just been told that my baby is fat.

[misdee]

i went to get dd2 weighed today. she is now 13months old and weighs 32lb 8oz. the Hv started going on about her diet, telling me i should watch what she eats etc, so i asked her to check her height as well. she is 83cm tall now, which puts her off the charts for her weight and height. she has been off the chart since 5months old for her weight, and went off the chart for her height at 5months as well. they have advised me to keep a food diary of what she eats and see the doc about her weight. they said she should only have 20ml of milk a day, and cut back on her yoghurts (she only has one a day). if she wants more fluid to offer water or water down her milk. i am annoyed at them, as they can see that she is in proportion for her weight and height, they are only concerned as she has jumped more that two percentiles since she was born (91st percentile, weighed 9lb at birth). has anyone been thro this?

misdee.my sis has the other way round. She has one little boy who eats very little and was told he was fine, her other little boy eats anything and is gorgeous and chubby and she was told he was underweight!!!!I wouldn't worry too much if you think she's in proportion as all these things are only supposed to be a guide aren't they?

My advise is to totally ignore your HV. I never consult them about anything. Their charts drive me mad. If your child eats healthily, is active, happy and healthy then your child is fine! Don't put a child of 13 months on a diet for God's sake! My friends dd was quite chubby as a baby. Her legs were REALLY chubby and everyone passed comments. Well, now she is 18 months and during the past 18 months she has lost all her chubbiness and is now a slim little tot. She hasn't even got the tot-tummy. It really makes me upset reading your post because I think those bloody HV's cause so much worry for us parents. Enjoy your little girl. I am sure she has a gorgeous toddler tummy

Sorry, I meant to wrote she has lost most of thechubbiness during the past couple of months, not 18 months....

and I bet she's bloody gorgeous. I have the opposite with DD - she's a teeny doll no matter what i do but am determined to build her up without sweets and chocolate.
Don't worry - as long as you feel good about what she eats then that's what matters. Sod em!

Fairymum,

I agree, HVs seem to cause so much concern to us inexperienced mothers, and most of them don't have children of their own.

Misdee, If your dd is overheight for her age, then she's almost bound to be overweight for her age, otherwise she'd be underweight for her height IYSWIM.
If you are concerned, ask your gp who is more likely to relate height and weight.

If you are not worried, then carry on as you are. Often we should trust our own judgement rather than the so-called professionals.

Ignore them. If she was out of proportion then you'd have reason to worry. You may be able to affect her weight by over feeding her but you can't affect her height unless you've been putting her on a rack!!

oh this is daft. I received a letter from the paediatrician last week where he has listed "tall stature" as a "problem". He is 91st centile for height, he is 91st centile for weight and has been 91st centile for both since he was 6 weeks old. Why on earth is is a problem? They seem to think that all children should be 50th centile.

Hi Sarah, as you know DD2 is a teeny doll and weighs about 32lbs and is smaller than your DD2, so is she underweight?? No, she is the right weight for her height, the same way your DD2 is. she IS bloodly gorgeous BTW!!!

Oh misdee, if she is in proportion what does it matter? Please don't worry about it! I do feel for you though, my dd was 26lbs at 13 months and people are always saying what a whopper she is. She is really tall too, but like your dd is in proportion (don't know who she got that from as me and dh are both stumpy porkers!)

Not been to see our HV since ds was four months. She was concerned at his weight (99.6 centile) but wouldn't measure his length, saying,'babies are too bendy to get an accurate result' She wanted me to keep a food diary which I gave up doing after 36 hours of writing down 'left boob, right boob, both boobs, 2 tsps of baby rice...' At 8 months the gp somehow managed to measure his length and he is off the chart.

When I read threads like these, it makes me angry all over again. Don't these people have other things to worry about? If you're happy with your dd then ignore her. If you are concerned then try her advice. Your dd sounds just perfect, so I know what I'd be doing...

BTW, on a tangent, ds has to have an operation in december at 11 months and the hospital have told me I must get him weighed the week before. I may be sending dh to hv with ds. Why can't the hospital do it? It's not like we won't have time to fill in on arrival....Any way out of seeing the HV? Would the weighing machine in Boots do?

Nome you could stand on the weighing mach in Boots and then get off and back on with ds in your arms and the diff is his weight. Don't know how accurate they need it to be.

yes same here dinasor.they weighed dd at the hospital before her operation

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Yeah, they've got a room for weighing, but were very keen on the phone for me to bring his red book and to have had him weighed. I think I'll go for the Boots option (home scales obviously lie as I CANNOT POSSIBLY weigh that much ) and if they fuss at Addenbrooks then they can weigh him again. Besides HV clinic clashes with the last toy library of the year. What a choice, huh? I don't really want to see hv again, esp as misdee and I seem to have the same one...
Thanks for the suggestions CD et al.

All 3 of my girls have been bonny babies and IMO far better that than a skinny little baby that I would constantly worry about (sorry no offense to mums that have small babies). Dont worry the weight does drop off, particularly as they get more active. As long as you are happy that she is content and healthy I would ignore what you are being told. DD2 wasn't particularly tiny as a baby but she certainly is now, and not for want of eating, shes in size 5 skirts/trousers still and is 7 now! At the end of the day use your own judgement. Take Care x

NOME

that is very unusual - they weighed my dd on admitting her to hospital as well as the morning of her surgery and then when she was back on the ward every morning. SO I would insist they weigh your child prior to the surgery rather than asking you to do it. Children's weights can fluctuate even within a week.

i have decided to see the doc about dd2 weight, mainly to point out to them that she isnt overweight and is in perfect proportion. i think the fact she has managed to keep her weight gain up considering she was (and still is at times) a very sicky child. she is due to see the paediatrics at the local hospital soon to find out why she vomits violently without any other symptons apart from loose stools. i do think she may have some sort of intolerence/digestive problem but it obviously hasnt affect her weight gain.
and to prove i dont over feed my kids, her older sister is tiny for her age. she is one of the smallest in her class, and wears clothes ranging from 18months to 3years. (she is 3.5yrs). mieow is my older sister, she is tiny, i'm younger and so much bigger in height, build and weight. all they have to do is look at the family history.

DS1 was 91st percentile for weight and dropped to 50th for length and no one ever said he was overweight.

I'm very happy to read all this about big girls as I've been going through a terrible time with dd2 about her weight. She's 6 months old and weighs nearly 20lb despite being born 2 months early. This makes her about a thousand miles off the chart if you treat her as a 4 month old (which the docs and HV insist on doing) and around the 99th centile for a 6 month old. Because of this she's being monitored closely with all sorts of horrendous possibilities being mentioned (something wrong with her brain making her grow to fast??). Meanwhile I'm being told off for overfeeding her and urged to cut back more and more. We're at the point when I definitely can't reduce her milk any further (she's not on solids yet and won't be for another couple of months) yet she's still as chubby as ever so I guess that's how she's meant to be. SHe's also very long though as others have said, this doesn't seem to be taken into account. The whole thing has been incredibly depressing as I want to feed her when she's hungry, as I did with dd1, and not be constantly trying to hold back.

at 19 weeks dd2 weighed 19lb and 9oz. she was one week early, so nothing major. the only thing i can possibly think about what might be wrong is whether its hormonal or something. she shows nos signs of slowing down her weigth gain and getting taller atm, she has been walking since 11months, but weight gain hasnt slowed down much. just trying to get this out of my head now and not worry about what she is eating/drinking all the time, which is what i;ve been doing since yesterday afternoon. most people do put her age at around 2yrs and aree shocked when i say she is only 13months. will let u know what happens when we see the docs.

misdee, my DS was born nearly 10 weeks ago and weighed in at 11.10. Neither me or my DH are what I would call large. DS now weighs about 18lbs and is off the centile for weight and height. This time round I am not getting him weighed as often and it is much better. I really would not worry about HV, your baby is obviously very healthy and that can only be a good thing. My sister had a similar experience to you and took no notice whatsoever of the HV and her DS is fine.