To keep saying it’s impossible to overfeed a bf baby

[bigBigbaby]

To my HV?

My 13 month old is really big!! Jumped up to the top centile line (was on the 25th a birth).

Ebf till 6 m. Eats healthily and actually quite small portions (I think)
Has a small bottle of milk after bath each day as we introduced that as part of bedtime routine from 8 months

Breakfast each day is porridge (1oz milk, dessert spoon oats, chopped berries and 3-4 slices mashed banana )

Lunch is usually a sandwich and veg sticks or a savoury pouch, and a yogurt.

Dinner is a small portion of whatever we have.
Small bottle after bath

She drinks water with meals but is breastfed mid morning and mid afternoon before naps and in the night this is what I’m being told is making her so heavy and that I need to cut the feeds but I’m disagreeing I think there are still benefits to having breastmilk but I’m being told those are cancelled out by the negative effects of being ‘obese’ at a young age

I just don’t agree I think once she’s running about more she will slim down surely ?

At 13 months your toddler is having breast milk, formula? and food so yes it’s possible to be overfeeding. It’s impossible to over feed an ebf baby which your toddler is not.

I'm not sure. He is 13 months it might fall off him as he grows.
My DS was huge with fat rolls at 13 months born 99centile.
He wasn't overeating, DD ate the same at his age and was a slim baby.

I never limited breastmilk and DS got quite chunky before crawling, that's quite normal from what I've observed though he stuck to his centile whereas you say your DD hasn't. What is less usual is to not be crawling by 13 months, so she's eating a lot of solid food but not getting the exercise her peers are getting. The first focus should be on helping her to crawl so she can start to burn off some of the fat.

3 big meals is a lot for 13 months, they should be small meals with tiny snack of fruit or something if needed in between. At this age you want lots of food variety so it really shouldn't be porridge every day, sorry if I've misunderstood and you were giving just one example, but it's actually very hard to understand her diet from your OP with elements like "small portion of whatever we have" as the portion size and content could be anything. Most people's under 11 eat a small portion of whatever the parent has, but hopefully much more than your DD!

If she's nearly walking I wouldn't worry too much. Once they're away, you can't stop them I just assumed the night bottle was expressed milk - I've not used formula but it might possibly have extra sugar? After 1 we just introduced a small open cup of regular milk at night (a straw can help make it a novelty to converting to open cup which is a great tip, they can learn to sip from one at that age!)

@Marchitectmummy

Its hard to say without knowing the portion sizes but it sounds a lot and i think its unusual to jump so far up the scale, I have 5 daughters and they all stayed pretty much on the percentile they were born on. I don't think panic but maybe do try to reduce either the amount of bottle or the portion sizes.

I added the porridge amounts to my op , the sandwich is 1 slice of bread (and is usually houmous or chicken in)

Dinner is just whatever we have so for example if we have salmon potatoes and veg she will have 2-3 broccoli florets, 2 new potatoes and a third of a salmon piece
For bolognese she has 1 dessertspoon of bolognese, a dessertspoon of pasta, a dessertspoon of grated cheese and some salad pieces chopped up so that’s some kind of indication of amounts it’s not a huge amount I don’t think

She has ‘dessert’ after lunch only which is always yogurt I use plain as she’s always eaten plain but that’s a couple of dessertspoons

I really can't see how you're overfeeding your baby.

I'd personally but out the pouches, as there's literally no need for a baby to have purees, especially at this age.

I wouldn't stop breastfeeding. Breastfeeding actually helps to reduce the risk of childhood obesity. I'd probably do away with the formula as it's not necessary and once she's walking, which it sounds like is right around the corner, make sure there's lots of running around and activity in the day. Both my bf dc were chubby and slimmed down once they got to toddlerhood. I think it's a common trend.

I highly doubt it's the breastmilk more likely the bottles of milk alongside solids and not moving much. My 7 year old was like that and was very chubby 1 year old as he didn't walk until 15 months. He slimmed right down and is v tall (9 year old height) still heavy and still loves milk
But fairly in proportion. Breastmilk digests so quickly I can't imagine it's causing significant issues

I’d think dropping the ff at bedtime would be more use and bf her if you are happy to.

I’d also give her water at meal times so she gets used to it and a cup.

I wouldn’t stop the though consider dropping the night time ones first.

…105th centile for height…

That’s literally impossible. Centiles of height are an indication of what percetage of children of that age have a smaller height. So eg 95th centile means that if you lined up all the children of that age by height, 95% of them would be below your child and 5% above. In that context, 105th centile does not exist.

OP, I would review the sugar in the lunch and dinner, and if you are content that they are healthy and that you are letting DC self regulate, I would leave it.

Whatever you do do not kick out breastfeeds, fruit or veg.

I wouldn’t stop the bf though consider dropping the night time ones first.

Breastfeeding just gets so much flak. If there's anything to remove from a child's diet, breastmilk should be the last on the list.
Your baby can be overfed now that its weaned but breastmilk is not a culprit.
Whether or not you want to do anything about your kid's diet is up to you. Your baby sounds normal to me but I'm on the otherside of the Internet.. large babies usually skinny out when they start moving.

Her diet sounds fine but you are effectively feeding your DD twice. She isn’t EBF any more and you can’t play by those rules.

Breast milk obviously has calories otherwise EBF babies wouldn’t survive. From your post you say you feed twice + before naps + night time feeds too. Let’s say you are up twice in the night + two naps that equals 6 breast feeds, 1 bottle plus 3 solid meals a day. That’s a lot for a 13 month old. You really should be reducing milk intake rather than food if she is carrying excess weight.

Many HVs are poorly informed about breastfeeding and I encountered several who were actively against it (especially beyond 12 months) so you may be experiencing the same. Personally I’d wean off the formula rather than the breastmilk - toddlers can have ordinary cows’ milk as a drink if they want it, so formula seems an unnecessary faff. I found breastfeeding to be a wonderful tool in parenting a toddler - past babyhood I think the real benefits are to do with comfort and regulation rather than nutrition (which is obviously also still valuable) so I wouldn’t give up if you don’t want to.

I’ve just read the amounts and that’s less than my kids ate at the time. They are big and have always been, but as they were born high on the centiles no one worried about this. Now they are very slim and active, still pretty high on the centiles, and very tall. They ate like monsters till about 2, then slowed down significantly. For example, when DD was 1 and DS 3, often she would eat more than him. We try to put healthy food in front of them and then let them self regulate.

How mobile is she? My baby started getting quite chunky 5-7 months but then rapidly started slimming down once she started crawling. You say she never crawled? That could be a factor.

@bonbonours

I have never heard of bf making a baby overweight even when they are eating food too. Personally I would rather get rid of the evening bottle than the bf as it has so many other benefits comfort etc.

The HV was so pro the formula from 8 m to give me a break but she said to give it plus the vitamin liquid as otherwise she wouldn’t get enough iron but I think from her diet and vitamins alone she should do now

Forgot to add, I found mine would put on weight before a growth spurt or starting a new skill like cruising/walking. Once they’re properly walking they tend to slim down again.

@rainyskylight

How mobile is she? My baby started getting quite chunky 5-7 months but then rapidly started slimming down once she started crawling. You say she never crawled? That could be a factor.

I’m starting to think that could be it she’s cruising about and is active and wriggly but maybe not crawling around all the time has meant she’s not burning off all the food

Before people bash the HV for being anti BF OP has stated twice now that the HV encouraged the formula at night because the OP had PND and needed a break.

I think my plan of action then is

-phase out the bedtime bottle (can I just water it down over a few days eg one less scoop of formula for a few days till it’s water the just give her her usual water cup after bath)

• maybe try a different breakfast to porridge ? Something less ‘heavy’ ?

-in 4 weeks when weighed again get her height recorded as well

I had 2 health visitors telling me my son (who was a chunky 1 year old - think Winston Churchill in baby form) was definitely going to be an obese child/adult if I didn't cut back on his milk immediately.

He is now 6'3'' and weighs 10 st 7lbs (under weight) and has ALWAYS been a skinny child and teenager.

I didn't cut back on his milk.

I'd be interested in what height you and the baby's Dad are, as that is quite possibly relevant.

Your baby isn't anything like an EBF baby and that is a massive weight for a 13 month old. I'd drop all milk except breast milk if you want to keep feeding. She definitely doesn't need formula.

I wouldn't be cutting back on anything!

I would think about dropping the bottle rather than the breast and also look at portion size for meals. Have you thought about not giving dessert? If it was me I would look at reducing the overall calories- not just milk which has many other benefits