5.5 month old baby is FAT says health visitor

[ELongstocking]

My 5.5 month old baby daughter now weighs 9kg, which is about 20lbs. She's off the chart for height, but according to the health visitor that doesn't matter. When she was weighed last week, I had a 20 minute HV "discussion" about the dangers of childhood obesity blah blah blah, the importance of feeding her lots of fruit and vegetables and not carbs when weaning, getting her to exercise blah blah blah.

I used to enjoy every bit of looking after my baby and not worry about her weight at all, and now I am sick with worry. I wish I'd never been to see the &%$%* HV.

Has anyone else had this experience? How did you deal with it?

To be honest, I think the biggest problem is me worrying about her "weight issue", rather than the supposed "weight issue". A big part of me thinks I should just get on with enjoyng my daughter, and forget the whole HV experience.

Some people tell me that she'll slim down the minute she starts crawling about, but somehow I think that's not going to happen. She finds it hysterically funny when I demonstrate rolling over, for example, but shows no interest in doing it herself.

I also feel incredibly guilty that I have somehow overfed the poor little thing, and she is now destined for a life of ASBOs, scratchcards, Jeremy Kyle appearances, boozing, and a heart attack by 40. My sister says "plenty of thin people die too, you know" but somehow this isn't much of a comfort.

Thoughts please.

I think there must be a genuine problem with some HVs. But have to say the ones I had were really good, supportive, and spotted a genuine problem long before I did. So can't praise them enough really.

Ignore her.

Firstly her comment about baby's height not making any difference is total crap. That makes her in proportion.

I hate the red books. None of the HVs I've met understand the charts, despite trying to explain them to me (with me thinking I have a maths degree, I get it, thanks). The only HV I've met with a sensible outlook didn't even use the chart - just looked at dd and said she looked well & in proportion and if I had no worries then neither did she.

In response to cory's comment. I think when you get a good HV, they are worth their weight in gold . When you get a bad one they can make your life a hell. I had a great one with ds1 who was really down-to-earth and knew what she was doing. With ds2 I had a bimbo. She repeatedly dismissed ds2's severe milk allergy even after he'd had an episode of anaphylactic shock, we had to wait 13 weeks for a referal to a paed when ds2 stopped gaining weight (at 16 weeks) and she quite simply didn't have a clue to the point of being a possible danger to some mothers .

I couldn't agree more. Give up on the health visitor. They are bloody useless. I haven't seen mine since the 6 month check - you're a far better judge of whether your baby is healthy and well. If you're worried about anything see the doctor - at least they're medically qualified!

What the hell are you supposed to do - let your baby go hungry and have them waking at night etc?!

My DS was huge as a baby. In fact, he was so big, (as in fat to your HV ) that he was practically growing out of the largest nappies they sold in the supermarket. I was worried, and wondered where I would find nappies to fit him, or whether I was going to have to use sellotape .
He wasn't walking or showing the slightest attempt at crawling at 1 year old.

I understand that you are worried. I know that feeling.

At 14 months, my son started walking around the furniture. He had rolls on rolls of fat. He was huge.

From the moment he started walking, the weight dropped off. He has never been classed as overweight since, and recently was described as underweight.

He is now a lean fit 6'2", who walks everywhere through choice, not because he has to.

I honestly would not be concerned at all at your DS's tender age. It will drop off as soon as he becomes more active.
HTH

Sorry meant to say yr DD

How sad to make you worry about your 5 month old baby . I really get angry with the HVs who show no sensitivity to the fact that mums worry... and they add to their worries for no reason. As long as you feed your baby good, nutritious food (including, of course, lots of carbs when weaning starts!) that's all you need to worry about!

My DS is 13 months, he was initially 70th percentile weight (breastfed), then went down to 50th percentile (I worried needlessly!) then went up to 95th percentile or something- once he started walking at 11 months, in our case, his appetite increased hugely, he's now eating with relish anything we throw at him! I have worried & worried about his weight, but have now realized I probably have a very active, tall, lively, solid little boy on my hands and that's that! As long as he's eating healthy food- I aavoid sugar, for example- that's all I try tto focus on. He's always been at the highest percentile for height (98th) so OF COURSE that makes a difference, how silly that your HV says it doesn't! They all grow at their own pace...

My dd is 5months, 1 week and 21 lbs! She was 9.5 lbs at birth and is now wearing size 0. I have to see the Dr in a few weeks and I'm really anxious as she is off the chart in the Blue book (same as Red I think?) in both height and weight. She is such a contented little person that I can't justify limiting how much milk she drinks (she only has 5 milk feeds per day - totalling about 1000ml/35oz) - she always turns her head away when full anyway. It's just great to hear there are other babies out there in the world (I'm in Australia) that are McMassive and that it's ok. My family think it's hilarious and always joke about how big she is but say she will 'thin out' when moving around more (can't do much except sit up) - I guess it's difficult to roll that many 'rolls' around!

just to agree with everyone else....hv is talking rubbish. My hv's tried to tell me the same about my two. Both my ds and dd were the fattest babies ever, except of course if you see photos of me as a baby...I was actually truly the fattest baby ever. I am now 46 and have been skinny all my life. My ds is 8 and my dd is 6 and they are both skinny as can be. Just please ignore your hv. This will not be the last idiotic thing you hear from an hv.

Just to add - my daughter was 20lbs 14 ozs at 18 weeks and my health visitor never mentioned a problem, you've nothing to worry about, as many others have said all babies are different. Not a sugary thing passed her lips until she was at least one yet she was just bigger.

I would stop seeing you health visitor, they're supposed to be a support for you not make you feel like a bad parent!

Just in case you need another chorus of 'what a load of twaddle la la la', here it is. My dd weighed more than yours at that age, exclusively bfed, all the hv ever did was congratulate me. She's still off the charts for weight and height at 2.4 but she's tall, strong, slim, fit and extremely healthy.

Please don't worry and enjoy your little girl. You know her height and weight are in proportion and her appearance is only down to lack of movement. Believe me, very soon she won't stop moving and you'll miss those little baby rolls.

DS was a lovely fat baby. He was between the 50th and 75th centile until weaning, then went up to the 98th. He loved his food and was reluctant to give up any milk at first. He also never really crawled (just did that commando crawl thing). Result - one chubby baby!

But he dropped his milk, started crusing round furniture at 10 months, walking at 13months and he now, at nearly 2, looks slimmer. He's still on the 98th centile but that's just his build. He's broad and stocky. He eats a balanced diet (with lots of fruit and veg, and carbs) and gets a lot of excercise and that's pretty much all you can do for your kids.

Some HVs seem to see the 50th centile the ideal, which is complete rubbish.

Hesitating to go against the grain here, but I would just say my niece was a fat baby - fat at five months (don't know the weight so don't know if it's comparable, but looked fat). Everyone said "Oh she'll grow out of it when she starts walking etc etc". She was a fat toddler - similar comments "Oh my son/daughter was fat at that age now he/she is a beanpole". And now she is a fat 11-year-old - and it's a problem, she knows she is fat and it makes life hard for her at school. I can't help thinking it is a problem which would have been better tackled sooner rather than later. I have no idea if your dd is fat or not - personally I would go with a mother's instinct and if you think she is fat I'd try and stop her getting fatter. My children were born in France where doctors and other members of the medical profession would not hesitate to tell you if your children are fat (or you for that matter). They still go to a French school and I can tell you that there are no fat children in that school - I don't know whether those two things are related, but I suspect they are.

I have no idea how much ds weighed at that age as I never took him to the clinic - but he had rolls of fat round his wrists and ankles and a double chin!

Once he started moving it almost fell off him and now (2.5 years) I can only buy adjustable waist trousers for him or they just fall down.

Ignore her and get back to enjoying your dd

One of my friends was recently told by her hv that her 3 week old baby was putting on too much weight - absolute nonsense, it's impossible for a newborn baby to put on too much weight, unless she happened to be feeding him condensed milk instead of breastmilk! Worried my friend to death, I was very annoyed on her behalf, sometimes these hv's do more harm than good.

another one here saying stop wasting your baby's snuggly gorgeous first year by going to the HV!
so what if your baby is above their ridiculous level of "normal weight" - how is she supposed to exercise! just looked and my ds1 was 21lbs at 22 weeks and no-one ever said anything! but that was because (like yours) it was in proportion to his height that was off the scale! he's now nearly 5 and still at the top of the scale for his weight and off the scale for his height - so underweight if i'm using my logic!!

dont go back unless its for the immunisations - just enjoy your baby!!

I was sat here thinking how could a 5 month old baby be fat??? and what does the hv expect.. that you take your baby to weight watchers?????

And then I read that comment about the 3 week old baby... I think I would have said ok shall I give them low calorie breast milk next week??? {grin]

honestly there is soo much hype about obesity but this is not the way to resolve the problem

LilianGash, I appreciate that in your dn's case there may have been a weight problem but the OP describes a normal baby whose weight and height are both at the very top of the centiles and therefore are in proportion. Yes the baby looks 'fat' as in has rolls, chubby little wrists and legs and this is utterly, utterly normal. And 'I'd try to stop her getting fatter' sounds an awful lot like restricting the milk intake of a baby which is a terrible and unhealthy thing to do.

low carb diet for baby - jeez

Gosh Showofhands, I really didn't mean it to sound like that! I don't think you need to do anything while she's still having just milk - I just meant use a mother's instinct as to whether she's continuing to get fatter and act accordingly. Dn has not become fat by being fed loads of crap she has a healthy balanced diet with all home cooked food, but she does have a huge appetite mainly (imo) as a result of being encouraged to and rewarded for clearing her plate. I think breast fed babies are pretty good at regulating their own intake and stopping when they are full. Dn was a bottlefed baby encouraged to finish the last drop, weaned early and still topped up with lots of formula even after troughing down a plateful of mashed up food. She was a placid baby, which also earned her lots of plaudits at the time, but that meant she wasn't exactly working off all the calories that were being shovelled into her. I certainly don't think the OP should be sick with worry about her baby's weight, but I can't help wishing a health visitor had fired a warning shot to my sil 11 years ago instead of fobbing her off with platitudes.

What a crock. Some of these hv are on another planet. I presume you have not weaned her yet, babies are supposed to have milk what are you to do deny them that and put them on a diet. Ignore her totally.

My little one weighed about the same at 5 months. im only 5.2 but my hubby is 6.4, she was in the 89th percentile also. To be honest i got sick of them telling me she was over weight. She ate and drank really well so i just stopped going to see the HV. I know my daughter is happy and healthy she continued to put on weight until her first birthday and now it has slowed down in her 2nd year. I wouldnt worry about what they say as soon as you have a question for them they will direct you to the doctor anyway. all children develop at different rates your daughter sounds fine!

sorry meant 98th percentile oops

ignore her ignore her ignore her!!

Ignore the nutter.

On the WHO charts for breast feed baby girls so is on the top centile line, not over it or off the charts.

And she is on the 75th line on the older Standard charts!!!

HV talking crap again.