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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Overweight 9 month old baby

87 replies

rab3331 · 28/05/2018 03:23

Our foster baby came to us for the second time a week ago weighing 10.4 kilos. Her grandmother who had been looking after her for two months is morbidly obese as well as not being able to cope. The problem I now have is that bubs is too heavy to carry for more than a few yards unless I use both arms which means I then can’t carry anything else. Even a handbag and change bag over my shoulder becomes too much. Getting her into the car seat is a challenge and I wonder how long my back is going to hold out. If I had been her birth mum then I would have developed muscles as she grew (but then if I had been her birth Mum I expect she wouldn’t be overweight).
Question is, does anyone know a safe diet I can put her on? She loves her Formula which I have been diluting. I have also given her diluted fresh juice as she doesn’t like water and a mashed banana for breakfast, spaghetti hoops and mash for lunch (small portion) and small jar of apple and oatmeal for supper. She doesn’t seemed to have been given much in the way of solids so the usual apple pieces, carrot sticks are probably over ambitious at this stage.
Any tips welcome!

OP posts:
MessyBun247 · 28/05/2018 03:30

Doooooooont dilute formula!!!

OkyDoke · 28/05/2018 03:38

So just over 22lbs? Doesn't sound overweight to me. A big baby but not too big.

GinIsIn · 28/05/2018 03:38

Spaghetti hoops are full of salt and sugar and processed - they need to go and so does juice. Do NOT dilute formula. I would focus on nutrition rather than weight loss, and try to get a varied and balanced diet established. I would also suggest you get to the gym and do some core and arm work, because it’s going to end up hurting your back otherwise. So for breakfast, try toast fingers with peanut butter, and some berries. Lunch - scrambled egg with roasted tomatoes and some chopped wilted spinach, supper - soft, homemade fishcakes and well steamed broccoli florets.

Thespringsthething · 28/05/2018 03:42

Talk to the HV and/or GP. I'm pretty sure you shouldn't put any child on a diet, just feed them healthily then allow their natural growth to even things out.

The food you describe doesn't have much in the way of protein. I wouldn't dilute formula.

Greenwomanofmay · 28/05/2018 04:22

She doesn’t sound overweight and needing 2 arms to carry a baby this age is normal. Talk to your hv and please don’t dilute her formula
Stop using a handbag and put everything in the changing bag to reduce what needs carrying.

Mamaryllis · 28/05/2018 04:35

Doesn’t sound overweight at all. What centile is that?
This is a troll thread right? No one puts a baby on a diet because they have to carry them with two arms?

And spaghetti hoops and juice?

This had better be a troll.

Mamaryllis · 28/05/2018 04:36

My tip is that you shouldn’t have been approved to foster babies,

Reported.

Faroutbrussel · 28/05/2018 04:43

I remember my DS making my wrists hurt from picking him up at that age, I reckon he was about the same weight, we did baby led weaning as he was never keen on the puréed food so so started on chopped fruit and veggies, meat and cheeses.

MollyHuaCha · 28/05/2018 05:32

Who feeds a baby tinned spaghetti hoops???

weekfour · 28/05/2018 05:33

I’ve had three whopping babies. Will it not fall off when she starts moving? I use a sling for getting from the car to wherever we’re going because it distributes the weight a little better.

Ven83 · 28/05/2018 05:35

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Psychobabble123 · 28/05/2018 05:39

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user1471462428 · 28/05/2018 05:42

My breastfed daughter weighed 9lb at that age so maybe you need to re evaluate your view on whether she is overweight. I too think you need to reconsider whether you should be taking her as you seem to know very little about babies.

user1471462428 · 28/05/2018 05:43

Sorry 19lbs! Not 9

Mrsknackered · 28/05/2018 05:51

I call BS because I’d expect a foster parent to know better.

DryIce · 28/05/2018 05:51

I really hope this is some kind of weird joke. Who talks about putting a 9 month old on a diet??!

That baby is not overweight, she's on the 95th percentile. Diluting formula and feeding hoops is awful.

If you're struggling to hold her, do some strength training. You know she's only going to get bigger

Saz1995 · 28/05/2018 05:56

My 9 month old weighs about the same, he doesn’t need to diet, just needs well balanced healthy food which is what he’s always had.

userabcname · 28/05/2018 06:01

Well my 11mo weighed more than that at that age. He certainly was / is not overweight - he was tracking his centile. I even asked the GP about it as he seemed so much bigger than babies we know of a similar age and she told me he was perfect. So you're talking utter nonsense.

TammySwansonTwo · 28/05/2018 06:12

You know some babies weigh half that at birth, right? My twins were tiny and didn’t weigh 10kg until they were 18 months, but when I met a Mum in the children’s ward whose baby was 17lb at 4 months old. And he was exclusively breastfed.

If the baby isn’t used to solids, how has the grandmother made the baby “overweight”? Has he been having too much formula? You must not dilute formula under 12 months old, it’s very dangerous.

If he’s having too much formula in 24 hours you need to gradually reduce it and increase the solids, and cut out the processed foods - a good cereal in the morning like porridge or weetabix, and something filling but healthy for lunch and dinner. He will be perfectly capable of finger foods even if hasn’t tried them yet - start with steamed veg so it’s soft, or small fingers of toast to get him used to it.

If he’s not overweight but just a high centile he’s sticking to, you don’t even need to consider reducing his intake. Get a suitable baby carrier. I can’t carry my twins at the same time, let alone anything else, but we still manage to function!

MissReginaPhilange · 28/05/2018 06:16

I hope to Christ this is a joke!

Original poster
rab3331 · 28/05/2018 06:25

The baby is Aboriginal and is prone therefore to diabetes and a host of other health problems. She has never had solids before and was probably raised on McFlurries. Hence I am taking her health and weight very seriously. She won’t drink water (yet) so I’m slowly diluting her juice more and more until it is basically water. So not a troll no and my husband is a GP so I think we are pretty qualified on the matter of diet/nutrition. We do a difficult job and have made a lot of sacrifices. Just needed to know if anyone out there could relate to the problem of suddenly taking on a big baby when they haven’t developed muscles to cope it.

OP posts:
oldbirdy · 28/05/2018 06:27

My exclusively breastfed DS was 18lb 12oz at 4 months old.

I would recommend a sling to help support her weight, which doesn't sound excessive btw.

Original poster
rab3331 · 28/05/2018 06:28

Someone who lives in the remote outback of Australia with few resources. Don’t judge until you have the facts.

OP posts:
honeysucklejasmine · 28/05/2018 06:33

If you've not got the resources to feed baby properly, you shouldn't be fostering.

Notmorewashing · 28/05/2018 06:34

You need to give healthy natural foods eg mashed broccoli, green beans, carrots, blended chicken, cows milk and porridge, mashed steam fish, finger foods of chunk of cheese, slice of orange & keep giving water.

WHY would you
Give processed food ???!!!!!