Should I be worried about 3-month old's weight?

[zinaida]

He was born 4 weeks 1 day premature and the first week we were all worried about his lack of weight gain. He is EBF on demand and since then has been doing really well, I thought- I was really pleased at each weigh in that he'd put so much on.

However my MIL thinks he is putting on too much weight and that I need to do something. In the last 6 weeks he has gone from 4th centile to 90th. I had assumed he was just destined to be a big boy and would level off near the top of the range. His height and weight centiles are the same, andhis dad is a big bloke, as are all the men in my family.

My MIL says babies don't level off and that he will just continue to gain rapidly and that I need to introduce solids to slow him down. I'm going to talk to the HV but have been worrying all night and would like the MN perspective if possible. I had been really proud of his growth and thought it was proof I was doing things right and now I'm so worried!

Ignore your MIL

Talk to your HV about it to put your mind at rest (if you have a sensible HV) but I wouldn't worry about it. I assume you know his weight through taking him to weigh in clinics? If so they would have mentioned it then if they thought it was a concern.

Certainly don't consider weaning so young

Thanks for your reply, that's what I wanted to hear! The clinic I go to is self service, nobody ever looks at his chart but me. I definitely would prefer not to wean till 6 months so wouldn't do it early unless a doctor said I had to.

Trust me, the HV would have said something if they saw cause for concern. You are doing it right - in fact you've done brilliantly. He must have lovely chunky thighs

He has got lovely chunky thighs! He's a sturdy little chap. My MIL told me she'd worked it out and he'd be 5 stone by his first birthday!

My son did the opposite, did a free fall from the 90th, where he was a birth, to the 4th, when he was around 3 months old. Believe it or not he didn't carry on loosing weight until he vanished. He levelled out and is a skinny string bean of a chap. Your MIl is talking a load of tosh.

Please don't worry. Your health visitor would have said at the weigh ins if there was a problem. In any case, I have never heard of introducing solids to slow weight gain down! She's probably just longing to get in on the feeding act. MILs, especially MILs of breastfeeding mums, are notorious for this. She is in love with her lovely new grandson and wants to dotingly spoon some mush into him, I bet. Tell her you understand this but she will have to wait as he's doing just fine thank you very much and it's a little early for solids.

Ignore your MIL - maybe show her the chart in the red book which shows that babies do indeed level off!

Ignore your MIL and her calculations. He will not be 5 stone by his first birthday . It may be that the 90 centile is where he is meant to be given his Dad etc.

Thanks so much everyone you've really put my mind at rest! My MIL is fairly dubious about breastfeeding (she routine FF and I think she thinks OD feeding is a bit hippyish) and weaned hers at 6 weeks so I think you're right, I'll take it with a pinch of salt. Thank you!

I really wouldn't worry, it sounds like you're both doing really well. As a bit of an anecdote, I have two Dd's the eldest was on the 75th centile at birth and very quickly zoomed up the chart settling above the 95th centile. Hv's were very happy with this and now at 4yo she is tall, very strong but definitely not overweight. My younger DD was on the 90th centile at birth and gained weight very very slowly. Beyond the initial drop in birth weight she didn't actually lose weight but she gains weight so slowly that at 2yo she is somewhere around the 6th centile. The hv's were not happy about this but I could see myself that she was perfectly healthy, meeting all her milestones etc. She is a healthy happy 2yo now who happens to be quote small (much like me!).

I hope that helps to put your mind at rest a bit! Ignore your mil

Thank you for that!

4th centile and 90th are both within the normal range! Extremes, true, but normal and at extremes a few ounces can make a big difference to centile points. He's growing a lot and moving more and more. His energy demands change constantly. Sounds like he's doing great. Don't wean - you'd only be able to give him fruit and veg anyway, and there are v few calories in those. Ignore your MIL kindly - she is only working on her own experience - sometime ago, different advice and research. I expect she means well.

Small babies often play "catch up" it does slow down and level off and any concerns should br raised to a gp or hv. Ur mil is talking rubbish raising a kid or two doesn't make her an expert ! :)

Congratulations on your fabulous work. Don't you just love squuzing those thighs and knowing you did it all?

You MIL means well I'm sure but she doesn't know the mechanics of feeding. You can't over feed a bf baby so unless you take to injecting your breasts with water to dilute your milk I'm not sure what you'd do .

It is perfectly normal for babies to spend a few weeks at first shooting up or floating down the charts to find their natural line to follow. You'll probably find he stabilises soon and starts tracking his little line :)

Your MIL perhaps would have weaned at 3 months because it was considered 'normal' then. You can not predict how big your baby will be as a five year old because your 5 year old will not be ebf! You are doing brilliantly, congratulations on your lovely baby x

Mother in laws, eh? I read somewhere that it is impossible for breastfed babies to be overweight and over fed. In his first week, my DS went from having lost 11% of his birthweight to 4% the following day. Well done you for sticking with BFing.

My son was 91st percentile when he was a baby, we was a very chubby baby, it was so cute. I did constantly get remarks from my MIL about his weight though.

Now he is 2yrs 4mths and on the 75 percentile and clearly not over weight. He is tall and strong, that this just the build he is supposed to have.

Please don't worry - it really is nothing to worry about. And there is absolutely no need to introduce solids. (Why do people think solids is the answer if baby is gaining too much or too little weight?). Agree with the poster above that small babies often play catch up. And as your DS is growing in length as well, he is completely in proportion.

Your MIL has got it seriously wrong if she thinks he will weigh 5 stone on his first birthday. We would all be about 25 feet tall if we continued to grow as much as we did in our first 3 months. Your babies weight gain is likely to slow down soon.

My DS started off on the 9th centile and went up to the 75th by 3 months, then he stayed on the 75th and was still on the 75th at his 2 year check a couple of months ago. When they start moving the weight gain goes down

As long as he is in proportion then nothing to worry about.

You can't overfeed a breastfed baby, so just go with it. You've done a fab job so far so keep up the good work.

Don't start limiting feeds either (I have overheard HV give this bad advice) or you may have problems when he hits a growth spurt.

Don't worry. I was the chubbiest bf baby around with seriously chunky thighs. I'm now a petite size 8 as an adult.

My own DS was EBF and a massive chunk - wearing year old clothes at 6 months. () Now at two years old, he only has a little pot belly left of his chub and he still wears year old bottoms due to his small waist.

Feeding on demand means your baby takes on what they need. Then they use up lots of energy growing, crawling, walking, learning and it all burns off.

Ignore your MIL. If she keeps making comments, I'd just say "hm, the midwives all congratulated me on the quality of my milk so I'm not too worried".

Next time, say "MIL, I didn't realise you were a trained HV, you kept that under your hat"

Ignore.

A nice set of chunky thighs is great fallback if they evr catch a cold or when teething and they go off food for a day or two.

This is not uniquely your experience. Beware of the older generation saying the first thing that comes into their heads just to get in on the act! For some reason many of them see mothering as all about feeding (to the exclusion of everything else except potty training, which is also one of their obsessions, so watch out for that one later too) and it becomes the ideal battleground for them. They don't understand bfing and resent it because it makes them feel left out. I've had this from mother and gran ad infinitem, thankfully never from my mil.

If your dp is a tall guy, 90th centile is to be expected. Most of the baby boys I know have tall dads and are either 98th centile or off the chart altogether. All were bfed and none are overweight. And what I was always told is that it's not possible to overfeed a baby if you're ebf-ing. You sound as if you're doing a great job.

I dont understand the division between bf and ff'ing..... You cant overfeed a 3 month old at all, ff babies also stop eating when they've had enough and should be fed on demand.

MILs eh..... Mine is very pro early weaning apparently it never did hers any harm (dh has asthma and allergies.)

And I'm 98th centile for height (although not for weight lol) at 20 on those charts. I'm 5'9 1/2" so tall but not amazingly so!