Are breastfed babies smaller?

[SleepingStandingUp]

So perfectly friendly lady asks how old my babies are. Her and her DP we're trying to decide. Both suprised they're 11 months as they guessed older.
I confirm yes they are indeed big, they're now in 18-24 months.
She says they're probably bigger than her 3 to.
I do the polite chuckle how how big they are indeed.
Then she says it's likely because she breastfed hers and breastfed babies are smaller

I wasn't quick enough to tell her I bf them (I didn't but I resent the insinuation that I didn't because I have twins when plenty of twin mom's do) or to really say anything because she then left.

But firstly is that even true?
Was she just defensive because I have beastly babies?
Was she shaming me for over feeding them with an evil bottle?
Why do I even care?

And I'm not trying to start a bf bottle debate. I have a tube fed child. Fed is best and frankly o don't give a damn how so long as you're all ok.

And yes I really do have twins, I knows it's a bit of an MN thing but trust me, there's two of them

Wasn’t true for mine, exclusively BF and was so huge that he went off the chart for his centiles. Absolutely massive!

Yes, generally breastfed babies are smaller. You'll get lots of people on here saying their EBF babies were 99th centile all the way through, and that does definitely happen, but at population level, FF babies are chunkier than BF ones, at least according to my GP.

My anecdata says it's not true.

The biggest babies I ever knew (2 sisters) wouldn't touch solids until 9 months. Ordinary size newborns but They were off the top of the charts by 3-4 months old & stayed there until 18m ish.

Maybe she's insecure or maybe genuinely curious. I suspect it's mostly genetics decides how big they get how fast.

My breastfed baby and my bottle fed baby have both been chunky, neither of them were small and people were always giving it the "Oh isn't he a big lad" spiel rolls eyes

Like you say, why do you even care? I bet they're just scrumptious

I think some people just chat shit for something to talk about, or because they are curious / nosey

I didn’t breastfeed my DD- she was the biggest baby.
Breastfed DS1 for 11 months- he’s my smallest and on 9th centile
Breastfed DS2 for 2 months- he’s on 50th centile

My first was bottle fed after 4 weeks. She was a 98th centile baby but is now a beanpole at 8 and takes after her dad. My second was breastfed til 9 months old and is still built like a tank at 4. She takes after me! I think it’s more longer term genetics than breast vs bottle.

I don’t understand these people, you’re just going about your business and they feel the need to say things.

She sounds like she has a hangup about her DCs size. Whatever it is it’s all about her and not about you or your amazing babies. My DC were giant when bf and giant on formula. My sister had one tiny baby who is still petite gymnast body type and one absolute tank, both fed with the same boobs.

Both mine were bottle fed and they are complete opposites my DS wasn't a big baby and still isn't a big toddler he's fussy and at times he wouldn't drink much of his milk.
My DD on the other hand is a chunk love her she loved her milk never had to wake her for milk she instantly let you know when she wanted her milk she's the same with her food.

I think it's down to the individual not what they had breast or formula I can't believe people are still naive and cruel to make such comments as to how the baby is fed I agree with you op fed is best regardless of what the mum chooses so long as child is healthy and happy

Mine was breastfed and massive. Don’t think it’s anything other than genetics

My dd1 was quite small. She’s 11 and nearly 5 foot tall now. Dd2 was fairly average sized, but she’s tall for her age.

My breastfed babies were gigantic whilst under 6 months but not once weaned. My dc2 went off the top of the weight chart solely on breast milk at 3 months old. DC1 followed the 91st centile til age 12 months but gradually shifted to the 50th by age 2 and stayed there.

I produced full fat milk I guess

On average breastfed babies do put on weight differently than bottle fed though - usually slower at the start I believe. There are different charts for breast and bottle feeding.

My breastfed child was a huge chubby Buddha of a baby. My bottle fed twins not so much. Had no idea this was a thing.

Breastfed babies tend to be smaller. But, if the mom is larger than average, breastfed babies can be large too. That's what my HV said.

I think it’s just a baby to baby thing rather than how they are fed. My breastfed baby was higher percentile born, but has levelled off to around 50% and seems to stay there for now. He looks, well average size which I guess he is

I BF both of mine. DC1 was always on the 20th percentile whilst DC2 was always rather a whopper on the 80th.

I know who few bf babies who grew quickly and we're not fit their age. We joked they were producing 'gold top' (reference to cream in a gold topped bottle). It was everything to do with the size of the parents.
People say alsorts, often the first thing that pops into their head. It is meaningless and she may or may not have gone home and thought twice about her comments. I know there have been a few moments I've done that in my life, saying something in the context of my own heads narrative and then realising how it may have come across to the other person later.
Don't sweat it.

My eldest was born on the 50th centile and was bf. By 12 weeks, she was at the top of the charts. By the time I weaned her at 6 months, she was 23lbs. She was chubby as anything. She's 13 now and very tall and skinny.

And no I'm not fat as another poster suggested. I'm a slight size 8 and always have been.

I'd always assumed the opposite. Friends girl is similar age to eldest, tiny 6lbs at term but she was a mighty mighty baby with amazing thighs by the time she could sit up. Baby boy at school who is Def bf is also huge. Girl is average now at 4 despite a petite short Mom and an av Dad. My other friends bf for various lengths and o can't really see a size difference

My breastfed singleton was large at birth but not massive. He was almost exactly at 50% percentile.

My 36 week twins were always small up til they were about 9.

I remember feeding my two by bottle in a car park, this woman started having a nice chat with me - until all of a sudden she started to berate me for bottle feeding them because her daughter breastfed hers twins. As it happens I was feeding them expressed breast milk, I just didn’t like breastfeeding twins in public.

So my conclusion based on my three children is that I don’t know but people are weird.

My twins were born at 31 weeks so it's not really a fair comparison but mine were fairly small compared to their peers and I breastfed them until 2.

Out of all of our babies in the family, my nephew was the largest and the only one bottle fed.

I think it comes down to a lot of things (genetics, percentiles at birth, feeding routines etc). But generally I would say most BF babies I've seen are typically smaller than bottle fed.

@Mamette

I don’t understand these people, you’re just going about your business and they feel the need to say things.

She sounds like she has a hangup about her DCs size. Whatever it is it’s all about her and not about you or your amazing babies. My DC were giant when bf and giant on formula. My sister had one tiny baby who is still petite gymnast body type and one absolute tank, both fed with the same boobs.

Generally I don't mind. Have one older with O2 tubes so people have ALWAYS asked intrusive qns. And I was warned it would be the same with twins. Someone random on the bus literally just asked of they're twins, boys, mine, and how I managed to feed them both.

Statistically I think this is true, breastfed babies are smaller, but my breastfed babies were all huge, one of them went off the charts at 4 months old. The HV accused me of putting rice in her bottles - she didn't even take a bottle...