how much rubbish was this hv talking??

[Doublebubblebubble]

Hi

Went to take my ds to be weighed in a communal weigh in place (not my normal weigh in place) and soon had a hv over him because she was astonished at his size. my ds is on the 98th centile - has been since he was born he is 17 weeks old on Friday and is 19lb 8oz (at this weigh in anyway). Anyway hv comes over and says if he continues the way he's going (I.e actually goes over the 100th centile) he'll have to go on a diet!!!! He is ebf!! And not even 4 months yet. How does a baby that young even go on a diet if I continue demand feeding him. Am I to take what she has said truthfully. I honestly cant get my head around it (ps wasnt sure what topic to put this in so if I need to move it do advise as to which topic to put it in x

[Katie0705]

I wouldn't get hung up on percentile charts as this is causing you stress, especially as this growing up time is so important for you and your baby to enjoy. He sounds like a lovely, healthy baby, so follow your own intuition. As soon as he is crawling and walking you may well see a drop in weight due to greater expenditure of energy.

I'll look up some good resources for you and then message you back.
Best wishes
Kate

[Doublebubblebubble]

Lol at pp saying about my poor back! My back is very much jellified. Pretty much on the way out. Cant be salvaged!

Thanks in part to his wonderful chubbiness (i just love chunky babies) and also a screwed up epidural for the emcs to get him out!!! He was 10lb 1oz at birth.

Thank you all. Glad I'm not alone in thinking she was talking shite x

[NoArmaniNoPunani]

My baby is the opposite,he's tiny for his age. I've given up taking him to be weighed after the last HV kept calling him her. He was naked FFS.

I've bought a set of baby scales and got an app. I can plot his progress myself.

[Booboostwo]

My DD was well over the top percentile for weight and ebf. The doctor would mention it each time but had no advice on whether we should do any tests or anything else. I read every medical article I could get my hands on and didn't find anyone suggesting large weight gain in ebf babies is a problem. FF babies can be overfed and this may lead to problems with weight later in life. Very tall babies, over 97th percentile, should, as a precaution, be tested for some very rare conditions, but there was nothing about very fat babies.

DD's height crept up more slowly but kept going so she's now at the 97th percentile for height, while her weight started dropping as soon as she started to walk properly. She's now 4.5yo, very tall but thin so her BMI is on the lower end of normal.

[TheWordOfBagheera]

This was my DS too, although born on the 25th and up in the high 90's by 5 weeks. At 3 months he weighed the same as a friend's DS did at 1 year!

I had no negativity from HVs but MIL was a total pain with constant snarky comments about how often I fed him and how horribly unhealthy it all was (she wanted to wean him onto her homemade fruit smoothies at 3.5months as a solution )!

He is now a perfectly proportioned and healthy 4 year old. Do not worry, just keep doing what you're doing

[ThumbWitchesAbroad]

Gracekellys - not scaremongering and of course you can overfill anyone - the stomach does stretch you know!

[BishopBrennansArse]

Btw DD was on the 0.06th centile at birth and still is at 7.

They panic over that too despite her following the line perfectly!

[timelytess]

Three deep slow breaths and ignore her. Your common sense tells you he's fine, you're feeding on demand, everything is perfect. When he starts to run around he'll show you how perfect he is. If they're healthy, they're a bit squashy at his age, its the right thing to be.

[PurplePotatoes]

He sounds fine, just ignore her!

I had this with my DD, she was 9lb when she was born so on 75% percentile and has always stayed there. When I went to a different weigh in clinic the HV gave me a lecture about her becoming obese, portion size etc, totally ignoring the fact that she's very tall (on the 100% percentile for height)
I never took her again.

[LaContessaDiPlump]

I've never understood the saying that bf babies can't overfeed. If they latch on and remove milk, for reasons of hunger/comfort/boredom/whatever, milk still enters their bodies and is metabolised. I can see how it might take bf babies longer to acquire the same amount of calories than it does a ff baby, but if they both take in the same number of calories then surely they're both feeding (or indeed over-feeding) to the same extent.

Just idle musing. Your baby sounds perfectly fine op!

[RhubarbAndMustard]

I could have written you're post a few years ago. DS was on 98th centile for height and weight. HV said I was over feeding and should give water. I ignored her and so glad I did. Looking back at pics, he was a gorgeous chubby baby, but as soon as he was mobile (late walker at 18 months) he slimmed right down. At 3.5yrs now he's not chubby at all, hardly ever ill and still a good eater. Ignore her!

[Luciferbox]

DS2 is also on the 98th percentile and fed constantly. I was worried about him possibly feeding too much as he seemed to be constantly hungry. My hv told me to feed him whenever he's hungry. So I did and he's fine. She's talking rubbish.

[PixieChops]

Same as my son OP but my son has CMPA and was feeding to comfort himself so put lots of weight on. He's still on 99.6th percentile. He's happy and healthy. He's crawling and cruising at 7 months old so don't think his weight is holding him back. I would've told that HV to change her job. How the fuck are you meant to put a less than 4 month old on a diet?! Daft cow

[Nectarines]

My daughter was little when born (6lbs) but gained sometimes a pound a week and was always on very high centile S. At one year old, she was 28 pounds. At 2 years old, still 28 pounds! She just stretched. Now looks in perfect proportion.

Some kids are just big babies and if ebf, you know the weight gain is not a result of poor dietary choices.

I remember going to a baby group and other mums asking what age weighed and making some very unkind remarks. I have a newborn now and chances are he'll be the same. I won't worry this time and won't let people be mean!

[BishopBrennansArse]

Wtf?

The point of centiles is that there are some above or some below the 'norm'!

Keep on keeping on OP, you're obviously doing just fine

[Ridingthegravytrain]

What a numpty. Mine was the same and my hv always told me what a great job I was doing and to carry on

Just ignore her

When I got pregnant with my second my doctor said I would have to stop bfing (dd1 was only 8 months) and move my baby to formula as my body would run out of calcium. Some of the misinformation is shocking. Suffice to say I ignored her

[DustyOwl]

I was very lucky to have a very supportive HV. Both my DS's were BF on demand and were on the 99th centile at some point. She and the other HV team were not worried and at one point congratulated me, which I do think was a bit OTT! (I on the other hand was wracked with guilt, but I think that came with my personality and being a new mum.) As soon as they started moving it dropped off and I actually missed their lovely chubby arms!

So I agree with the comment of; nod and smile and carry on. Lots of advice I got was contradictory!

[rollonthesummer]

I had similarly stupid comments from HV and stopped going to get him weighed as it made me cry! It didn't help that my mil kept telling me I was overfeeding him by bf on demand as well...

If it's any consolation, he started crawling and changed chaos completely soon after.

[PragmaticWench]

Ignore the ridiculous hv. My DS was vast, height has always tracked above the 98th and his weight started at the 98th, swiftly passed the 99.6th and he went off the chart. Waaay off the chart in fact! Also ebf on demand.

For other health reasons DS has to be seen by consultant paediatricians and they all said his weight was NOT a problem and to ignore anyone saying he was 'overweight' looking at you DM, in fact one said he was glorious, which I loved.

As a PP said though, your back may well kill for a while, at least until he's reliably walking! Good luck and enjoy your gorgeously chubby baby.

[BumWad]

I also understood that the red book charts weren't based on ebf babies but formula fed babies, they are vastly different.

This is incorrect. Read the first paragraph:

www.rcpch.ac.uk/system/files/protected/page/DoH%20info%20for%20healthcare%20professionals.pdf

[GraceKellysLeftArm]

Thumbwitch - that doesn't make sense. You can't physically pour an excess amount of fluid into a baby, no matter the source. Over- fill the receptacle and it pukes. Basic logic not scaremongering please!

[siblingrevelryagain]

I used to have this with my giant ebf son-the area for concern is when there is huge disparity between height and weight.

Please don't doubt yourself-your breastmilk is obviously fab stuff so stick with it and don't even entertain the notion of a diet for an ebf baby, or one whose height and weight are in proportion.

My big old boy will be 9 soon-tallest in class, thin as a rake but still really heavy (he has always been a heavy child, but I can see from his body changing over the last few years that he is just naturally very tall; with the wrong diet he could probably be massively wide too, but eating a good balanced diet will mean he grows to his natural potential, like your boy).

It's great having a big kid-when he's inevitable poorly he will have some reserves to fight it and will somehow feel less vulnerable than a smaller child.

One word of caution though; your back will be f&£@?d for life from carrying a big child!

[ThumbWitchesAbroad]

Ignore, of course! Stupid comment, of course he doesn't need to go "on a diet"!!

My DS2 started life on around the 55th centile, but within a few weeks had climbed to the 99th centile, EBF and had reflux as well because of his tonguetie - he chucked up so much, I'm amazed he managed to put on so much weight! In fact, I'd taken him to be weighed purely to try and expedite the tongue-tie revision, as I was sure he'd be losing weight, so was quite shocked that he'd gained so much.

No one said anything about cutting back on his feeds (just as well, I'd have probably been rude). Different, perhaps, if they're formula fed and being given too much too often, but at that age they have so much growing to do, that I don't think it's an issue for either case. And if the baby is hungry, then the baby needs to eat!

[George2014]

Ds was 98th centile for weight and height - 9lbs8 born and put a pound on a week for 6 weeks (ebf) and was always way bigger than other babies. My HV always said as long as weight and height centiles match, there's not a problem. If weight was 98th centile and height 10th centile....we might be worried!

My dad and brother are both 6ft3 and 6ft5 and dh 6ft1 so we knew it was likely.

He's now 5, the tallest boy in his year and aphis weight still matches. He's not skinny, still has a bit if pot belly at times but is lean and strong.

My issue is always that he looks 1-2 yrs older than he is therefore everyone expects him to act that way.....

[ICJump]

The red book is now based on bf babies. It has been for a fair few years. DS is five in March and his red book is breastfeed. Have a look at the page it should say WHO somewhere