Should I ignore the HV?

[marvellousmaplesyrup]

Health Visitor came round to visit DS (8mths) this week for a general check up.

She said (in her own words) how "horrified" she was to see the size of DS. He's always been on 99.6th centile in both length (now 78cm) and weight, but since being weaned he's tipped slightly off the charts in weight to just over 25lbs. She me feel about 2 inches tall and gave me a proper rollicking for "over feeding" DS.

He used to have around 500mls of formula three times a day, porridge (65g) for breakfast and home cooked dinners with veg (around 100g) for lunch and dinner. No snacks, apart from some chopped up fruit when he was a bit grumpy.

Her advice is I need to cut all of this in half. Two bottles (150ml each) only on waking and bedtime, 32g of porridge, 50g of food for lunch and dinner. What's worse, is that she wants us to go from lunchtime at 11.45am until dinner at 5pm with nothing in between?

Because she made me feel so small and being a FTM, we followed her advice for a few days, but DS is understandably inconsolable and is sobbing with hunger most of the day. He is waking up in the night (despite sleeping through) and takes ages to get back to sleep.

My gut tells me I should probably cut down a bit, but not to the extent she wants us too. Surely there has to be a happy medium? AIBU to ignore her?

I meant BREAST milk.... although beast milk sounds more fierce.... maybe I will stick with that....

Why does he have lunch so early? I would agree about the bottles, sorry. I would be thinking four meals a day with two lots of milk. All other drinks should be in a cup and water or diluted juice. Mine used a normal cup from about then. Try to make porridge with millet rather than baby porridge as its more filling. Look at the size of baby jars to get an idea of meal sizes for that age. Have a snack mid afternoon or a later lunch with snack. This should only be fruit or rice cakes though.

I would ignore this advice. Baby will get rid of any weight when get on their feet and start running around. You sound as if you're giving baby good home cooked food and milk helps them to relax and sleep. Keep doing what you're doing. Well done

Take no notice of the batty woman! Seriously some HV are bloody awesome and some are just a waste of oxygen.

Feed your gorgeous buba, as soon baby gets moving the weight drops off anyway.

I've had under weight and over weight babies and give me a chunk anytime. They've all grown up to be fit, active healthy people.

If 600 mls are recommended at 8 months old then 2 bottles would not be enough to fit it all in. 3 or 4 feeds are perfectly normal at that age.

How will a fat baby grow into a fat adult?? My children were like the Michelin Man, all rolls, could eat for England. All now teens or nearly teen, all very sporty and none overweight. A chunky baby is able to deal with illness better, my opinion, I am not an expert. But a few days of sickness & diarrhoea could be quite damaging for a small baby, whereas a chunky baby can manage ok and not become too underweight.

My HV was fantastic , very old school with 11 kids of her own and a menagerie of various creatures in her house . In fact I looked forward to her pulling up in her VW camper van.

My GP however was hopeless .

My DD was a huge baby. So fat. She looked like she'd eaten all the other babies.

She's now Slim 5'7" size 10 14yr old.

Fat babies don't necessarily grow into fat adults.

@Sertchgi123

Follow the advice, a fat baby will grow into a fat adult.

What an absolute numpty you are. !

My late daughter was 10lbs at birth , was at 99.9 percentile and reached 5’ 7 and a size12.

I had my second son weighed and measured for the first time (no other measures to compare to) and the HV said that he was too heavy for his height.
I did the obvious fretting at the idea of cutting his food, and so I asked the opinions of the nurseries he was attending, my mum, friends and family on his size, and booked him in for a second opinion with another HV.
As he ate well, ate healthily, and looked proportionate, I didn’t follow the advice.
The second HV appointment came around, and we went over everything again, and all the questions and worries I’d had from the first appointment. That second opinion allayed all the issues that I’d gotten from the initial appt, and now I’d look forward to him being weighed and measured out of interest at seeing his personal growth line again.
He is also now moving about more, and he only eats as much as he needs. He has 3 bottles of about 5oz + per day of cows milk now, plus porridge, yoghurts, snacks at nursery. He was on more formula than that at 8 months. I think you add vitamins when it goes under 16ozs of formula, so we also add vitamins now.
I’m also aware that my reaction in getting a second opinion was because he was my second, and he didn’t ‘look’ overfed or have excess fat in areas that would stop him moving about.
I’m also 5’2, so we are on the shorter end of the scale as a family, whereas you sound tall! Hope that helps 💐

Nod...say ‘oh yes’...then ignore. Go with your instincts. The mere thought of having to put a perfectly healthy baby on a diet is ridiculous. I was always told as long as they follow their percentile line from birth, then there’s no issues. I had an old school HV with all 3 and thankfully she was brilliant and had 3 boys of her own so understood their voracious appetites for all the food! 😂

Take no notice!! My little one is a little chunky chicken and loves his food. Once they start moving around the baby chub falls off

I personally find it super cute!!

Like Thecazelets my oldest DS was a big baby, thin but very long. He was always in the top centile and just grew and grew. He was definitely heavier than the HV wanted him to be, but tended to get a bit chubby then grow and become thinner again. He's 6'3" now and has been that height since he was 13. And he too has not an ounce of spare flesh on him.
He had a rapacious appetite and effectively started to wean himself at six months, having tastes of food . By the time he was one he was eating much the same as the rest of us, though obviously without salt or unsuitable ingredients.
So long as you're not giving him unsuitable food with too much sugar or salt I can't see that you are doing anything wrong.

Ignore, all babies are different. You're his mum, you know what he needs. He's obvs a big lovely boy and you're not feeding him any crap. Go with your gut. Enjoy ❤️

Take no notice. My son was on the 99th centile at birth and quickly went off the chart. He was huge! 9 years later he’s as tall as kids 3 years older than him and he’s as skinny as a rake!

DD1 was the same, eternally hungry, top of the charts for height and weight (she was 9lbs 3 born). I fed her as she needed, I knew her better than anyone, she had rolls around her wrists, but walked at 10 months and burned it all off. It was a while ago but I got her some 'hungry baby' milk. She had lots of fruit and veg, and she's still the least fussy, with the best appetite, in the house. She's now a very healthy but slim 5'6" 17 year old. Maybe cut it down slightly, but do whats right for you & baby, it's hard finding your way as a first time mum, go easy on yourself

My son was on the 99th percentile and was a right chunky monkey! He's now a very tall and slim 5 year old.
He was honestly huge! So please ignore that poster who said fat babies become fat adults that's ridiculous !

Yes ignore and give him healthy snacks e.g fruit etc

Your baby is likely going be very tall. Ignore the HV and feed him as you see fit. He'll start running around soon and will run off any baby fat. Please don't let him go hungry.

Ignore.

His weight and weight are in line, nutrition comes mainly from milk until one. If he was Bf, you'd be getting a pat on the back and a well done ( and that's coming from someone with an ebf 8m old )

DD was a chubby baby at that age. 99th centile for weight. And tall as well. I remember meeting a paed dietician from the Portland at a party and telling her in a lighthearted way. She really rained on my parade, saying if DD was her patient she'd put her on a diet. I ignored her. DD is now an incredibly slender 20 yo.

Some odd ideas on here, @LadyOfTheImprovisedBath do you think no married educated women neglect their kids? I’d maybe take something on board of HV repeatedly warns you.
Fat baby = fat adult, utter nonsense, my DS was a 10lb baby, barely fit in the little plastic cot in hospital 🤣 he is now 20 and 6ft4 with no excess weight at all.

I don't know about milk, but I'm on the slimming world diet and the porridge allowance is 40g oats......a normal serving. Your little one shouldn't be eating nearly twice the amount as the healthy amount for an adult. Your little man is being overfed albeit non intentionally.

Please look on the NHS website and aim to follow their recommendations.

Is he crawling? If so, I'd try to up his activity levels as much as you can... Crawling around parks, in the woods, on the beach, anywhere it's safe to take him out of the buggy. Colder weather is great for this as you can get waterproof mittens which both protect their hands and stop them picking stuff up to put in their mouths.

I'd say an active baby is much more important than a thin baby in predicting future health.

@Sertchgi123 HV get a poor press for very good reason.

I've raised 6 daughters and I've not met one good HV, not one. That's an absolute disgrace.

I could write a dissertation on the subject of how truly ignorant, uneducated and downright rude they are, if there is a degree in there it certainly doesn't involve any amount of people skills.

@marvellousmaplesyrup as long as your DC is being fed healthy foods and is not snacking I would cut back a bit on formula, add in extra vitamins where needed and monitor.

ALL of my DD were very chubby babies and not one of them is a chubby adult, quite the opposite. The attitude that fat babies make fat adults is utter baseless tosh as most lose their puppy fat once they start walking.

The issue is if the are overweight toddlers: the general consensus is that if you toddler is overweight and is still overweight by 5yrs then you are more likely to develop a long term weight issue but even then, it's not a given, so again, monitor it.

I've no time for HV at all, never have, never will and this idiotic scare mongering really grinds my gears.