to be fed up with everyone calling my dd (10 weeks) a 'bruiser'!!

[llynnnn]

i am well aware she is a bigger than average baby. she was born 8lb 10oz and at 7weeks (havent had her weighed since!) she was 13lb so on 90th centile and she is also on same centile for her length. but why do people always have to say 'shes a big baby', 'shes a bruiser' and the best one from the hv (which is why she hasnt been weighed in a while) 'hope you dont break my scales'

yes she may be big and chubby but she is also gorgeous, happy, content, always smiling, just perfect!! its not like i'm going to put her on a diet is it!!!

sorry for the rant, feel better for getting it out my system!!

[mowbraygirl]

My DS was 8lb 4oz when born 7ozs less than his sister. When I went to hospital for post natal checkup at about 6 weeks I took him with me he then weighted about 13lbs. The nurses made such a fuss of him saying lovely to see such a healthy looking chubby baby. He was fully bf and they told me you can't overfeed them he was putting on average 8ozs a week. Once he started walking he didn't put on much weight in fact when he was 3 to 4 looked skinny. He is now average weight and 6ft 4" tall

[undercoverelephant]

I can remember the HV commenting on DS2 (big) as "a lovely healthy lad" and then turning to a girl baby - same age, same centile, and saying "ooh, she's very large for a girl, isn't she? Do you have any concerns about her weight?"
The other mother and I looked aghast.
Now I have a DD that started off as "a bruiser" but is these days distinctly average! Didn't stop MIL cautioning that she might "put on too much weight" when DH grated half a chocolate button over her yoghurt!

[katiestar]

At least you haven't had the 'won't break and hearts , but might break a few faces !' and that was from DH to our newborn DS2
(who was only 7.5lbs but looked bigger because he was very long and had a big head.)

[Pikelit]

You think it is annoying when they are babies?

Just wait for the streams of stereotypical nonsense that will follow every stage of their childhood! Like when ds2 (a "bruiser") was allegedly "slow" because he couldn't have a conversation with a total stranger when he was still a couple of weeks short of his first birthday.

Some people simply have to say something and you learn to smile upfront and afterwards wonder just how long it is that their village has been missing its idiot.

[PinkTulips]

oooh, i love it when my babies are called huge or bruiser or big lad... possibly because i bf and feel inordinately proud that my milk grew all that chubby baby flesh

[cjones2979]

No, YANBU. Both of my DS's have been big babies and it does grate when people have to point out the blatently obvious all the time.

TBH, I love chunky babies!!

[fizzpops]

Slightly OT (sorry) but can someone tell me re: heartmonnshadow's post:

Can babies be obese at a few weeks old? It always bothers me when I hear people refer to obese babies, I have only ever seen a couple of cases (in the newspaper) of babies who I would actually class as obese.

If they are on 98th centile that doesn't necessarily mean they are obese if their height is proportional surely?

I have always known my DD (now 16mo) to only eat what she needs to satisfy her hunger (unlike obese adults) and so surely her weight is as it should be considering she has a varied diet with lots of fruit/ veg/ carbs/ dairy/ meat etc?

Yes my DD is a big girl for her age but has always had a good appetite and will refuse to eat (even things she loves) if she is not hungry so am I right not to be concerned in the slightest?

[fizzpops]

Flopalong - there is a celebrity who has a child that I think is weird looking but won't say who because I think it is a bit mean. Even my Mum looked at this child and said, 'Poor soul!' so I know it isn't just me.

Katie Price's daughter I think looks a bit like Posie Flump- scroll down ie. cute imo!

[heartmoonshadow]

hi,

Sorru to hijack your thread but I have a similar problem but with the HV not anyone else. I am a little (well OK a lot) chubby myself and DS was born at 6lb 5oz but 3 weeks early. Anyway he is now 7 weeks and his growth is in a perfect line on the chart although it is a little low near under the 25th centile- the only thing is they started charting him as though his due date was the day he arrived. If they had started the line at his due date he would have charted exactly on the 50 line. Still I digress.

Anyway last week I took him to be weighed and he peaked a little high - one time in 6 weights - anyway the HV said we now have to be careful what we feed him so he doesn't go too high as there is a link to obese babies and obese children! She obviously took one look at me and thought fat mama fat child. (little does she know I have issues with PCOS, insulin and all manner of hormone issues which were being sorted by an endochrinologist and I was losing weight fast before I got pregnant)

I tried to explain to her that he had just had his bottle 15 minutes before so that would be 5oz and that due to his toilet habits he had not 'been' for 48hrs so a couple of oz there- she dismissed this but I think it was relevant. Anyway this week we went with him starving and after his poo and he looked to only have put on 1oz so she asked me if I was starving him. The woman is a nutter!

Anyway as per the original poster if your baby is happy and doing all the things babies do I would say to the rude people, oh she's not a little brusier she is a cherub and they are supposed to be squishy, she is lucky really because all the girls in our family begin life as cherubs and end up tall/slim/beautiful/sleek/curvy - subsitute your own word.

[Goblinchild]

I know, but I was clinically insane for the first three or four months, so you would have been safer leaving anyway!
I also didn't hold her over my shoulder for months because I was convinced her head would fall off. And that the HV would take her away if my house wasn't spotless.
Ah, the joy of the PFB!

[PitysSake]

goblinchild if you had done that Id have saiad " you can stuff oyur dull babY" and left

[PitysSake]

oh god
at least htey take an interest

[ApplesinmyPocket]

Ha, sounds like the sort of thing my dear old Nan would have said! But she would have meant it as a compliment - coming from a time when the chubbier/bigger a baby was, the more it was admired, and people intend it as a compliment to you and to your lovely DD who is clearly thriving so well and doing just what a healthy baby should.

But I know how sometimes well-meant comments can touch a nerve so YANBU but just smile and say 'I know! Isn't it lovely' and then move swiftly on.

[usedtobeme]

My dd2 was a big fat baby, still is and had a mass of hair too , she looked like a big highland cow! But she is gorgeous and i love her and even now when i change her nappy at toddler groups people comment on how big her thighs are! It is a bit annoying sometimes but they don't mean any harm. Her thighs are huge but i'm sure she'll grow into a tall slim stunner ... just like her mummy

[Goblinchild]

YANBU
My PFB looked like Brian Glover in a frock when she was born, and was called a bruiser and such like by the witty and talkative.
It was getting to me, so I used a technique I have. I had a notepad. And when someone made a crass and tactless comment about my darling, I made a tally mark on the pad, and told them what I was doing when they asked.
Channelled my anger, embarrassed and unsettled them them a bit.
Should have got me a voodoo doll.

[ShowOfHands]

My dd was born on the 50th centile and within a few weeks was off the charts for weight and height and has stayed that way. She was the pudgiest, rolliest baby I had ever seen. All I ever heard when people made bruiser comments was a compliment. My milk made and kept her that way. She's a tall, muscular, strong 2yr old now and I miss the chubbiness.

[sabire]

YANBU

My middle one was 10lbs 12oz and had a full head of hair at birth, complete with what looked like sideburns. He looked like Robbie Coltrane. People were stunned by the sheer yobbishness of him. Used to get lots of 'bruiser' comments, but in his case they was undeniably true.

Maybe you feel a bit sensitive because you have a dd, and dd's aren't 'supposed' to be big chunks (sorry - should add, my dd was a big, hairy chunk. I was soooo proud of her, she was magnificent).

DS2 was also massive and went up through two centiles after birth. I used to get all the 'what the bloody hell are you feeding him on?' comments. DH used to make it worse by slapping me on the back, mooing and answering 'old daisy here' with a look of pride on his face!

[TamTam29]

My 2 DS are both big boys & I get same type of comments too. Sounds like your DD is lovely & healthy.

My niece was a big baby with lovely chubby rolls & HV said to SIL how lovely it was to see a healthy looking baby girl for a change as so often parents deliberately try to keep their little girls small so that they are not fat when they were older!

Dont know how true that is or if HV was just trying to reassure SIL.

As long as they are happy & healthy wouldnt care if I had ugliest kids on the block!

[lljkk]

Oops! Just realised OP already replied and saw the error of her sensitivities; well done you. Hope your baby continues to delight. x

[lljkk]

I think you're being oversensitive, OP.
Big baby means growing well. That's a something to be happy about by any standard.

[babyjamas]

dd2 was prem and weighed just over 2lb - she came out of hospital weighing just short of 5lb and we got all sorts of comments about how tiny she was - and all i wanted to say was no, she's bloody enormous compared to what she was!
whatever, i liked the comments - better than people ignoring you. i could happily have talked about her to anyone.

[PM73]

YABU,what else is there to say about a newborn except their size?

You know she is lovely & cute so why get worked up over it?

[flopalong]

Does anyone else feel really bad when you see an ugly or weird looking child. I think Katie price little girl is very strange looking, maybe she will be an ugly duckling. Does this make me a bad person??
I also look at some photos of my kids and think WOW that caiught you in a bad light, I don't say it out loud now beucause I was looked at like a bad mum last time I said it