Giant baby dropping centiles

[Bear2014]

I took DS to be weighed for the first time in ages today. He was 11lb 1oz at birth so 99.9th+ centile. Today he is on the 91st at 19lb 2oz. 5.5 months old and EBF.

One of the health visitors said to do formula top ups and the other said to start weaning from tomorrow. I am not opposed to either option but have no experience with either, as DD was EBF and has stayed on her centile curve for 4 years. What would you do?

Side note - he has also really upped his night feeds this past month and I'm shattered!

Wow what a whopper! I'm not an expert by any means but is that a really significant drop, enough to recommend formula top ups?

My ds was on 92nd centile. They are hard to feed at that size, EBF. I started mix feeding at 5 months so I could get sleeps. Then I weaned at 6m. For sanity I'd suggest you do the same! A bit of formula to keep beefy on his trajectory.
On a side note my ds still crept down the centiles and at 6y is now pretty average height about 50th centile for height and weight

I’d say that was a normal drop (not an expert).

Ds2 was 10lb 9oz at birth (99.6th) and got referred to peads as he was slowing dropping, he’s now 6 months and under 50th! Peads have advised pushing the solids and/or formula top ups as he thinks it’s just a case of not enough calories. He really wasn’t overly concerned, and that’s with huge drops.

My other dc were born above 91st and both dropped a couple of centiles over the first 9 months.

Agree with PP what's the concern when he's clearly thriving? Definitely wouldnt be giving topups when you've done so well to ebf thus far. He is taking what he needs and in 2 weeks you'll likely be starting solids anyway.

Totally agree, I'm not fussed at all but as they separately made an issue of it I'm second guessing myself. The curve does look quite plateaued.

Thank you! Might start solids a week early.

But they do plateau at times as a pp said, her whopper ended up an average size as a child and I've seen that too, and the opposite (p

How many centile lines has he crossed?

Sometimes babies are just bigger at birth than they are destined to be. One of mine started on the 75th and dropped to between 25th and 9th, no one advised formula or solids. Another has dropped from 50th to just under 25th.

Two centile lines, which apparently triggers these conversations. But I think HVs can be a bit silly about centiles at times. I think he is supposed to be big, my DD is still on the 91st centile at 4 but his original curve would be hard to sustain.

yes, after all this is a baby that's putting on weight and otherwise thriving
I remember (aeons ago) a v relaxed HV who reckoned that babies may be born heavier than they should be, if the placenta is unusually efficient, then when born they plateau (or worse) and get back to where they are destined to be.

DS1 was a giant baby (11lbs 9oz at birth), completely formula fed and continued to track between the 98th and 99.6th centile lines for weight as a baby. The health visitor actually told me off for him being too fat when I visited at 5 months just prior to weaning. You can't win...

Bear your LO sounds fine from what you say, although I acknowledge I'm not a medical expert just a mum of 3.

All of mine were sizeable and 2 were whoppers. All EBF and contrary to the previous poster above I didn't early wean. My smallest whopper was on 98th centile for height and weight from both and BF day and night (co slept) til 2 yrs.

My biggest whopper is 2 and still BF and co sleeps. She was off the chart for height and weight from birth and weighs 19kg now which is size of average 4 yr old.

All began solids at 6 months (baby led as wouldn't take puree) and none early weaned from BFing.

All went through periods of being mega hungry and I'm a bit rusty but I'm sure there's a growth spurt around 6 months which isn't an exact science so your LO could be extra hungry for that just a bit early or could be feeling under the weather and feeding more.

I share my experience in the hope it gives you confidence in yourself. HVs told me gems such as 'I can't believe you can maintain such a big baby' to which I said I grew them that big inside so why shouldn't I be able to keep them big outside.

My baby who is off the charts they were wringing their hands and told me they may have to refer to a consultant as she is growing too well. Then at the next weigh in a mth later i was told by a different HV that her generous growth was to be applauded

You honestly can't win!

If your LO is alert, active when awake and happy in himself then I wouldn't worry if I were you. I've known babies who have crossed centiles more dramatically without concern so dropping to 91st is not a huge drop. Obviously this is not always the case but generally speaking he sounds like he's growing nicely and they're being over cautious.

On my 2nd baby I realised they literally wanted to have something significant to say at every meet so I stopped engaging with the service and just weighed my baby at home and used clothes as a guide for growth monitoring. My third I stopped engaging after the comments above

Look up "catch-down growth", which can happen to large babies. Are you and your DH particularly tall? Some babies are just born bigger than their natural build.

While not as impressive as 11lb, my first DD was 9lb8oz. I struggled to feed her (for many reasons, including reflux) and she gained weight slowly. I was encouraged to top-up with formula and never managed to ebf so she ended up completely FF from about 3 months. She never put on weight very quickly and I got anxious about the fact that she wasn't following the centiles, to the extent that I wonder if I sometimes overfed her.

What happened in the end was that she gradually descended through the centile lines until she hit around the 25th centile where she has remained ever since (she's now 8 and very slim build!). With DD2, who was a similar size at birth, the same thing happened but I was much less stressed about it as I just didn't take her to be weighed as often. As long as your DS is otherwise healthy, I wouldn't stress about the dropping in centiles.

Personally I wouldn't do formula top-ups. Mine was born on the 91st percentile and by 5 months was on the 9th percentile. My HV was very relaxed about it, she said he was still gaining each week and seemed perfectly happy and healthy.

Yes as pp said, look up catch down growth. Some babies grow huge in the womb but are not intended to be quite so huge in the end so there's a period of catch down while they reach their true centile.

Dropping from 99th to 91st really doesn't seem to warrant topping up - unless you want to or he seems unhappy on BF.

Newtlover interesting about the placenta. We donated the placenta and cord blood to Anthony Nolan and the lady said it was a particularly rich and juicy placenta

Thanks all, ecouraging that people have managed to sustain similarly giant babies. He's on the boob now again but DD was the same at this age and did eventually sleep. I am short and was a 7lb baby but their father is big so evidently his genes have prevailed!

Newtlover interesting about the placenta. We donated the placenta and cord blood to Anthony Nolan and the lady said it was a particularly rich and juicy placenta

Thanks all, ecouraging that people have managed to sustain similarly giant babies. He's on the boob now again but DD was the same at this age and did eventually sleep. I am short and was a 7lb baby but their father is big so evidently his genes have prevailed!

My dd did the same, at the time the health visitor told me not to worry as the charts are designed for ff babies and not ebf as growth pattern is different. She is 6now 98th for height but 50th for Weight.

Has he become more active too?

Interesting about the charts being designed for FF babies. I’ve often thought they need different FF/EBF babies.

Both my big babies have also been extrodinarily strong and active, pushing up to early crawling and walking. Yet the charts also don’t give any consideration for how active a baby iS.

Catch down growth! All 4 of mine were born large, very large but they are all now average height and slim build. My midwife told me that some women just grow very large babies who are not meant to be large babies. My last dc esp, he weighed 11.6lbs at 38 weeks delivery, he was off the chart but by 6 months he was mr 50% for weight and 75%for height and thats where he has stayed, just because they are born large dosent mean they will stay large!

No he is a lump actually! His sister was doing all sorts by now but he hasn't rolled or anything yet. Does sound like the HVs being particularly fussy.

I can't believe HV is suggesting formula top ups for a thriving ebf 5mo. I'm not an expert but these sort of recommendations sounds bit old fashioned to me. Basic assumption your baby will do better with anything other than your milk alone? HV should have more confidence in what you've accomplished so far. Start solids early for fun but don't feel pressured into mush or anything else you may not have done at this point.

The charts in the red books are based on healthy breastfed babies from several countries - they haven't been based on formula fed babies for many years now.

My eldest is 8 and her red book contained two separate charts (one for FF and one for BF). My middle is 6 and I noticed at that point the book just has one chart though I'm not sure what those statistics are based on other than being world wide so again will have variants