High weight gain - should I be worried or not?

[Freckly]

Hi,

My DD was on the 75% line for both weight & height since birth however since she's started solids her weight has been steadily creeping upwards towards the 91% line while her height has remained on the 75%. She is now 30wks (just turned 7 mnths) & weighs 20lb!!! I'm worried that if she continues to put on weight at this pace she will end up obese! I don't feed her any junk food, only healthy nourishing food & she has a huge appetite. My HV tells me not to worry coz when she starts moving she'll burn it off again but who knows when she may start to crawl if at all? My friend's DS has only started crawling now & he's just turned 1. If my DD is the same she'll be huge by the time she reaches 1 at this rate.

I'm worried that the HV is just being complacent & shrugging it off. Then again she may well be right & I'm worrying over nothing but with all the talk on the news about childhood obesity rising in the UK it's been playing on my mind even more. I am going to start giving her less food at each mealtime & hopefully it will help her to catch up with her weight. I don't think she looks overly chubby but she definitely looks better in 9-12 month clothes instead of 6-9, however I have to turn up the sleeves of her tops, so she's not needing the bigger sizes for length, just for her tummy! Has anyone had similar experience with their LO & what was the outcome? Would love to hear all about it.

Thanks :)

Anyone??

I wouldn't worry my DS was a huge fat baby (so was I lol) and I remember thinking he was quite chunky, but when I look back at the pictures it's quite shoking!

However look at him now that he's 5 and it's all gone he got skinny long legs! I was myself a large fatty baby, but turned quite skinny and am now a size 8!

I do seem to remember that the chunkiness started going when he started walking not crawling... and he didnt walk until he was 17 months... enjoy the podge while you have it... You know she's getting healthy food. I'd rather see a podge on home made cooking than a skinny baby on junk food!

Don't give her less food than she wants, and remember she still needs fat in her diet. If you give her less food than she wants she will start waking in the night, or waking earlier for breakfast. I am sure you won't be wanting that

My ds was an outragiously fat baby, but as a nearly 3 year old his weight is perfectly normal.

Both of mine were huge. DS1 by 7mths was 23lb and ds2 is 21lb so I really wouldn't worry. DS1 is now 2 and a perfectly normal toddler who won't eat anything! And it doesn't stop them crawling or walking - DS1 walked at 11mths and DS2 is just about crawling now.

Morning All & thanks for your replies. You have helped to put my mind at rest somewhat. I really should try not to worry about it but it's hard as many of the babies around me (same age as my DD) are having the opposite problem and are down in the 9% centile & not eating all that much so she looks much bigger then them

Colditz, I hear what you are saying about the night waking & funnily enough that's what happened at 4.30 this morning until I finally gave up trying to settle her @ 6am & fed her. She finally went back to sleep ~ 6.30 and DH & I are quite tired today. That's what we get for cutting down the size of her dinner last night! At the same time, she's obviously eating more than she needs or she wouldn't be gaining so much so what do we do? Do you think I should keep feeding her regardless? I just don't know what to do :(. I wish I could stop fretting over it :(

feeckly, loads of babies are like this

both mine were fat, chubby babies at that age - your HV is right - as soon as they start crawling/walking, they burn it all off

if you trawl through archives, you'll probably find loads of posters asking why their child has not put any weight on in their second year! I know mine bulked out between 4months and a year and then virtually put on only single digit pounds for the whole of the next year.

If your HV isn't worried and she has a good diet, then I wouldn't worry if I was you.

If she is anything like my d as a baby don't worry
He would pack on weight and then suddenly his height would go up, and on and on like that, he is still like that now.
I think at the age your dd is now, you should not worry at all, when she starts crawling and cruising and rolling, it is true she will burn it off, and a godo layer of weight helps protect - like a surplus if she gets ill. Many bbaies go off their food when teething so you can relax and not worry!
I had the opposite problem - ate like a horse - no weight gain.
WE do nothing but worry about these little things!

she's not eating more than she needs-babies don't do this! if she a lovely chubby baby -so what! so long as she's not having lots of crap then give her the amount she wants.
My ds1 was like this-he was such a big boy.he used to put a pound a week on-this was when he was just being breastfed too!! he was always on the 99.6th centile or off the chart and my ds2 aged 2.6 is now wearing trousers that ds1 was wearing aged 18 months!
he is now a very tall skinny six year old , who is very fit and athletic.
please don't worry about her being fat-poor little thing.

Foxinsocks, Piffle & Alexmum, thanks for replying.

It's comforting to know that I'm not doing the wrong thing by her in feeding her so much....she does seem to eat a lot at each meal. It's good to know that your babies were similar. Out of interest, did your babies eat quite fast at mealtimes? My DD gulps her food down & my DH have been wondering if maybe this may be partly why she eats so much......her little tummy doesn't have time to tell her brain that she's full and then she's eaten too much (I say this because sometimes after her dinner she looks just like anyone would after overeating & she just wallows whereever she's sitting). By the way my DH thinks I'm worrying unnecessarily too and I don't mean to go on about it when you've all told me it'll be fine but I still need to get what's going on in my mind of my chest!

Thanks for listening :)

my babies and my sisters babies used to do( what we called!) 'buddha' after dinner! sit and flop!!!
what is her length like? is she in proportion?

Honestly don't worry about it, my dd on the 98th centile for weight-- now tall slim 6 yo. Always looked better in the 'next size up' too.
I really wouldn't restrict her food intake- she is a growing girl and sounds like she needs it!

ok- i have just dug out ds's red book so i can give you some idea of how bif i am talkin about.
don't have a weight for 30 weeks (like your dd) but at 27 weeks he weighed 24lb.8oz.at 32 weeks he weighed 25lb10z.
at 14 months he weighed 32lb 9oz.
he is now so slim you can see all his ribs and spine.he is just very tall.

she's fine!

Freckly - my dd (10m) is a fatty too and eats loads and forces it into her mouth as fast as possible. I just think that babies are meant to be chubby with rolls of fat on arms and legs. It may just be 'cos I've got a budda baby, but I always think skinny babies look a bit odd. Your dd sounds lovely.

bumping this for freckly!

Thanks for your responses. Alexsmum at your DS he was/is a big boy!! I met up with some of my antenatal group this morning & they were quite surprised to hear my DD weighed so much (she doesn't look overly chubby). Like you they understand my concerns but also think that I should continue feeding her as she must be needing it if she's waking up in the night with hunger.

I'm feeling a lot better about it all now so thanks for sharing your experiences. Thanks Kittyfish, DD is a gorgeous girl and is a bubbly, happy baby. I just wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing by her so she continues to be a happy LO.

Freckly - if your dd is happy you are definitely doing the right thing.