You can't overfeed a breastfed baby can you?

[Renwein]

Hi,

Have just taken DS2 for his eight week check. I was asking the GP (who was not the normal one and didn't seem very good) about his reflux and she suggested that, given his weight gain, I had been overfeeding him. He lost a lot of weight after he was born (about which I posted and thanks very much all for your support). But for the past four to five weeks he has been putting on 10-12 ounces a week. I assume that's because he wants to get back to where he was in percentile terms when he was born, which he is very close to doing now.

I feed him every 2-3 hours, apart from an 8-9 hour stretch he sleeps from 7pm (long may it last) so 7-8 feeds in 24 hours. I find demand feeding a bit tricky because he is difficult to settle during the day so often grizzles when tired and when feeding sometimes seems as if he's frustrated that he can't feed himself to sleep. He's also very sucky so wants to get back on the breast after he seems to have finished and will sometimes bring up a lot of milk if he does that.

But it seems to me the GP's talking a lot of rubbish. Do you agree?

TIA

Yes, utter rubbish

Honestly - what are you supposed to do? Put a healthy, thriving baby on a diet?

GP is talking twaddle.

I suspect that if your DS wasn't catching up on the centile charts she'd be blethering that you were underfeeding him

Rubbish. Totally ignore

Absolute rubbish. DD gained a pound a week for about 6 - 8 weeks as she was small when she was born. Doctor was happy she was blooming.

Ta v much. Good to have the reassurance.

When DS was on the 99.8th percentile my HV said 'look at him, he's happy, healthy, and you can't exactly put a baby on a diet. Once he starts moving, it will all work out'. And she was exactly right. He was a total chubster till then though !

Oooh, CMOT, a sensible HV - you don't hear of many of them on MN!

Gosh yes, pound a week here too. Had a fab hv who only ever said well done and keep it up. She was off the charts for weight and height. Now, aged 2 she's tall, muscular and very strong.

So yes, to precis, it's crap.

you can't overfeed any baby, bf or ff period

if you're feeding on demand, whichever way you choose, the baby will know when he's full, babies not pigs like adults who carry on eating until bursting point

your gp is a unknowledgable t#@t talking out of his a**e

meant to say: babies are not pigs

Utter, utter , utter codswallop! My ds was much like your's and put on stackloads of weight after the initial 10 day blip. He went from being a sumo baby to chubby toddler to seriously skinny child - he just eats alot!!

Nah Gp is talking bollocks.

Loving the straight talking of mumsnet .

My DS2 is on the 99th centile and when he was wieghed at 8 weeks the HV said what a healthy thriving chap he was ! (He was 6.6 kilos )

He sounds similar to my DS who was very sucky and very sicky (reflux had no affect on weight gain just on laundry bills!). IMO I think you can overfeed them, or rather they can overeat - in a sense that they take more than they can handle - and then they are sick, that is their body's way of regulating it IYSWIM. DS was almost always sick when he had a feed he didn't really need (i.e very soon after one).

GP's provide a great service but they sometimes talk rubbish!