To think HV is talking rubbish and babies can't be overweight?

[IdiotSandwich05]

Hi all.

DS is two months old and, according to his HV, overweight. He weighed 6lbs 12oz at birth (born at 37 weeks), at six weeks was 12lbs 10oz, and when I weighed him at baby clinic yesterday was exactly 15lbs. So yes a chunky monkey but I was pleased with this! He is EBF.

The HV insinuated I was overfeeding him and shouldn't 'feed him every time he cries'. I don't! She also mentioned him being at increased risk of obesity ect. Basically making it seem like I'm doing something wrong. This is my first time BFing and I thought it was going well! Neither me nor DP nor our daughter are overweight.

DS is also 63cm long which is on the 99th percentile, so to me that means he's big but in proportion rather than overweight. He is healthy, happy, and meeting all his millstones. He goes 2-3 hours between feeds in the day and 3-4 hours at night, so it isn't like he's feeding constantly. And even if he was, I thought you couldn't overfeed a BF baby?

Am I BU to think HV is talking out of her rear? He's not even solids yet, so how

Those fat children aren't still exclusively breast fed though are they!

Plenty of health visitors give bad advice. I was told directly contradictory advice by two health visitors, one day apart. One of them must have been wrong...

Such a shame that she is making you doubt yourself when you are doing such a fantastic job. All three of my EBF babies have been super chunky. My mum used to say I had ‘gold top milk’ 😂 sounds like you have the same. You’re doing a great job! Ignore the HV, honestly a lot of them seem to be bordering on anti-breastfeeding or at the very least have no understanding of it.

Really? She actually said that? He's just a baby enjoying his grub. It would be a different situation if he wasn't getting enough and underweight. My aunties health visitor said this 5 years ago when my wee cousin was a baby. She was their third (surprise baby after having 2 teens) my aunty was already worried as she had 2 teen kids and my uncle was 50 so a lot of judgement already. I mean baby was chunky and looked like the Mitchellin baby but she was fed when hungry, and she was told to cut her milk down and put her on a diet 😳😳😳😳 I said you've had 2 kids before so you know what your doing. She's now a crazy very small 5 year old. X

I thought the advice was to feed on demand for bf babies? My DS put on 1lb in week 3 and the HV congratulated me and said I must be producing gold top milk. She was a really lovely and supportive HV but I think she left to become a sleep consultant.
I'm amazed that breastfeeding is not an area of knowledge for hVs.

I EBF my son, never expressed. He was big at birth, always hungry and grew enormously fat by 6 months. But my HV was adamant that he was perfect and there was no issue.

I think half the problem is loads of people lie....(i'm not saying you do!)....I bet she hears it all the time people who say they are breastfeeding as it is possible to overfeed a formula fed baby..but not an EBF one.

She's obviously not well trained or she wouldn't have talked such nonsense. This misinformation causes stress and confusion, not at all surprised that breath feeding rates are so low.

My first born was 7lbs at birth and 27” long, she looked like a skinned rabbit, I breast fed to start with but she was always rooting for more, I persevered for weeks but she wasn’t gaining weight and I was exhausted.I had nothing left, My HV brought a bottle and a tin of formula to the house just to try it” DD walloped a six ounce bottle straight off, slept for four hours and we never looked back. She is 6’ tall and is fit and healthy.

Ugh so many health visitors make this mistake. If he’s EBF he isn’t overweight. I knew as soon as I saw the thread title that he’d be tall.

Tall children store a lot of fat as babies and toddlers. They need it for their growth spurt.

Your health visitor is ignorant.

Got this nonsense from my HV too. My ebf DC were the two fattest babies you've ever seen and they are now rail thin teenagers. As soon as they start crawling and walking they will thin out.

I'm sure some health visitors are excellent but not the ones I've encountered. I opted out of seeing them when one told me to never feed my 10 month year old eggs under any circumstances whatsoever and to give her juice instead of breastmilk. Considering that NHS guidance on what to feed your baby is pretty idiot proof and short, I was astounded by this. I did question if she was sure about this advice and she was very adamant about no eggs. Bonkers.

My 2 year old is massive !!! Was born average weight and ebf then by 5 months jumped up onto the 98th centile.

I thought the weight may stabilise but no- now at 2 over the 99th centile. Eats a healthy diet and tiny portions but still breastfeeds multiple times a day - HV says this is great as still getting the benefits of breastmilk and that the weight will come off once I stop bf and not to worry

Fucking health visitors can be shit. Mine said to me on finding out I intended in breastfeeding past 12 months - 'aren't you worried about the damage you'll do to him and his teeth?'

When my eldest was 3 months old the HV told me he was overweight cos he was bottle fed and on the 91st centile. Yet when my middle did the same thing because he was EBF it was praised.

My eldest is now 129cm and weighs 3 stone 9, which is heavier than lots of kids his age but he is also much taller than the majority of his peers. He doesn’t have an ounce of fat on him. He packed on the weight until around 18 months to 2 years old then his weight plateaued and he just kept getting taller and slowly started gaining weight again after he started school. My middle child is 2, he’s going the same way as in he packed on the weight in the first 18 months and has plateaued but getting is getting taller. He has grown almost 10cm since the start of the year without gaining any weight.

It’s nonsense. Babies can’t be overweight, they’re literally drinking milk. Even bottle fed babies in my experience you can’t truly overfeed as they’ll either throw up any excess or refuse the bottle - my youngest switched to EFF at 4.5 months and if he doesn’t want his bottle he just won’t drink it. Don’t worry about her comments at all, keep doing what you’re doing.

HV defo talking out of her arse, according to what midwives and LC in my prenatal course said

I got told similar till I said I was EBF - then I was told that’s great and given a goodie bag as only breast feeding that morning!!!! As a doctor working with children myself I wasn’t impressed!

🤦🏻‍♀️😡
HV should be worried about damage I’d do to her teeth if she’d said this to me

Not EBF but this reminds me of my 6 month old. Rolling over is like turning a big lorry around a corner. Quite funny to watch sometimes!

Omg. As everyone is saying you cannot over feed and exclusively breastfed baby! The composition of breast milk changes all the time - you should feed them whenever they want it!! I’ve breastfed all of mine until 2.5!!

A bottle fed baby will just puke it up or refuse it if they don't want it. I presume if they want more you just give it. 🤷‍♀️

Heavens. DS was about the same weight at birth but by 5 months has wristlets and rolls and rolls of fat flesh. He looked like he was on steroids. Ebf until 6 months. He started walking at 9 months and became a stick insect which he still is today with zero interest in food, unless its a sweet.
Ignore her.

Well done on EBF and your baby’s weight gain!! Ignore the HV and carry on.

Genuine question

How do you know that you can not overfeed a breastfed baby?

I only had the two planned HV visit and didn't bother with the dropping in for weigh ins. As long as I could see my daughter was growing steadily and feeding plenty I felt happy she was doing well. Trust your instincts and keep doing what you are doing as it sounds like he is growing well.

Ignore. My baby was a chunk and I had a lovely health visitor who told me she was perfect and she'd even out and no, you can't overfeed a breast fed baby.