So apparantly you can overfeed a breastfed baby..

[Belmo]

I just got dd weighed at 42 weeks and she is 28lb 7oz. She's always been a big girl, popped off the top of the centile chart at 7 months, but she is now a clear 2cm over the top line. Even I was surprised, and the HV was she's put on 2 an a half pounds in a month!
HV was nice but has made it very clear that I must reduce her feeds, and I'm to go back in 2 weeks and see how she's doing. Dd currently has about 8 feeds a day, I'm to try to get her down to 3, 4 at the most.
How???! Controlled crying was mentioned and she offered to send round a nursery nurse. I am not going to leave her to cry, they can fuck right off with that one. Didn't tell her we still cosleep, she'd probably have called the police there and then!
Has anyone successfully persuaded a baby to cut down feeds without any crying? She's allergic to dairy as well so I'm nervous about calcium etc if she gets less milk.
:(

Ah thankyou all you've cheered me up!
Thanks tiktok. I'll maybe try dropping carbs at lunch time and doing salad or something. This weaning malarkey is quite stressful! We're on a waiting list for a dietician because of her dairy allergy which should be fab but could take months yet.
I'm very tempted to 'forget' to take her back. I go to a bf support group there though so they'd probably track me down!

My DS was still feeding through the night, and feeding to sleep at that age. Now at 2.4 he doesn't do either - it just gradually tapered out, no drama, no controlled crying, no forcing the issue. Easy for everyone!

I think your HV must be rather inexperienced - I'm being polite here. DS was also a porker and my HV's were horrified until they remembered he was BF and then dismissed it as fine. He was a late walker too but has now slimmed down and is very active and totally in proportion. He also still Bfeeds about 8 times a day!

Carry on as you were and ignore the HV.

I was a pretty fat baby! Not exactly skinny now
You are all lovely, thankyou. The HV managed to be really nice and make me feel shit at the same time. I'll keep feeding my snuggley baby as we are, and maybe keep a diary of what solids she's eating and show them that.

Dd1 has always been on top of the charts, she was a chubster as soon as weaned, now at 2.8 she's impossible to stop and looks average.

I say "looks" as the day the HV asked me how much chocolate/crisps/Mcds she was eating when weaned, to which I replied truthfully erm NONE you cheeky bint and she raised her eyebrow at me was the last day I saw a HV. So yes forget to go back and nod and smile at bf group!

Reading this has made me stop lurking and comment, like previous posters I think your HV is wrong, I really don't believe you can overfeed a breastfed baby because the composition of the milk changes as the baby feeds. I think the first milk is thicker and creamier but as they feed more it gets waterier, sure someone else will explain it better.
I breastfed (on demand and fed to sleep for naps)and coslept with both my babies and my DS in particular was big, really was the fattest baby in the village so much so I really struggled with trousers to fit and socks that didn't cut into his chubby ankles! Now at 7 he's actually underweight although still eats loads. My DD is 4 and about average weight. HVs don't always get it right, I just wouldn't bother to go back!

Your feeding sounds normal to me - in fact I think my DTs were eating more solids than that (invluding more snacks and carbs) at that age and were feeding along a similar pattern. They eat truckloads of food now (nursery comment on it too) and they still breastfeed 4 or 5 times overnight (not in day as I am at work). They are on 9th and 25th percentile.

I think babies are all different. If she is happy and content and eating healthy solids (which she is), then I'd reasses when she's a lot older. Someone has to be biggest (and can be without being overweight).

Iloveamerman I wasn't the only one with the sock issue then! I used to buy socks a couple of sizes bigger and then roll the tops over so the elastic didn't cut in, and buy toddler trousers and roll the legs up. It's worked out quite cost effective as everything still fits him now 18 months later. He's just grown into the length. :)

My ds (also dairy intolerant) went off into the stratosphere weight-wise at the same stage. I think they must be gathering their reserves ready for crawling and walking - once ds was really motoring the weight came off - he's still up the top end of the charts but well within 'normal'. He was bf about the same amount as you are doing with your dd. I think it is really important to keep the bf up if he is dairy intolerant - did the hv take that into account? I plan to keep bf on demand until he is at least 2 and will then start to reduce feeds. At 19 months that is still 5-6 feeds a day, though he now has oatmilk as well. If you are worried at all your gp can refer you to a dietician, but i don't think you should take your hv opinions to heart. hth

Belmo
DS is 9 months and still feeds to sleep several times during the night (roughly like your times but no 2 nights are the same). It's the easiest for me and he loves it so I don't want to stop.

The only reason he doesn't feed off to sleep for naps is because I work, so we had to find a different way to get him to sleep! (usually his pushchair even in the flat)

She'll probably slim right down as she starts moving more, but DD (similarly off the charts and EBF) never did, and it's become more of an issue as she's got older. Maybe just keep that in the back of your mind as she grows, and don't cheerily say, as we did for years, 'Oh, she'll lose the podge when she starts crawling/walking/playgroup/school...'.

EBF is not a guarantee against being overweight later, in other words. DH argues that all the snacking-on-demand as a baby might actually mean that DD was more inclined to want very frequent food as an older child (would love some evidence to shoot this argument down, if anyone has some).

Thanks RedMolly. I'm hoping to feed her until 2ish, the dairy thing really worries me although we're going to try soya soon and with any luck she'll be alright with that.
Lancelottie this is what worries me. I've pretty much always been slightly overweight, I need to watch what I eat. I don't want to set her up for weight problems.
You've all made me feel loads better.
Looking at the stupid red book graph now and if she keeps going she will be off the page! Good excuse to wait til she's one to go back.

she sounds normal to me! my first 3 boys were like this, esp ds1 he was a right porker but once he was crawling and then walking he gradually slimmed down and was fine, ds2 and ds3 crawled and walked earlier so never got as chubby but they were big, ie off the top of the chart and then they also slowed down weight gain wise.

that no of feeds sounds normal to me, probably less than my ds2 and ds3 at that age and we co-slept and fed them to sleep as well, they grew out of it as they got older :)

lacelottie my ds1 was always a snacker and tbh i think i encouraged it ie when he was in his pushchair a snack would keep him happy and so we had to watch his weight a bit as he got older and now at almost 13 he def has the tendency that he could be overweight, i just watch his portion sizes. offer fruit as snacks etc.

whereas ds2 and ds3 could eat for england are as skinny as anything!

My DD is 12 months and has about 4-5 feeds a day, plus probably that many at night, so similar to yours. She's a big girl too, though I haven't had her weighed for ages - but she's in 18-24 month clothes. I'll step on the scales with her later and come back and update you!

I'm not at all worried about the feeding. Her brothers fed that much at her age, though weren't as big. They're normal size now.

We cosleep. Sleep is important. We usually end up with the boys in the bed too. DD feeds to sleep for most naps too - though now she only has one nap a day, but has to feed to sleep for every night wakening.

Hard to tell how much she eats, because she feeds herself - I put the same type of food on her tray that the boys (4 and 2) have, and she eats as much or as little as she wants. Always seems like she packs plenty away though. I would definitely not be restricting carbs (in healthy forms) for a baby!

I don't for a moment think that she's got any problem. I remember her brothers thinning down a lot when they were toddlers (her middle brother was a v. chubby baby). I haven't seen your DD, but there's nothing in your post that makes me worry about her either. if I were you, I wouldn't be taking the HV's advice.

You could always try reading the Elizabeth Pantley book (No cry Sleep or Sleep no Cry or something with Sleep and Cry in the title!) about how to persuade babies to fall asleep without bf - with no crying involved. I used some of her techniques with DS1 and they worked, though DS2 was rather resistant.

If I were you, I'd tell myself I wouldn't worry about it until she is walking, and think about it again then.

I've just measured her length - obviously can't be as accurate as the health visitors and she was a bit wriggly but she's definitely over 80cn which is also off the scale. I feel much better! Shall be ignoring!

she's tall, though, that'll mean that she'll be heavier too!!

I'm pretty sure your HV is being sensationalist in this - you don't have to see her, if you're not comfortable.

It's been demonstrated that BLWd after BFd babies don't overeat - they learn to control themselves before they understand the concept!

Keep doing what you're doing, and make sure she gets plenty of chance to "run" around :)

My DS was a monster BF baby, and carried on with feeds day and night until he was 22 months. He was a rolls-of-fat baby and an effort to carry. He also tucked into any kinds of solid food.

He is now 6, very tall, very slim, no podge on him anywhere. He looks like an anatomical sketch - ribs, muscles, shoulders all clearly defined (and beautiful).

They change so, so much. I add my voice to the 'don't worry' crowd.

did the hv not suggest measuring her to see if her length matched her weight, surely if she wasn concerned about her weight she shoudl have measured to see if she was in proportion, which it sounds like she is! i really dont think you have any reason to worry :)

Blw babies take what they need. If your dd is taking lits of carbs then she obviously needs them. As long as you offer her a variety of food groups then don't worry.

Breast milk starts out more dilute and watery, then gets thicker and creamier the more milk they take during that feed. When she has little short feeds she's actually having a quick drink. if you offer water with meals so she has the option you might find she doesn't have these little feeds, but then again she might. This is the joy of bf and blw - you don't need to stress about quantities and frequency, as long as you offer a variety often then the baby will take what they need and you may well find she slims down now she's moving about.

My baby keeps dropping down the centiles because he's super hyper active. Just 5mo and already starting to crawl and constantly kicking and wriggling, but I feed whenever he asks and he's a happy healthy baby, so i'm trying not to be bothered

You sound like you're doing excellent work with feeding. Well done!

Belmo, if it helps we introduced a small amount of soya around 1 year (when expressing started to get difficult). Luckily there have been no allergy problems with it. It means he can have things like soya yoghurts, tofu, alpro desserts, which help with calcium and iron levels (ds also vegetarian). I tend to use oatmilk on cereal and poridge, but use soya milk in cooking (for puds and sauces) as it is what we have anyway. Sesame seeds are an excellent source of calcium, so if your dd likes hummous that is great.

Breast milk starts out more dilute and watery, then gets thicker and creamier the more milk they take during that feed

I thought it was the exact opposite - the hind milk is thinner.

OP, I imagine that if your dd ate more, she'd take less milk. I'm not suggesting she should btw. My own ds was an utter chubster for a while, but slimmed down once he became more mobile and ate more (I imagine baby milk - breast or formula - is more calorie dense than most of the other foods babies eat).

haha! I was wrong about the foremilk/hindmilk.

As you were...

In my defence it's been a loooong time since I've fed a baby.

No worries. I've been reading up in advance of doing peer support training :)

regarding the weigh-ins - they only have "official" weight checks at 12 weeks then 1 year (according to my red book), so really, the one she's done you on at 9 months is surplus to requirements.
(even the ones at 12 weeks and 1 year, you don't have to do)

It even says not to weigh more than every 2 months below a year because it causes undue worry, and might not be an accurate reflection.

I'm just practising being one of those MILs who trots out duff advice