Can you overfeed a breastfed baby??

[DinosaurRumpus]

DD (DC4) is 11 weeks. She was 10lb when she was born and has stayed steadily just above the 90th centile since. She is exclusively breastfed on demand...

In the last couple of weeks I've had numerous comments about her size! Chunky, big girl, bonny, huuge and my favourite 'she's half-reared already' from the dairy farmers wife

Anyway, in light of this, I wondered, is it possible to overfeed dd? Or if I follow her cues and feed her when she wants to be fed will she just be as she's going to be?

She is big for a 11 week old baby but not huge per se (her length is over the 100th centile so she's in proportion iyswim)

No, you can't.

You're doing brilliantly

No you can't overfeed - not sure of the reason though, hopefully someone more knowledgable will reply!

I'd just enjoy your chunky milk monster if I were you, she sound gorge

no it's no possible.

you said it yourself - she's in proportion, you're doing exactly the right thing obviously.

It is possible, but it doesn't sound like this is happening here.

Sorry muddleduck but it actually isn't possible to overfeed an exclusively breastfed baby. As the baby herself is in control of her consumption, she will take as much as she needs but no more.

Ok. I will tell the paediatric consultant that he was wrong.

muddleduck the paediatric consultant is wrong, if a BF baby is feeding soaly from the breast then they can't overfeed. You can overfeed with a bottle of EBM though, apparently it's the methord of feed not what you feed them.

Not only can you not overfeed but the fat layed down by BF babies is different from formula fed babies. Apparently it's burnt off quicker so when they start moving they offten slim down.

This deffantly happened to DD who was on the 85th centile but after she'd been waling for a bit she'd slimed right down and now at 3 1/2 is still on the 50th.

He was. Paediatricians have no more training in breastfeeding than GP's who have a lot less training than midwives and hvs (and even they have surprisingly/desperately little training). Unless the Paed has an interest in and has actively educated himself in breastfeeding, your local peer-supporter probably knows more about breasfeeding than he does.

My lady is a little piggy as well. She was 6lbs 13 when born and at 8 wks was 12lbs 5ozs so she is gaining weight really well. My HV is delighted with her, she says she comes across maybe one bf baby a year that feed like this. She is a chunky monkey, but again the HV says not to worry, bf babies always look more plump and it will all go once she starts moving.
When I read about the struggles some other mum's have on here, I am delighted that I am lucky enough to have a good supply and she is gaining. If anyone passes comment, I give them a beaming smile and say "yeah, and thats all from me you know!!".
I have been told by GP and HV that a BF baby can't be overfed and I've come across it regularly on websites / literature etc. Your baby was a big baby to start with, I think you would get those conments even if she wasn't gaining so well!

I think - and by all means, correct me if I'm wrong - that it's not possible for exclusively bf because they have to actively suck it out of you. Whereas, anything given by a bottle, gravity does a fair amount of the work for you, iyswim. As in, a bottle, tipped at a bit of an angle, will drizzle/leak a little; a breast (generally) will not.

But I'm not trained (just had two ebf hippos babies :)) and didn't get much experience with bottles either, so if someone knows better they should def say so!

An ebf can also control the flow of milk, so can comfort suck at the breast, whereas comfort sucking on a bottle means they have to consume milk too.

Yes supposedly it is to do with the flow, as they have to activly suck at the breat in order to get milk but a bottle the milk drips out of. You can force a BF baby to take milk from a bottle even when they are full. Which is why some mum's think they don't have enough milk as they will then top up with a bottle and baby will still take 2or3 more oz's. Even a full BF baby will do this becasue of the flow from the bottle. This is overfeeding, I have a good link someware about how to bottle feed without overfeeding.

Ah hear we go
blog.nurturedchild.ca/index.php/2010/12/10/baby-led-bottle-feeding/

yes mine change latch when comfort sucking

I hope not!!! My HV has echoed everything MigGril has said and assured me you cannot overfeed and ebf baby for those reasons.

My 15 week old DD was born on 75th centile for weight (but 98th for height and head circum) and is now 98th/100th centile all round. she seems HUGE compared to her peers, all of whom interestingly are ff. HV keeps telling me DD is thriving, I am doing brilliantly and that when a bf baby is gaining as well as DD, they invariably slim right down as a toddler. My HV is super educated about bf though... she has been wonderful! Sometimes I do wonder if she takes it a bit far though! [hmmm] She often tells me that I am boosting DD's IQ and that a ebf baby will never grow up to have any weight problems (because of those different fat cells) etc... hopefully she doesn't say all that to my ff friends or they would feel awful!

Thre funny thing is, despite DD obviously doing so well, I am inundated with comments from people (read, MIL!) saying I should be giving her more than breast milk

legallyblond. I know how you feel I had the same thing with DD. My friend who's had two big BF babies has also been acused of starving them by her mum. really doesn't help bost your convidances.

MigGril - people are odd, aren't they!

FIL a week or two ago went on and on about DD's size ("there's enough to her, isn't there, the little piggy" etc etc) until it started to annoy me. He then asked "what else" I feed her other than breast milk. When I told him nothing, he suggested I tell my doctor "what you're doing" as he's bound to be concerned...

(I was so cross by this point that even the fact that FIL assumed the doctor would be a man annoyed me!!!)

Hi OP.

My DD was 8lb at birth and now at 16 weeks is 18.2 she is much bigger than her peers and everyone has a comment on her weight. I too have turned to MN for reassurance when my GP and HV both told me I was overfeeding. Since then I have done a lot of research and established that you cant as long as you are EBF.

I still somedays wonder if all those people making weird comments and suddenly talking about childhood obesity rates have a point but have decided to trust in my instincts. Plus my life would be totally miserable if I started trying to make her wait 4 hours between feeds as would hers.

Sounds to me like you are doing a great job