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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that the majority of babies do not need to be weighed regularly

31 replies

Reallytired · 25/08/2009 20:31

In the early weeks it is a good idea to weigh a baby to be sure that breastfeeding has been established. However I see little point in a baby who is older than 6 weeks being weighed monthly.

I think that excessive weighing of babies does nothing but cause unnecessary anxiety. Many mothers and health professionals do not understand percentile charts. Also the charts in my little red book are for bottlefed white babies.

Looking at the baby is often a more accurate way of telling whether it is thriving.

Prehaps we should weigh the mothers instead of the babies. Certainly many mothers have problems with weight.

Or joking aside we should have a well mother clinic instead of a well baby clinic. If the mother is healthy then the baby will generally be well looked after.

OP posts:

funkybuddah · 25/08/2009 20:35

YANBU, unles you have concerns what is tha point, dd was weight at the home visits, at 6 weeks and once at about 25 weeks, that is it and she is nearly 2, i dont see the point at all.

Also I have BF charts in my red book?

kitesarefun · 25/08/2009 20:37

Agreed

LynetteScavo · 25/08/2009 20:38

Who says babys need to be weighed regularly?

I never took DD to be weighed at a clinic.

rubyslippers · 25/08/2009 20:40

i took DS1 to be weighed regularly as it was a trip out ... that is important in the early weeks i think

LynetteScavo · 25/08/2009 20:43

Oh yes...with DS1 it was my one and only weekly outing. I kept going weekly for atleast 6 motnhs because I was actually spoken to (all be it patronisingly) during daytime hours when all friends and family were at work.

WhatFreshHellIsThis · 25/08/2009 20:43

I suspect that baby clinic is about much more than just weighing babies. It's an opportunity for the HVs to have a chat with new mothers and see how they're coping, and perhaps if someone seems particularly vulnerable and doesn't turn up to baby clinic for a long time, it's a good indicator that they might need a call/visit to see if they're ok.

And as rubyslippers says, it's a trip out of the house, which is quite important with your first baby, IMO.

so YANBU that the weighing is not vital, but YABU in that I think baby clinic, when done right, has some benefits which go beyond weighing.

AvrilH · 25/08/2009 20:47

IME, bottlefed babies don't get regularly weighed but it is reassuring for BF mothers.

nigglewiggle · 25/08/2009 20:52

I was going to say what Ruby and FreshHell said, so YANBU, but you are being short-sighted.

EldonAve · 25/08/2009 20:54

No chance of regular weighing here HV funding has been cut back so much

QueenOfFuckingEverything · 25/08/2009 21:02

AvrilH I do not think routine weighing is particularly reassuring for BF mothers tbh. Poor understanding of normal growth patterns and inaccuracies in scales/conversion/recording can lead to women's confidence in their ability to BF being completely undermined.

Far better IMO to look at the baby as a whole - is s/he feeding well? Weeing/pooing regularly? Alert? Growing out of clothes? Showing no signs of dehydration, ie sunken fontanelle? If yes to all then personally I'd find that more reassuring than a line on a chart.

thisisyesterday · 25/08/2009 21:15

i agree wholeheartedly. babies really don;'tneed weighing so frequently, i know a lot of poeople who go every week and that's just excessive

if you need a trip out then why not to a mother and baby group or something? why does it have to be to weigh the baby?
actually i think at our clinics now you can go and just chat to someone and there is no onus on you to have the baby weighed, which is an ok compromise i guess.

the problem is that as queenoffuckingeverything says, too frequent weighing, and the misunderstanding of normal weight gain in a breastfed baby leaeds to a lot of people givig up breastfeeding or giving unnecessary supplements or both. it can cause a lot of worry that it needn't.

so, weekly meet-ups and chats with mums- YES
regular weighing of babies- NO

greensnail · 25/08/2009 21:16

I hadn't intended to take dd to get her weighed regularly, but people kept asking how much she weighed so I took her. Now i'm addicted to it. I love finding out how much she's put on and quite enjoy having a little chat with the HV and the other mums.

I'm lucky that DD has always piled on the weight though, but hope that i know enough not to worry whether her weight gain is following the chart if all other signs are that she's thriving.

EyeballsintheSky · 25/08/2009 21:18

"Prehaps we should weigh the mothers instead of the babies. Certainly many mothers have problems with weight."

Yeah because the mother of a 6+ week old baby really needs a lecture on weight management

sillysalley · 25/08/2009 21:18

Agree with freshhell, so yes YABU

spicemonster · 25/08/2009 21:20

YANBU - I stopped taking mine at 6 weeks and I still have no idea how much he weighs now he's 2 and a half. What is the point? No child ever goes steadily up that bloody graph so either they're getting too fat too fast or they're not putting on weight fast enough. God knows, becoming a mother is enough of a guilt-fest without adding to it unnecessarily

orangehead · 25/08/2009 21:21

I think with your first baby sometimes its a good chance to ask the hv that niggling little question that you know is too small to make an appointment for and like many have said its a chance to get out. I also use to get given info on baby masage classes, toddler groups and things like that so that was useful to. But you dont have to get your baby weighed.

Tee2072 · 25/08/2009 21:26

Weekly?

My DS will be getting weighed monthly, or on his jab schedule. I haven't even been told I can bring him in weekly to weigh him.

Of course he was weighed today because he had his first jabs and is 11 weeks old, 14 pounds and 24 inches, so failure to thrive is not a problem! Also not so far above average as you would think!!!

pinkthechaffinch · 25/08/2009 21:35

YABU, I enjoy taking DD to be weighed-I take her every 6 weeks or so.

She's my second child, I'm not worried about her at all, I just like her being weighed- I feel a sense of satisfaction after her red book's been filled in.

I'll probably stop after she turns one-unless I have real concerns of course.

Rachmumoftwo · 25/08/2009 21:43

With DD1 I went weekly at first- it got me out of the house and meant contact with other mums. I would have been very isolated otherwise.

By the time DD2 came I had made friends and so didn't bother.

spicemonster · 25/08/2009 21:51

But if it's about making friends (and I appreciate that's an issue for some new mums), aren't those new mum coffee mornings a better place to meet other mums? Rather than queueing up in a crappy GP's waiting room?

onetiredmummy · 25/08/2009 21:56

I don't take ds 2 any more as I was BF & he lost too much weight & midwife was threatening to put us back in hospital & went on about him not gaining enough weight. So I switched him to formula & now they are saying he's too big!! Fuck their centiles, my baby is healthy he just doesn't fit their litle graphs.

Rachmumoftwo · 25/08/2009 22:00

Some weighing clinics are held in larger rooms/halls and can be quite friendly places to go- less intimidating than turning up alone at a coffee morning for some.

It is not ideal, but worked for me- it had very little to do with DD needing weighing- she was always right in the middle.

Rachmumoftwo · 25/08/2009 22:00

Some weighing clinics are held in larger rooms/halls and can be quite friendly places to go- less intimidating than turning up alone at a coffee morning for some.

It is not ideal, but worked for me- it had very little to do with DD needing weighing- she was always right in the middle.

PavlovtheForgetfulCat · 25/08/2009 22:01

I stopped going after I was told DD was not gaining weight, but that I could not wean, and she would not take a bottle. she was failing to thrive all my fault etc but given no suggestions to tell me how I could in fact increase her weight. I took her to the gp who said --bollocks- she was perfectly fine, a small, well proportioned well nourished, happy baby. Just as we had thought.

I felt like such a shit parent, and tortured my poor baby with forcing bottles on her several times a day unecessarily for too long. After the gp said all ok, we said sod the HV and stopped going. We had the 8 month check for the tick box exercise only.

It did not help that she was being measured on a Formula Feeding Chart when she was BF either.

Morloth · 26/08/2009 10:13

DS was weighed when he was born, then at the 6 week appointment and also when he had the surgery on his foot at 3 months (obviously needed to know for anaesthetic reasons etc).

Other than that we have always gone on how he looks rather than how big he is. He is and always has been on the lean side but has always grown and looked good to me, clear pink skin, sparkly eyes, stacks of energy, robust appetite etc.

It is worth saying though that I had a lot of support, great Mum and MIL, lots of older sisters who had all had babies, a lovely GP so it is easy for me to be relaxed about "normal" baby stuff. It is a shame that this isn't there for everyone.

I think regular weighing can go either way really, for some people it will be a reassurance and for others it will be another thing to stress about.

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