To ask for your opinions on this

[slippersaremyfriend]

My DS is 14 months old... He's always been a 'big boy' in that he is very tall, (his dad is 6,3) and was 9lb3 at birth.

As a rough guide, he will have
1-1 1/2 weetabix for breakfast
A sandwich (cheese or low sugar jam) banana & raisins for lunch
Cooked dinner eg cottage pie, bolognaise, fish & mash for dinner with yoghurt for pudding. He also has various cups of water or very diluted sugar free squash throughout the day.
Don't get me wrong, he'll have some biscuits and the odd treat but my point is his diet is varied and balanced (I think)

He has just started walking so although a little wobbly at times, he is up and moving a lot of the time. I weighed him and he is just over 12kg - which is the same as his weight measurement at his 1yr HV check and HV said his weight was fine in line with his height (I forget what height was but she said he was tallest 1 yr old she'd seen in a long time - taller than average)

So my AIBU is I keep getting comments off people that he is so big, he must be eating too much/wrong food etc. It's now got me thinking about his weight and everything am I panicking cause of the comments and he is fine or is he eating too much/wrong food/ too big??!
Any thoughts/advice welcome! Thanks

@Baileyscheesecake good idea thank you.

He likes cheese in his sandwiches so maybe will try that more often than jam then. He does eat a variety of fruits and veg I'm aware how lucky I am tho I'm sure it will change when he realises he can be fussy! There's not one thing he doesn't eat yet

Personally, I would never in a million years give a baby or child sugar free squash. That stuff is pure chemicals and horrible for anymore. There are much better choices.

I realise I derailed the tread into discussing cordial. Sorry.

I disagree with Bailey simply because you don't need to even deflect the conversation. Just practice your withering look or eye contact until they look away and think about their rudeness

"but much prefers other things with flavour"

re. bad habits ... I hate to say "I told you so" actually, it's my favourite phrase

I'd wean him off diluted cordial. Easily done. Just dilute it less and less over several weeks.

My BiL's a pediatric dentist (tooth surgeon, but I forget the title) and explained how sugar has an effect on teeth before they've come through. Milk and adult teeth. I think that's why I'm so against it.

My 2 year old is tall and was a good 8.5 pound born... He's always been a chunk!

He's slimmed right out now and although his weight is fine he looks so skinny to me these days! He's not, he's just lost his rolls!

Agree with the pp about people assuming he's older tho... i get people asking about school and tutting at age appropriate behaviour.. eg we had a cousin round and she hit ds when he opened the door to his play house she was in. It was just a hit on his hand but he was so upset... and the little girls mum just said "oh he's being so melodramatic there". Not really, he's just turned 2, some random child is in his play house and he got hit just for opening the door to go in too! I think he was understandably upset as any toddler would be!

Diet sounds fine, i try not to give juice but occasionally i will do if were out for tea. I quite often put water in an empty fruit shoot bottle if were at a softplay as ds will want one but only cos he sees everyone else drinking them!

My children are both called big regularly but they are both on the skinny side with visible bones. They always grown out of things lengthwise before filling them width wise. We just stopped listening eventually.

My DS will not drink water anymore. It was all I gave him when smaller but being at work and him automatically being given squash at different (family) caregivers, even though they knew I only wanted water for him, meant he totally refuses anything other than flavoured water/squash or milk. I think I'd rather he had squash than nothing. And when I say refuse I do mean point blank and throwing it away (he is almost 3 years). What do you do in that case? I used to get terrible dehydration headaches from not drinking enough and don't want that for him.

Foods sound good. Like my DS has but he is so picky and for days can turn down a decent meal. I worried last week as he looked so skinny, can see his ribs and shoulder blades are quite prominent but then realised he can now reach onto the worktop, when he couldn't previously. T-shirts a shorter and need replacing, so he has obviously had a growth spurt.

Sounds a little less than my very, very active 17 month old girls diet.

Tends to be:

Breakfast:
1 Weetabix, or a bowl of Cheerios or a slice of toast with peanut butter, plus a banana and raisins for breakfast. She tends to feed the dog about a third of the carbs though.

Lunch: one of...
Couple of spoons of beans on 1 slice of toast plus some cheese / a mini pizza (she'll eat half) / small bowl of soup with bread to dip/tuna sweet corn pasta / cheese and ham wrap with some fruit.

Dinner

A small portion of whatever we have- curry, spaghetti Bolognese, cottage pie, fish and chips (homemade), chilli con carne, just normal stuff really.

She has two bottles of cow's milk as well.

She normally snacks on an apple or some grapes at some point during the day too.

Worrying I overfeed her now, she's 40% for height and 50% for weight and has been since birth so I'm assume she's ok 😂

Also, she's had squash. And lemonade. And tea. Its not fucking cyanide 🙄

He eats more than my 4 year old! Which is great btw she eats like a sparrow and is tiny.

Sounds fine. Someone always has to comment. HV says he's fine so just ignore. People always comment on my DD's weight. Drives me nuts. Yes, I feed her! She just has a small appetite and is always on the go. She is a healthy weight for her height but of course people tell me she is too thin.

The squash thing I would be more concerned with sweetners.

I'd use very diluted fruit juices But mainly water and never fruit juices at bedtime.

Sounds similar to my 19 month old.

Breakfast he will have either a weetabix, or a slice of honey on toast.

Snack normally a Philadelphia cracker with some cucumber/apple or something along those lines. Sometimes a cup of milk and a banana etc.

Lunch tends to be anything, sometimes a pizza toast (half a ciabatta, mashed tomato’s and grated cheese) with a yoghurt or something

Tea will be whatever we’re having followed by maybe a yoghurt, sometimes ice cream, or a bit of chocolate, fruit or nothing at all.

He drinks a bit of water through the day (not enough really) he has plenty of breast milk, cows milk and yes sometimes cordial or fresh juice diluted.

That's what I've been worried about re the drinking. He's always drank loads and worried if I gave him just water he'd refuse it and end up dehydrated haha. If we go out and I buy him eg a fruit shoot or similar it's always watered down. I have 3 friends whose kids are all within a week of each other age wise and my ds is the only one out of them not to have been given lemonade/coke/both! Teeth are brushed regularly with or without squash

If you're really concerned about the cordial, then get proper fruit juice and water it down, my kids both love making their own smoothies, and they get watered down quite a lot.

But honestly, I drink water because I'm a grown up and I know I have to, I also prefer squash

Hi op, my son is 11months and weighs 12.2kg. He's on the 98th percentile and has been since birth for both height and weight. Just because he's not average doesn't mean there's anything wrong - he's just a big boy. You know your child is fine. Just carry on as you are.

He will drink water if he's thirsty but much prefers other things with flavour.

Yes, which is why you give water, water, water until it's absolutely the norm for his palate to drink it as the default.

You will be doing him such a MASSIVE favour for the future by establishing this as one of the basics of his diet.

He is learning that his drinks should not be neutral, but flavoured... which basically translates as sweet. That will be his start point. It's not a good start point. And there is no need - water tastes lovely, refreshing, natural. Unless you've always had your drinks flavoured as something else. Then you find it hard to readjust.

Giving water is also good as it helps give more space for learning how to appreciate sweet food and treats as just that - lovely, but a specific thing. Not the norm. Not the taste you always have in your mouth anyway, as you eat. Mouthful of potato, sip of coke/squash/strawberry water to wash it down. Bite of broccoli, gulp of ribena. Honestly, some adults really never eat without sweetness being the base level of their taste experience. Because they 'hate plain water'. 'Can't drink water, never did like it'. It's learned, and it's just so so bad.

Do him a massive favour and only give him water.

Don't even get me started on sugar-free stuff with sweeteners...