitly advised to attend.

Honestly stop weighing her if it's going to stress you out at all. You can see by looking at her that she is getting on just fine.

DS was born on the 25th centile but ended up at the 99.8th centile by 6 months where he's stayed at almost 5. My theory is he was "catching up" to his proper weight, bet it's the same for your DD