Can babies be obese?

[booklady1990]

I am feeling very upset, as I just weighed my nine month old son, and when I plot it on his graph, it seems he is at the 98th centile. What is more concerning is he started out on the 50th centile for weight, and his height seems to still be around the 50th centile.

He is bottle fed (was breastfed too for the first four months), and has always had a big appetite, and we are feeding him two healthy meals a day. Our health visitor has referred us to a dietitian and I'm feeling really upset about what they might say about my parenting. I was told, at the beginning, to feed responsively, but I feel like I've messed this up somehow, and I am struggling with where to go from here. I am just wondering if anyone else might have been in the situation and could offer some advice?

@Devilsmommy all of our family's babies are little 5lb/6lb too I love them! Then I had my whoppers, I feel robbed I never had the baby baby experience 😅 mine come out grunting "bruh" haha.
Oh my god walking at 8 months! I can't even imagine that must have been comical, little tiny thing toddling about 🤣

My DS was off the charts (over 100th centile) at birth and stayed resolutely at 98th centile for weight until he started walking and all those rolls started turning to muscle. 7 years on, he doesn't look remotely overweight but is still heavier than most if he steps on the scales. He's very sporty and it's all lean muscle! Don't worry about centiles yet - I think they have to refer if there are more than 2 centile bands/lines on the chart difference between height and weight. My daughter was the same, she's short for her age and there was a discrepancy between height and weight centiles. We were given diet advice when she turned 2. She's now 5 and looks fine.

Just saw the image. Wow!😳 Can totally understand why the nurse forgot how old he is. And thats a 3 year old he's sat on😂 too bloody cute😊 it's actually quite scary watching a tiny baby walking along, it seems wrong somehow😂 he was running at 10 months and oh my god I'm sure I aged 20 years overnight from the stress of worrying about him falling over😂

My DS was off the charts at 8 months and resembled the Mitchalin man. He had rolls for days. Once he started moving around he dropped the lot. Now a very normal 5 year old. I wouldn't worry Op. I took DS to the doc about it and he said come back and see me when he's walking if it's not shifting but was actually happy to see a chubby rolled baby as he said he's only concerned for underweight before the age of 1. X

@Devilsmommy I would not have coped with running that early 🤣 was he your first? My first walked on his 1st birthday it was amazing! I can't imagine this baby walking any time soon at all he's just too big, the poor thing has only just rolled haha

He is my first and only, not sure if have coped if I had another one who was the same😂 your little one will be walking before you know it I bet. Once they taste that freedom when crawling they just want to get walking cuz they know it's pure freedom. Stressful as fuck for mommy but heaven for them 🤣

My very slim DD 18 was a really round baby. Podgy knees and chubby cheeks. Enjoy it while it lasts. As soon as she was running about and growing it was gone.

I don’t know what my baby weighed at that age but I do know that he was v v chubby once he started on food but couldn’t crawl. He used to drag himself along the floor with his big chunky arms and I have plenty of photos which he dislikes as he says he was really fat. As soon as he started walking he became pretty slim and now years later is v slim and heathy.

@Devilsmommy my back is broke cause they're both still so heavy and want carried everywhere 🤣 even the 2yo ! Can't wait till tbe little one can run with his brother give my back a rest haha x

Do not cut down on your baby’s food or milk based around his centile! He will level off once he is on the move. We saw a paediatrician last week with our 10m old DD who has bowel issues and I raised that she had dropped centile (not a massive issue, just wondered if it was related to her bowel issues as she eats really well) and the paediatrician said that birth weight is gestational centile and they then find their genetic centile throughout the first year of their life. Not sure why the HV has referred to a dietician for a 98th percentile baby if otherwise fit and healthy?

Is he crawling yet? My second DD got really quite chubby around 9 months because she was eating well and having milk and not moving much! Was told it was normal and they lose it again when they start crawling and walking (she did)

Glad you feel reassured - but also think if you plotted you and your husband on a chart you would be on the high end, that’s all it means. It’s not the same as a BMI calculator or anything like that (and even if it was BMI is not a great way to measure health). He is already perfectly evened out as he is a safe and healthy weight and height. He will no doubt move up and down the centiles as he grows in both height and weight and that’s perfectly fine. Dropping centiles at this age would be much more of a concern. He’s supposed to be growing! Significantly more than he ever will again in his life.

I’d also encourage you to think again about why an overweight child is a sign of bad parenting in your mind. It certainly can be one of the signs of poor parenting decisions, but it’s not the only one!! Plenty of excellent parents have children who might be classed as overweight, you have no idea why that’s the case, it could just be their natural metabolism and it may go up and down. Just like fat adults are not bad people. It’s just not a sign of moral worth in itself, if you know you’re feeding him healthy food and giving him the right amount of milk then nothing should make you doubt your parenting.