People always commenting about size of baby

[ChunkyLove]

I don't know if I'm unreasonable or not but everyone who sees my baby is always going on about how chubby he is.

He is big, chunky with rolls! But the way everyone keeps mentioning it is making me paranoid that he's too big (he's still under 6 months). So much so that I even spoke to the GP to make sure I wasn't feeding him too much.

Everyone always says it as a positive thing (chubby babies are cute, that sort of thing...) But I don't know, it bothers me. Mainly because it worries me that he's too big.

If you had a big baby did you have this? And did it concern you? Did your chubby babies grow into big toddlers, children, adults? Or did it even out?

He's perfect to me but he's my first.

Yes I had a huge baby.
Yes everyone commented.
I found the fact that there was plenty of him very relaxing. Never worried if he was off his food one day, he could afford to skip a few meals. V different fro my first who slid down the percentiles and had a milk allergy and was under the dietician.

He is now a 13 year old, tall and slim and powerful (he's a dancer, so not a spare ounce on him but lots of muscle). Slimmed right down as a toddler but stayed tall for his age.

I have a very small baby so get the opposite- oh she's so tiny, was she prem, are you sure you're feeding her enough etc I think people are just trying to make conversation tbh. Both our babies are perfect x

My son was born over 10lbs so yes I got constant comments and they were mostly negative

Yes I had a huge baby and everyone commented. Then when she was about 10 months old she had a bad virus (not Covid!) and didn’t eat for about three weeks. I was glad she had all that fat then as the weight dropped off her.
She’s now 24, 5ft 7 and weighs 9 stone so it didn’t hurt her.

I bet he's gorgeous!!!

There's not a lot to say about babies, so people do say the same things, no matter what it is (small/big/lots of hair/no hair) try not to let it bother you.

My dd was pudgy, rolls on legs wrists and chin. She burnt it all off when she started crawling and is now a normal healty 11 year old

People always comment on what they see with babies. Smile and nod is the best thing to do and let it wash over your head

I had this. Looking back at pictures, I can't believe how chubby he was, even more than I realised then. People made comments, but they were really endearing. He lost all the chubbiness by 14 months and was a very slim kid. The worse part of it was how heavy he was to carry!

Yep same here, drove me bloody mad, DS was nearly 10lbs and constant remarks about his size were getting me down, his cousin was born 1 week later weighing only 6lb so you can imagine the constant comparisons, mainly all from MIL.

We used to call my first baby Chunk. She started off as tiny and got bigger and bigger and bigger. She went from being weighed weekly (which I would never allow now) for being small to a Hv expressing concern for her being so chunky. At that point I stopped going to the clinic. As soon as she started moving it came off. Revel in the rolls because soon enough they will be gone! 🥰

Don't take any notice of them. My first was a fat baby only weighed 6.7lb when born but got very fat guzzling milk He is now 28 and skinny as a rake.

Yup. Mine was late to crawl and late to walk. At 10 months he was just about to crawl and fitted in age 2 shorts because he had a big belly. He's now about to turn 2 (he's walking, running, climbing and you can't stop him) and those same shorts fit but he's far taller. My mum said I was the same as a baby/toddler.

I had a big 10lber that continued to pile on chub. Loads of comments. Loads of looking me up and down. Implied remarks about my vagina too.
When he got spotty too, i had comments that he was an ugly baby too from childfree edgelords.

Whatever size your baby/toddler/child is, people will often comment.

too fat, too thin, too short, too tall, too bald, no teeth yet, looks like a potato (thanks DB for that one )

Just smile and nod.

This is actually so sad that people are being unkind. My friends baby is a big baby and people are always admiring how strong and sturdy he is. He really is a fine child and she is always delighted that people admire her baby.

I had an enormous baby. Double digit pounds when she was born. Like a Michelin man. She was a girl too, so that made her size even more of a talking point.

She’s 8 now and perfectly normal apart from she is the tallest in her class. I think she just telescoped upwards!

Also my fat baby slept through the night from birth because she was big enough to take on enough food to last her the night.

I kept quiet about that to all my NCT friends though and was just secretly smug

It is possible to overfeed a baby if you're formula feeding, but assuming the GP has said you're not then ignore the comments. As PPs have said, babies come in all shapes and sizes, most of them sort it out as they get older.

Oh god I love a chunky baby! My DD had creases everywhere because she was so fat in places. I especially love the wrist creases that look like they have an elastic band around their wrist. She was nearly 9lbs born and she's stayed on the 75th centile pretty much since birth

I wasn't fussed about her weight, she's now 2y 4m and really starting to slim out. She's inherited my short legs and chunky thighs though, poor thing

Are you insecure about your weight/health OP?

I only ask because I am, we have weight and food issues within my family and whilst I am a healthy weight (see there I go, quickly getting it in that my weight is actually perfectly fine ) I don't have a good relationship with food at all. I am quite sensitive about comments about baby's size as a result but I think most people mean it kindly. I try to remind myself of that and that if health professionals say LO is fine then she is fine. Easier said than done but I am very good at projecting!

There's actually not much to say about a baby, so people comment on whatever they can think.

Unless the GP has concerns, it's normal for babies to be chubby.

No one is actually saying he is TOO big are they.

My DS wasn't particularly big when he was born (7lbs 12oz), but he certainly piled on weight and was a very lovely chubby baby - 95th centile.

He was exclusively breast fed on demand. I stopped going to baby clinic to get him weighed when one of the helpers suggested I cut down on formula. When I laughed and said he doesn't have formula, he's breast fed she said "absolutely no way, look at the size of him!". Erm, I think I know how I was feeding my own baby! Daft woman.

Anyway - DS was cruising furniture at about 8 months, but took his first unaided steps at 13 months. He was running by the next afternoon and the weight just dropped off. DS is 20 now, 6ft tall, broad shoulders but tiny waist / hips.

I always think a bit of baby padding is a positive thing. If they ever catch a bug and are off their food for a few days, they have the reserves to cope.

I'm sure your DS is fine

Honestly my 11lbs baby is now primary school age and people still comment on his birth weight and size as a baby

He was always perfectly healthy and happy and is now slim and only slightly taller than average.

I had a big first baby & he was a chunk until he started walking.
He is just under 4 now & is the type of child where when he breathes in his stomach is about an inch deep!! Not a spot of fat left on him (because he never sits still!!)

I’m surprised at all the negative comments, I didn’t experience that at all & took it as a positive.
I have the biggest baby, first to sit up, first to crawl, first to walk etc. I didn’t like the look of my friends skinny babies as much!

I remember my neighbour´s baby girl, she was huge. It made me wonder if she was diabetic (the mother). Kept my opinions to myself though. Years later, the baby is six and totally healthy looking. My daughter was slightly prem and small. She dropped a few more centiles when she had an ear infection, had a couple of comments, from men actually. Oh playing with your little doll again, or she sounds like a cat when she cries (prems usually do). this made me think, thank god I didnt´make any comments to neighbour at the time. Though I must say this woman can´t keep her mouth shut about other people´s business!

I met an enormous baby when she was about 8 months old. By year 1, she was the size of a year 6 child. I remember her mum commenting about making her an angel costume for the nativity because the rest of the children had costumes made out of pillow cases and her dd was too big. However both her parents are tall, and she is now a tall adult.