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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Health visitor really upset me over babies weight - advice pls???

43 replies

Kellstar83 · 21/03/2013 13:07

Hi ladies

Just had my health visitor round for a general chat about feeding as am weaning my daughter and she offered to drop some info off - anyway she said she would weigh her while she was here and she is 6 months old - weighs 20lb 9oz and is 68cm/27 inches long , she does seem a bit chubby but I thought all babies were at this age??? The health visitor just looked shocked and carried on saying over n over what a big girl she is :(
I know people say once babies start crawling they start slowing down on the weight gain but my daughter has a problem with her arms too and am waiting for a physio appt but due to this she will prob take longer to crawl than most babies
The health visitor has left now and I'm in tears as I've just got her happy to try lots of different solids etc n now I've been made to feel that she's huge :(
Has anyone else had this problem or anyone else got babies about the same age/weight or even bigger??
Wish I'd never let the health visitor come over now - they r supposed to be there to support u and all she's left me feeling is confused and sad :(
Thanks for listening :)

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JiltedJohnsJulie · 21/03/2013 13:13

So sorry that you have been left upset and confused. Did the HV say which centile dd is on for height and weight? Are you ff or bfing? If you are ff, how much milk is she having in 24 hours?

Has the HV suggested anything shed like you to try?

VeremyJyle · 21/03/2013 13:18

I noticed DD2 'lost' weight (just slowed down on the gaining and thinned out a bit) when she started weaning, instead of ingesting copious amounts of milk, the food was keeping her satisfied for longer thus reducing her intake anyway. Don't worry at all

KatherineKrupnik · 21/03/2013 13:21

sorry that you have been left feeling sad and confused.

I bf my DD1, and she was literally off the charts by the time she was 6 months old. The HV loved that. Now she is a tall slim 4 year old.

What centile is your DD on?

BigRedBox · 21/03/2013 13:25

Ignore her! My dd was over 20lb at 6 months too. She was big at birth though (10+lb). She's 16 months now and looks normal, she's not a delicate flower it's true but in no way fat. Their shape changes soooo much over the next few years. Ds1 was always on the 95th centile or so and now he's 6 and there is truly not a single ounce of fat on him

What centile are they on and what was she on at birth? Really, really really don't worry until much older than this. Give her good food and she'll be fine.

Original poster

Kellstar83 · 21/03/2013 13:25

Thanks for the reply - she is about 96th percentile for weight on the charts and 75 percentile for height, I've only just started weaning her at 6 months as she hasn't been interested when I tried before so was told to leave it till 6 months, she has 4 7oz bottles normally in 24 hours -
1 when she wakes up in the morning about 6am
1 lunchtime before her nap
1 evening before bedtime
And still 1 during the night!!! I've tried everything to cut this one out but she still wakes for it :(
On top of the bottles she has 2 solid meals a day at the moment breakfast and tea
She really likes her food tho now she's used to solids I don't want to be worrying already that she's too heavy :( I think it worries me more knowing that she prob won't crawl for a while so is not working any of it off :(

OP posts:

Original poster

Kellstar83 · 21/03/2013 13:27

She was only 7lb 1oz at birth n since has steadily moved up and up the percentile lines on the graph - she'll be off it soon at this rate!

OP posts:

JiltedJohnsJulie · 21/03/2013 13:30

Did the HV mention that between 6 and 12 months, if you're not bfing, it should be 20floz of first milk per day? How would you feel about missing out one of her daytime bottles? The first one might be best, you could just take her down to breakfast and then offer a snack and some water mid morning?

Wheresmycaffeinedrip · 21/03/2013 13:31

Her consumption of milk and food sounds absolutely normal. Not excessive at all.

ilovepowerhoop · 21/03/2013 13:38

it is a minimum of 20oz not a maximum and 4 bottles at 6 months old is just fine especially if she has just started solids. As she takes more solids her milk intake will decrease naturally. My ds was 21lbs when he started weaning at 23 weeks and was still on 5 milk feeds up until 8 months when he dropped his night feed. I wouldnt go cutting a bottle out just now if she is only just getting the hang of solids - milk is till very important.

Original poster

Kellstar83 · 21/03/2013 13:40

Hiya yeah the health visitor did say I had to get rid of 1 of the bottles at least - the one during the night would be great but I've tried everything n she doesn't seem to be able to go that long :( could cut out the one when she wakes I guess but she wakes up starving so she would have to have breakfast really early n then it's a long time till lunch and don't really want to be giving her snacks if they r saying she's overweight anyway :( x

OP posts:

ilovepowerhoop · 21/03/2013 13:40

p.s. and when the bottles do start to get cut down I would aim to get rid of the night feed first rather than a daytime bottle as you would be aiming to get milk and solids in the day and no feeds overnight.

ilovepowerhoop · 21/03/2013 13:42

When I started on getting rid of the night feed I gradually offered less milk in the bottle e.g. put an ounce less in for a few days and then cut it down again.

Just to reiterate though your lo is not taking excessive amounts of milk or solids and she is not overweight. You cannot put a baby on a diet either, if she wants feeding then you need to give her something or you will both end up unhappy.

Bunch · 21/03/2013 13:42

My son was massive as a baby. He had great big chubby rolls instead of thighs. The last time I took him to the health visitor to get him weighed she tried to talk to me about childhood obesity - I never went back. He is now 8 and tall and perfectly formed!

JiltedJohnsJulie · 21/03/2013 13:43

Can't find the link I read it on now, but it definitely didnt mention it was a minimum. Sorry if I've got it wrong.

Regardless of what the max/min should be, if your HV is that concerned she should have given you some tips on how she would like you to move forward. It might be worth asking for an appointment with her and explaining how you feel and what shed like you to do, perhaps take someone with you for support.

Original poster

Kellstar83 · 21/03/2013 13:43

Hi ilovepowerhoop - I only saw your message after I posted my last, that makes me feel a bit better :) I didn't think her milk intake was excessive n I feel bad about taking it away if she still feels she needs it - but o the flip side I don't want her to get too overweight if she doesn't crawl for ages - its so hard to know what to do for the best :(

OP posts:

ilovepowerhoop · 21/03/2013 13:44

p.s. you do know that you dont need to see a hv at all. DS had a 6 week check and that was him until his immunisations. They dont do an 8 month or 2 year check here and rely on parents to come to them if there are issues

pompompom · 21/03/2013 13:46

You could try slowly reducing the amount of milk in the night feed - just 1/2 oz reduction every few days (not because of weight, but just to get rid of the night feed).

Do it slowly though.

TheBakeryQueen · 21/03/2013 13:50

The thing is, she is quite tall aswell as being a good weight so I wouldn't try and reduce milk or food intake, especially not at 6mths. If she's waking at night then I'll net she's hungry.

I would, honestly, take what the hv has said with a pinch of salt.

She will naturally burn more calories when she started toddling & she sounds fine as she is.

weegiemum · 21/03/2013 13:53

HV is way off making you feel badll about this! All my dc were large, at 6 months im sure ds was perfectly round! hes now 11 and youncan count his ribsbdespite him eating like a horse. He runs, plays football, swims and isnjust a very high energy boy.

ilovepowerhoop · 21/03/2013 14:04

from the mumsnet weaning pages (i.e. be guided by your dd as you cant just cut a large part of her nutrition out when she is only starting to get to grips with having solid foods):

Breast or formula milk is still a key part of your baby's diet while he's starting solids. This is not the time to start cutting out milk feeds. Only when your baby's on three good meals a day should you begin to think about reducing the amount of milk he has, And even then, it's wise to try to follow your baby?s appetite and go at your baby?s pace ? let him decide how much milk he wants each day.

Your baby should still be having breastmilk on demand or 500-600ml of infant formula a day until the age of one. After his first birthday, you can replace formula (or breastmilk) with cow's milk but you can (and some would say should) continue to breastfeed for as long as you want.

cooper44 · 21/03/2013 14:13

Haven't read the whole thread but DS2 is a couple of weeks younger and he's heavier than that. I'm actually a bit scared to have him weighed. He's EBF and has always eaten a lot. He was also just over 7lb at birth. I really don't stress about it. He's very solid but I know it all evens out in the end. DS1 ate exactly the same and is now a very active and skinny three year old.

ChunkyPickle · 21/03/2013 14:14

My friend has enormous michelin babies - arms and legs that can barely move they're so chubby. Then, almost the moment they're walking it all falls off and they're almost skinny. Mine on the other hand has never even had wrist rolls despite eating like a horse (he was having 5 milk feeds a day - including night feeds - plus 3 meals and snacks still at 18 months!). We all come in different shapes and sizes!

She's not off the charts, she's obviously hungry since she wants her night feed - how about you see how things go once she's moving in a few months time and then review?

rrreow · 21/03/2013 16:44

To be honest, I ignore anything a health visitor says. All health visitors I have seen have spouted at least some nonsense (about weight, feeding, centiles, sleeping etc), so I'd rather trust my own instincts, Googling skills and the collective experience of Mumsnetters.

(Not a dig at health visitors in general by the way, it's just that all mine weren't good. I've heard of people who have wonderful HVs and I'm glad they have them and wish I had)

hubbahubster · 21/03/2013 20:44

DS was easily 21lb at 6 months. I'd second all the other excellent advice about not dropping milk feeds until she's on three meals a day. DS was still on a formula bottle until 12 months, when he moved on to snacks instead of formula between meals.

Once he was on three meals, I changed his overnight bottle to a bottle of water instead of milk. He began to drop that naturally when he was used to not having a stuffed tummy in the middle of the night.

I wasn't one of the lucky ones who had a great HV - as long as you're happy with your LO and have good mummy support, there's no reason to stress.

hubbahubster · 21/03/2013 20:45

Oh, and DS has been about 95th for weight and 75th for height most of his life. He was under 7lb at birth though!

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