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 ?

@bigBigbaby

Hi Op I would ignore the HV opinion on bf unless she is a recognised expert in the field. HV although well meaning are not always the best resources on BF. Indeed very few people are.

Also charts on a smooth line to plot against... its not your babies expected line and don't take it literally.

Healthy eating is important as is BF.

I'd drop the milk bottle and let the bf continue with the healthy food. As 1) food offered is healthy and 2) bf is good regardless of age.

Alternatively reach out to the bf network lll or similar or find an IBLC on twitter or similar to tweet.

Best of luck and don't worry. It's an average of babies....

It is possible to over feed an ebf baby - I've seen it done once when a silent reflux baby kept feeding as comfort, but just ended up taking in too many calories.
Your baby isnt ebf. Yes, it's possible to overfeed her.
That is a big jump in centiles. Over how long has she been crossing centile lines? Can you tie it in with, say, introducing solids, or introducing the bottle?

You can't necessarily look at the height and say that's a high centile too, because children that are overfed often put on the height early too.
It doesn't change their final height, they just reach it sooner.

I'd cut back on the formula at night and for meals stick with main meal followed by fruit.
It's the going up the centile lines that sounds as though there's an issue.
Try encouraging movement-will they walk round on a finger?

I can remember my hygienist regularly putting the fear of god into me re. breastfeeding post 6 months. She was telling me horror stories of children with rotting teeth who were all breast feed for too long 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄. I continued to breast feed DC2 until he self weaned bang on 24 months and his teeth (as well as DC1) ate absolutely perfect. These bloody health professionals can be dangerous.

Honestly, Id go on trusting yourself - some HVs are utterly obsessed with weight even in babies, though perhaps not surprising when you do see quite a lot of very overweight children.

My Gdcs were BF for well over 6m, carried on with milk in bottles at least twice a day, until well over 2. Both were extremely chubby babies - Gds especially was a little Michelin Man, with rolls of fat.
Might add that he lost quite a bit of it when in hospital for a week with severe bronchiolitis - IMO babies are intended to be chubby since if they get sick they can lose weight alarmingly quickly.

Both had slimmed down hugely by about 2 1/2, I.e. once running around a lot, and at now 5 and 6, both are super slim.

If she didn't crawl and she is now getting some more 'exercise' when cruising - as she starts to walk and then run, I bet she'll be all right. Breastmilk is still good for babies after 12 months and if you're feeling better, maybe drop the formula bottle at night and either bf then (night feeds might be slightly less frequent then) or give her water if she'll accept it.

@PeonyTime

It is possible to over feed an ebf baby - I've seen it done once when a silent reflux baby kept feeding as comfort, but just ended up taking in too many calories. Your baby isnt ebf. Yes, it's possible to overfeed her. That is a big jump in centiles. Over how long has she been crossing centile lines? Can you tie it in with, say, introducing solids, or introducing the bottle?

I have no idea as she wasn’t weighed at all literally birth and recently

I’ve just checked my Red Books. One child went from 75th to 25th for weight when they started walking. The other went from 50th to 9th. So her weight may just drop as she becomes mobile.

I wouldn't water down the formula. I'd make a smaller bottle and ask her to drink water from her regular cup first and then once she's had a drink of that, offer her her (smaller) bottle and take it away at signs of her being full if she's slow to finish it.

I would have thought it to be the bottled milk that's the issue though, not the breastfeeding. My health visitor said that it's almost impossible to overfeed a baby and if anyone questioned DSs size to tell them to do one! He is big though, not fat just twice the size he "should" be. She said an overfed baby would be lethargic and not very active, which isn't DS at all. But he's a lot younger than yours so I don't know.

Try getting a second opinion from the gp?

I’d reduce the bottle feed by watering it down.

Even the veg pouches can have quite a lot of sugar in them as they often contain pear/apple purée in. I’d cut these out for all but emergencies/outings if it makes life much easier.

Also sometime it’s easier to smile and nod with the hv. My one told me I had to make ds crawl (he only did for 2 weeks as he learnt to walk at 10 months) otherwise he wouldn’t be good at maths!?

It makes you wonder what HVs are even taught...they often spout such nonsense

I had a daughter on the 5th centile. More meat on a jockeys whip. Still short and dainty now as an adult. I have a son who’s always been off the charts , just four and wears size one shoes and age 8-9 clothes. Both full term , bottle fed after a day of colostrum and weaned onto solids exactly the same way. Clearly share genes as facially identical and very alike except their size.
Natural variation. It’s a thing.
Please don’t worry too much. If the child is energetic and healthy she’s getting what she needs. Once she’s running and looning about on a bike and learning to swim over the next couple years the puppy fat will melt off.
I’ve never met my health visitor. If my child’s ill I see a doctor. I don’t actually get the point of them. Even as a teenage mum I used to be capable of researching anything I wasn’t sure about. I made reasonable choices as she’s still alive!
We’re conditioned to worry too much these days I think .

This information is absolutely useless unless you have a length for comparison.

Are you or your husband tall?

I’m surprised that your hv didn’t say anything about the bottle of formula milk but told you to cut bf. The guidelines say to continue bf but that formula should be replaced by whole cows milk after 1 so perhaps she is just negative about bf. Personally I would do as you say and reduce the formula bottle. They can fill up really quickly from a bottle without realising they’re actually not hungry, I’d also swap over to a cup but maybe you’re worried she won’t sleep?

Almost everything she is eating is carbs.

@SloopB

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.

When you say "drop all milk except BF" it makes it sound like she's giving her DD five bottles a day...she's having one at bed time

Yes I think that saying means an ebf baby, not a baby/ toddler on solids who also has a bottle plus bf.

The fact that she’s having a bit of bm too doesn’t mean she can’t ever be over fed.

Why is she having "vitamin liquid"? Especially one with sugar in it! Her diet is varied....what's your reason for giving a one year old baby vitamins? With added sugar!

All vitamins are best consumed through actual food.

I’m confused. Your thread sounds like your baby is EBF. But now she’s having 3 meals a day, breast milk, formula at night, and vitamin liquid with raw sugar? Maybe she actually is overweight?

@TheSquashyHatOfMrGnosspelius

Almost everything she is eating is carbs.

.... Except the yogurt, the veg, the milk... Whatever she's having for dinner etc.

And babies/kids are supposed to eat carbs

@FortunesFave

Why is she having "vitamin liquid"? Especially one with sugar in it! Her diet is varied....what's your reason for giving a one year old baby vitamins? With added sugar!

All vitamins are best consumed through actual food.

Vitamin D supplements are recommended for all breast fed babies and formula fed babies who are having less than 500mls/day

I feel like I'll be in the minority here but I wouldn't worry about it as long as you know her diet is healthy. My first was born 25th centile for weight and was 98th by 1 year old. He's always been 25th centile for height. As soon as he started running around his weight started levelling out and he's gained very little in the last year. I think he's probably around 50th centile for weight now but I know what he eats and there was no way I was restricting food in a child so young. We did cut the night breastfeeds in favour of water not long after he turned one, but that was more out of concern for his teeth than his weight.

It does sound quite a lot of food for a one year old. But I agree with tslking to the HV.

I would cut the bottle of milk after bath rather than the breastfeeding.