Is it possible to overfeed a 2 mo?

[Shugaplum]

I am worried about my cousin who has a 2 month old boy and she feeds him every 2 hours for about an hour at a time. This isn't a one off thing - she's done it ever since he was born. He was 7 lbs 2oz at birth but at 2 months weighs 17lbs and fits in 6-9 month clothes. He looks very fat for his size as well.

Every time he grizzles she just feeds him without trying to find out if he's just bored/tired/wants a cuddle etc. I'm worried that she might be doing it to lose the baby weight as she's always been obsessed about being thin and did put on a fair amount of weight when she was pregnant.

Am I worrying unecessarily? I don't want to say anything to her unless its a real problem as she can be very "prickly" to talk to. But can it be bad for the baby to have so much food all the time e.g. future obesity etc?

A few other people in the family have suggested she's feeding him too much but she just ignores them. Should I just leaver he to it?

Yes, you should leave her to it

Agree you should leave her to it.

if he is breastfed then she is absolutely doing the right thing... feeding on demand is what she needs to do

did you breastfeed? do you understand how it works?

i think you are dreadfully shallow to presume she is doing it just to lose her baby wieght

if the baby is healthy, settled between feeds, weeing and pooing and generally ok then why would you think there is a problem?

and you say she's fed him every two hours from birth, that's pretty much how a new born feeds

Sounds normal to me, I have a 5 month old and he still feeds every 2.5 hours.

The best thing about breastfeeding is it fixes boredom, overstimulation, helps them sleep, gives cuddles and comfort AND provides food.

I am sure if there is a problem her doc or health visitor will tell her, you don't need to get involved

I agree.

One of my daughters was 7lb at birth and put on a lb a week for a good few weeks! the HV thought it was marvellous, and told me what a fab job I was doing.

Only when I started her on solids did they complain she was overweight..even though she wasn't putting on that much weight anymore

Seriously, you cannot overfeed a breastfed baby.

OK thanks for the advice. I will leave her alone!

To answer some other questions - yes I have BF 2 DCs myself for 12 months each so I do know the ins and outs. No he's not a very happy baby - doesn't sleep well and grizzles a lot. And I can't see how it's "shallow" to worry that she's BFing a lot to lose weight as she has had eating problems in the past.

so if you have breastfed, you know all of this? you know babies feed frequently from birth

if the baby is 17lbs and oyu know this, then she must be taking him to get weighed and therefore if the HV felt there was an issue, most likely she would raise it

have oyu any cause to worry about her weight? is she losing a lot? is she restricting her own diet excessively?

most 8 weeks old don't sleep well and some grizzliness is normal !