Is my 15 week old to big?

[Sjwh75]

Hello everyone - my 2nd is 15 weeks old and weighs 18lbs 6oz, he BF's feeds every 2/3 hours day and night and everyone is saying I am over feeding him,
and I have tried dream feeding, giving him water at night, hungry baby milk, baby rice in bottle, iv started feeding him baby rice and porridge that he seems to enjoy, I'm so exhausted as my 1st boy still wakes for cuddles thro the night and us up at 5am so I am getting 2 hours stretches and no lay in!

Can anyone help me or give me advice?

I don't know how big that is but they can't be "too big" if BF and fed on demand. If he' a big boy he's bound to be hungry. It will get better, I'm sure in your heart you remember the first few months being toughest with #1 even if he wasn't such a challenge as #2. Also, remember, if he's 99th centile or whatever, someone has to be! It's so easy to let other people's rubbish "advice" get to you when you're shattered!

Thank you :)

I would stop worrying and stop messing about with water and so on, you can just BF for as long as you need - I mainly fed my elder two with milk till they were around a year old and actually that was still a big part of their diet after that too.

Fwiw my first son was huge at about 3 months, having been born teeny weeny. I can't remember his weight but ds3 is going the same way and is approx. 13lb at nearly 9 weeks. (he was born 7lb1oz).

He's only on the 50th centile even at this weight. And he is just breastfed.
Don't take any notice

OK, you can't overfeed him on breastmilk, but giving solid food and water to a baby that age is a really bad idea. Do you know that the recommendation is no solid food til around 26 weeks, and definitely not before 17 weeks as it is a health risk? Rice in a bottle is particularly dangerous as this is a choking risk.

You can't overfeed a bf baby, he's just the right size for him! I second the advice to stop pissing about with rice/porridge/water and let him be. They need the chubbiness to fuel them when they start crawling :)

Fwiw mine is 11lb at the same age and almost off the bottom of the chart. He's bright and alert with regular wet and dirty nappies. Weight has bugger all to do with health at this age.

My ds was 19lb 13oz at 13 weeks. He is now a skinny active 9 year old who loves his food. So I'd say your ds is absolutely fine.
I'd echo what the others said about your ds not needing food, just milk at the moment.
And remember, this too will pass! It is now nothing but a distant memory for us.

Who is this scholar Everyone, he is often referenced but I've never read any of his works

Seriously, talk to your HV and just keep bfing. Don't take food advice off grandparents, woman in the shops etc, for a start a lot of damage was done by early weaning during the 20th centenary which is why the advice has been updated.

My babies were all big, hungry babies. With my DS, it is 25 years ago, he was already on baby rice by that age. I know that's not recommended any more though.

My youngest DD2 was above the 97th centile in both weight and height for a while and I couldn't fill her. There was concern over all sorts of things, including gigantism but as I'm nearly 6ft and my husband is over, and having experience by then, I didn't let it concern me.

Your DS will settle down with his feeding eventually, he may just be having a big growth spurt. My DCs would fill out then suddenly grow longer. My DS is now a strapping 6ft 2 and still a big hungry boy/man. dD2 is The tallest in her class. Both are slim and healthy. This time will pass, I know it's awful when you are going through it though.

Am not advocating early weaning at all by the way. As I said, it was the advice then, when I had my DS, it isn't now and I would hate to pass on bad advice.

Just trying to let you know that your DS is normal and lots of us have been through it.

It wasn't official advice 25 years ago either - the Department of Health first recommended waiting til at least 4 months in 1974.

Second/third/fourth all the advice to stop with the rusks/rice in the bottle and attempts to wean.

BF every 2-3 hours is normal. Being a big baby is irrelevant, DS was 11lb 7oz at birth and BF every 2-3 hours until he was 6 months old.

It was the advice given to me by my health visitor though, although never in a bottle. And like I said, I am certainly not advising that anyway. Being a new mum then I listened to whatever my HV said. I know now that Some of it was wrong but I believed she knew what she was talking about - this is before the Internet.

I'm just pointing out that we've all been there and that when your baby is feeding all the time you feel that you will do anything to get some rest. Especially when you're BF and no one can help out. I have lots of sympathy with the OP. I personally found that period hardest but by the time I had my other two DCs I knew how wrong early weaning was and so just struggled through, it is only a short time but it feels never ending.

Crikey yes stop the rice in the bottle love - sorry, I missed this in my sleep deprivation. He could easily choke on it

Don't worry about his size, my DS was massive too. He was also feeding way more often than that at that age! Drop all the water, food etc., just let him fill up on breastmilk and don't worry.

I agree with what everyone else has said, drop the baby rice and water, continue bf on demand and don't worry about it. My DS was similar size at that age, I even had a paediatrician tell me my body thought I was feeding twins as he was guzzling so much milk. He is 4 now and average weight, wish I hadn't worried so much when he was little.

Thank you all for your advice - I will just BF my baby from now on !!

My BF DS was massive as a baby - over the 99th centile.

He's now 4 and the chubbiness disappeared when he started walking. He's tall, solid, strong and healthy :)