my baby is growing at an enourmous speed...

[nybom]

my baby boy was born 3 weeks prematurely at 7.3 pounds. now 4 weeks on he weighs a massive 11.7! his length has gone from 51 cm to 58, not to mention the size of his head...

he is exclusively breast-fed (feeding anything between 10 and 15 times in 24 hours).

where will it end???

my first son has/had an average weight and is/was only slightly taller than the average... but i'm 1,74m and my husband is 1,84, and the men on my side of the family are really tall... and my great grandma was 1,80m - so is it just the genes?

but how can he put SO much weight on?! also, his gaining weight ist pretty constant, there seems to be no slowing down at this point...

anyone got a similar experience?

nicky

Very similar experience....dont worry about it, my son grew out of his moses basket by 7 weeks and has only just slowed down (now he grows an inch a month AND has spurts) at 16 months. He shoots overnight and grows like a weed If your worriedas your HV.

My DS put on a pound a week for the first few weeks and shot up to the 98th centile - at 6 months he was 50th centile, and now at 21m he is more like 25th centile, which is how we expected him to be given that DH and I are skinny. He eats like a horse though. Don't think that because you have a fast grower now that he will keep on at this rate until he is a monster 10 year old and features in his own movie!

dd1 did this - she is now nearly 4 and the size of a 6/7 year old.

dd2, otoh, has done the opposite and at 16 onths is still only 16lb.

It takes all sorts, as they say. I you are worried, do speak to your HV, but unless he is totally shooting off the centiles (waaay off the top) then ime they don't do much if all else is well.

@silverfrog

well that's the thing: he is off the percentiles, in all aspects - weight, height, head - started off 91st percentile, now he's above the centiles/outside the chart...

i've got an HV appointment next tuesday. can't wait and see what she thinks.

nicky

At this age I would not worry at all, except that the HV might tell you to start restricting the amount of BF he has or other similarly crap advice. I would give it another month or so at least and then ask for a referral to a paed if you are really worried. HV unlikely to be remotely useful IMHO.

hmm - have you read the enormous turnip?

by my reckoning (and I'm calculating in my head, so could easily be wrong ) he is only just off the top of the centiles for weight.

As I said before, in my experience, HVs don't tend to do anyhing until there is quite a gap between your child and centiles (either at the top or at the bottom).

As TPL said, I'd wait a good month (in the absense of anyhting else that bothers you) before saying anything.

Nobody said a word to me when dd1 (6lb when born) crossed line after line and shot off the top of the charts. Until she was weaned, and continued moving away from the charts, when, without checking to see if she was in proportion with herself heightwise (and she was) the HV suggested I cut back on portion size

Likewise, dd2 who was 7lb 13 when born, slowly but surely slid and slid on the charts, until she dropped off the bottom completely. And even then I had to push for a referral (there is a good 1.5cm between her weight and the 0.4 line)...

so, unless you are worried about anything else, I'd take you ds along and have him weighed, um and err a lot if the HV suggests cutting down on bf, and enjoy your growing boy!

hmm - have you read the enormous turnip? <

no...

That happened to me too silverfrog - misinformed HV told me to cut down my then 6 month olds portion sizes AND avoid giving her diary where I could because she was "too big" . She also advised me to "stop giving her chocolate or sweets" - she had only started being weaned three weeks previously and the silly woman thought I feeding her bloody buttons for breakfast or something. She never actually asked what she ate. My DD was born on the 75th centile, shot up to over the 98th centile at 6 weeks and has stayed there ever since on both weight AND height if the HV had bothered to check. I have studiously avoided HVs ever since.

My dd is like this too, she just doesn't seem to stop growing! Last time I had her weighed and measured she was on the 98th centile for weight, and I got a big lecture about overfeeding etc, despitethe fact that she realy isn't in any way roly poly. Hv then entered her height and found out she was way, way over the top centile for height and shut up. I haven't been back.

Anyway, in answer to op, I think its pretty normal...you must be producung top quality milk!

My DS was only 6lb 7oz (so was my DD) by the end of his first year he was on the 75th centile for height and 90th for weight He is 12 now and 5'6 but although he has broad shoulders he has very little fat.

Premature babies often have it hard-wired into their bodies that they need to EAT EAT EAT and gain weight, and catch up. My son was 8 weeks prem, and small for dates on top of that - he fed constantly, and gained weight ridiculously fast for a long time. Sometimes it takes a while for their bodies to realise they can stop gaining weight so fast!

DS has grown like a mad thing since birth. Started fairly average at 7lbs 14 but is now on the 99th centile. He is a v big lad but also v long so in proportion (at 7 mths he is wearing some 12/18 mth clothes which fit lenthways as well as girth). He also weighs the same now as DD did at 19 mths .

Thankfully, I have a v sensible HV. About a month ago I started to get paranoid after people's constant comments on his size (I should know better but you know how it is) but had a really long chat with her about his feeding habits (normal, not a glutton)and she put my mind at rest. Hopefully your HV will do the same for you.