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?

Formula is more calorie dense than BM, which is sometimes watery, sometimes fatty, whereas formula is always the same. So formula can contribute to faster weight gain than BM.

But - there are lots of other factors that come into play including genetics, health conditions, personality, etc. And bigger is not always equivalent to healthier where babies are concerned. You want them to gain weight steadily and follow their natural progression. Too little weight gain or too much can both be bad.

On the other hand, ignore randoms who spout nonsense at you. At 11 months a large proportion of babies who started out on BM will have switched to formula anyway.

My paediatrician did say that population studies of breastfed babies vs formula fed babies showed that formula fed babies grew faster and were in average larger than breast fed babies after the first three months.

I don’t think the lady was bottle shaming you. I think it was an innocent comment which is scientifically supported to explain why her babies were smaller at the same age and why she guessed their age so wrongly.

So my conclusion based on my three children is that I don’t know but people are weird.
Answers the entire op perfectly 🤣

I have a formula fed baby and she’s a runt. She was born at only 4lbs 13oz though. But she’s never been a big baby.

Me and dad are short though and DD was very active quite early so she’s constantly on the move so probably burning a lot of baby fat in the process. She’s 11 months now and weighing in at 17lbs. Not doing badly considering we were below the 4th centile to begin with!

Well done you for breastfeeding twins. Amazing achievement you should be very proud. I get insanely jealous of the women who breastfeed. I tried but I think due to complications and lack of supply of just wasn’t working and DD lost a lot of weight in the first couple weeks so we switched to formula.

@Ohalrightthen is right, it's true on a population level although obviously not for each individual case. She was rude though.

Not true in my case. My BF boy was ginormous!
SIL bottle fed her 2 DD & they were tiny.
DSIS BF 2 & had one average one small.

Exclusively breast fed for a year, huge! Put on 2 pounds in 2 weeks when he was born, I was asked if I was feeding him cream, along those lines was a few years ago now 😂

What @DemolitionBarbie said.

Formula babies do tend to pack on weight more quickly and easily than bf. Or we wouldn’t bother topping up or “fixing” bf weight gain with formula.

My hv was resistant to giving formula to increase weight in bf babies as he said it would increase weight artificially, but that in turn may mask any underlying issues.

Genetics and parent size will be the biggest factor though.

By a year you’d expect them all to even out a bit anyway and fit their own genetic profile.

I dont know but I dont think she was insinuating anything bad about you. In her situation I'd think "why are my babies so small" and she's probably tried to reason with herself that it's because she breastfed rather than worrying about it.

There are different growth charts, aren’t there, in the red book depending on how your baby is primarily fed? It’s been a while since mine were tiny! So I think on average BF babies are leaner, especially 0-3 months, but it evens out after a while.

My eldest was all scrawny chicken legs and mostly BF but had formula sometimes. My second was an absolute chunk with leg rolls and exclusively BF.

Anyway, as with most baby comment things, just ignore! You care because our culture has a ‘fat is bad’ issue, whereas in other cultures chubby babies are prized. Bet your two are gorgeous.

Both mine were ebf and 99th centile even with tongue ties (one snipped at 9 weeks, the other not at all - bloody covid)

I was asked if I was feeding him cream, along those lines was a few years ago now 😂

I hated these comments, like it was under my control or somehow my bmilk was “better” than someone who’s baby wasn’t gaining weight so quickly.

In fact while she gained weight well for the first month, i got all the “gold top” comments. Then when she slowed down her growth i started getting “maybe your milk isn’t rich enough” comments.

No ! My DS2 was a whopper
EBF for 6 months
That said he never shat ! He was so greedy he literally took every ounce of milk and didn’t pop for two months
True

Most FF babies I know were very chubby but it mostly evens out when they start to crawl.

I think there needs to be more advice on formula feeding actually, as it is very easy to overfeed.

Interesting. My dd was breastfed. She was bang on average size for years. Then between 2 and 3 she grew so much and was suddenly in 4-5 yo clothes at just over 2 1/2.

DS was EBF. He looked like Phil Mitchell between age 4-8 months, so no, I don't believe BF babies are smaller.

He was premature, under 5lbs when he was born. Gained weight at a phenomenal rate and was a massive baby at six months, then slimmed down once he started walking and is 10th centile now (which is what DH and I are, so right for him).

I think (based on zero evidence, just anecdata) that bottle fed babies tend to be more in the middle, so you get less absolutely tiny or absolutely massive ones) but there is more variation with breastfed babies. Most of the very big and very small babies I know have been breastfed, whereas the ones in the middle have mostly been bottles.

DD3 BF had very impressive amounts of chub, her consultant used to comment every time he saw her!

I EBF all four of my boys for at least the first 13 months (18 months for the last one). Two were built like battleships and two were smaller and more delicate-looking. So I don't think that BF or not is the only factor, no.

My breastfed son didn't get the 'smaller' memo - 8lb 3oz when he was born, no drop in weight ever, 11lb 2oz at one month old.

He wasn't fat though - he was chunky. He had no 'folds' and was long as well as heavy. He's now 6ft 2, so I don't think he lost out by being breastfed.

I ebf both mine and they were big - 98th and 75th centiles roughly.

DD was born on the 9th percentile, gained weight like champ in the first weeks (30th percentile) and then dropped down a bit over time and is now small and light... pretty sure she's just like that she she can be carried more

Sorry she's breastfed, currently attached to my boob because she's sick and she won't eat a bite of food

She's having a laugh! My grandson was BF. He's 2 1/2 and bigger than most 4 year olds.

You should have said, 'Oh, maybe you didn't make enough milk!'

People just have to be competitive don't they.
If it's not the weight it will be the sleep pattern, or sitting, crawling, walking. Then it just gets worse when they start school as the other person's child will always be a genius.

Let me just say that in the great scheme of things none of those things matter.
For the record mine are grown up now but were very fat EBF babies who never slept a wink.