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 ?

@MrsLargeEmbodied

you could go to your GP if you are worried by the HV comments i remember my HV saying my ds was chubby but i ignored her, or perhaps vaguely listened.

your dd will become more active, encourage that op.
dont stress

She’s so close to walking I think she will be in the next few days

You need to look at the height in comparison to weight before you make any changes.

It's not the breastfeeding. You keep going with that as long as you want. I would just drop the formula. The weight will literally fall off as soon as your daughter starts walking.
I BF my 3 all till they were 2, no formula. Exclusively BF till 6 months. The HV told me several times that I was lying to her as no BF baby could be as chubby as DS3. Mind you, he was massive. He seriously looked like Phil Mitchell. I can dig out his red book and pm you to put your mind at rest. As soon as he started walking, the weight fell off him. He's as skinny as a rake now, eats well, does a lot of sport. You are not setting her up for a life of obesity as her portions and intake are sensible.

I honestly wouldn't worry about her weight at this stage. From what you have said you are doing a great job and all the right things.
Once she is walking and hits the fussy toddler stage you will be amazed at how her weight regulates.

If there is one thing I've learnt from my DCs is - they know their own bodies and I should trust them with their food. If they are sick they stop eating, I worry, but they always start again once they are better.

mine had full fat milk at 12 months, does that advice still apply?

Trust your instincts and ignore the HV on this. Your baby sounds absolutely fine and it's ridiculous to call a 13 month old obese. Reassess in a few months when your daughter is more active. A few breastfeeds is not going to tip a healthy weight baby into obesity! Extra breastfeeds and bottles don't need to suddenly stop just because she 1 - move at her pace.

Really poor advice from the HV, no wonder we have an issue with breastfeeding rates! You do not have to stop breastfeeding unless you want to. If something needs cutting you could reduce food portions or offer a smaller bottle.

I think you’re right, it’s about the movement. DS was really chunky until he started moving a lot, which was a bit later than average. Normal sized ever since. I wouldn’t worry at this point.

This has probably been said by a PP, but the premise of not being able to overfeed a breastfed baby only applies when they are exclusively being breastfed, pre weening.
Otherwise presumably you'd get some idiot adults drinking breastmilk to keep their weight down.

Btw I don’t agree necessarily that you should cut out the breast milk. Like others, I think you’re much better cutting the bottle of milk in the evening, I suspect that’s more likely the cause.

@bigBigbaby I agree with the HV. You are overfeeding her.

I mean, keep B/F but don't add all the other (bottled) milk as well. Food and breastmilk only.

She is quite big. My fattest child (sorry, but he was chubby!) weighed 13.5kg at age 2.5 and I think you said yours was 12.5kg at 13 months?

He diet sounds fine to me, I've got three kids and she eats better than mine did at that age to be honest. I would ditch the bottle of formula but keep the breastfeeds if she wants them, I really don't think this is the problem.

The main thing will be that she's not crawling, as soon as she walks it will come off. She's sedentary and having three meals and snacks (the breastmilk) just now, this will change. But I wouldn't worry too much, her diet sounds fine.

There is no reason OP why you can't measure and weigh your baby. You don't have to with for the HV. (However, Ive yet to meet a good HV)

I think you’re focusing too much on signalling out the prime subject in what she is having rather than just that she’s having too much overall. So it could be that taking out the BF gets her back under or keeping the BF but cutting down on what she’s having for her meals. The HV might have just said BF as she’s getting older so wouldn’t have advised you to cut out what sounds like healthy meals she’ll have long term.

@Pea1985

Really poor advice from the HV, no wonder we have an issue with breastfeeding rates! You do not have to stop breastfeeding unless you want to. If something needs cutting you could reduce food portions or offer a smaller bottle.

Why not increase the food and decrease the breast milk but still offer it. This to me sounds very much like a baby having too much milk and not enough food. Breast milk is hugely beneficial after 6 months to compliment solids, currently the baby is having more milk than solids which is not right for a 13 month old baby. Just because it’s breast milk not formula doesn’t mean it’s fine to have in excess.

If this was a baby having 3 very small meals a day and 6+ bottles of formula a day at 13 months the advice would be very different.

As a trained health professional with a keen interest in breast feeding, having worked within a health visiting team, having breast fed 2 children until they self-weaned past OP’s baby’s age. My advice is to distract during the day to reduce some breast feeds, offer more (healthy) solids and when baby is more mobile these will all help to correct itself.

That saying applies to babies solely on breastmilk though. Which isn't the case here.

So your “exclusively breastfed baby” is on solids and also gets formula?

HV sounds like an idiot though. Going on about obesity without even working out which centile your baby is on. That’s not very helpful.

She’s only just one year old, bf at night won’t be making her ‘obese’.

At her age I'd be dropping the bottle before the breath milk. I fed my last on demand until they were two.

Your hv is wrong that it’s the bf that needs to go. Also wrong that your daughter’s weight cancels out the merits of bf. She is also wrong that the bottle is ok. This makes it hard to see any merit in her comments so if you are worried seek someone better.

Vary the diet more instead of giving sugary vitamins to your dd.
I’d leave the bread out of the diet. The chicken or hummus is fine as a meal on its own for a 1 year old.

Hmm, so your baby is bf, having formula and solid food, but the bf is the problem...

If there even is a problem

@orchardgirl4

Give baby as much breast milk as you and baby want. Never feel you need to reduce that by ANY amount. I'd drop any more processed foods e.g. white bread, and anything with any free sugars in such as baby foods with concentrated fruit, and that could help baby regulate their own food intake/weight more easily.

I agree with this. Keep BFing for as long as you want but increase veggies and protein in meals?