Just had nine month old weighed - feeling like the worst parent

[Rarfy]

Nine month old dd has just been weighed. She's 19lbs. Almost on the 75th centile. Not bad I know but she was born on the 9th.

Anyway I felt like they were interrogating me about what she eats. I'll be the first to admit I don't do baby led weaning. I don't like it I'm frightened she'll choke. That isn't going to change.

I don't just give her pouches and mashed food though I give her bananas, toast, crumpets, bagels etc I just break them up for her. A typical day is cereal. Usually weetabix, porridge or shreddies. Lunch is usually a sandwich - chicken, tuna or cheese then tea is a meal pouch Ella's kitchen or aldis own. After each meal she will have a dessert which will be a fruit pot, a from age frais or a small custard pot. I very very rarely give her snacks as I don't feel like she needs them.

She is still having three 6 ounce bottles a day. First thing, mid aft and then last thing.

Is this quite bad? I feel like I'm doing something wrong it's really upset me.

It doesnt seem like you are doing anything wrong, sounds like they just havent explained to you what the percentile is. My son is on 97th for height and 91st for weight and hes always been around that. We had issues with my sons head size jumping which was obviously a concern, that's the only reason I actually know what percentile means. They would've just asked about what shes eating to make sure you arent over feeding, that's all. You arent though so its not a concern. Some kids just have growth spurts.

I'm sorry you're sitting at home crying, OP. And I don't think you're doing anything wrong.

Your baby is still within the normal range. Just wait until she starts walking. She'll go down to a lower centile.

That is an awful lot of added sugar to be giving a baby.

Shreddies, fruit pot, fromage frais are all very high in sugar and I wouldn’t say at all suitable for 9 month old tbh.

And as for Ella’s Kitchen, I used those as one offs when travelling or away and wouldn’t again. They may not have refined sugar but they are very sweet with other stuff.

What are you eating at dinner? Can’t she eat salt-free versions of that mashed / cut up?

My ds has jumped centiles from between 5th n 9th to the 50th at 4 months.. I got a lecture initially but his height has also jumped so they’re not as concerned and strangely enough now I’m pregnant with dc2 they’re monitoring me incase he just wasn’t growing properly before birth and now he’s out and taking in everything he needs he’s growing properly.

My granny’s advice was they didn’t have those weird charts in my day that’s just to make you think your babies too fat or too skinny another thing to worry you..

Is this about what you eat op? What is your diet like?

IMO baby’s are meant to be chunky anyway. The more rolls the better 😊

Chill out and try not to worry OP. Cut out the added sugar until she’s 2 and start introducing more ‘real’ food and all will be fine

She's not overweight op. It's normal for health visitors to ask about diet of babies jump up %, but it's just to establish that they are eating right. I'm sure if HV had further concerns she would have referred you to a dietician or GP. My DS is 12 months and in 98% for both weight and height. He has a good diet and there are no concerns from any HV's. If they were concerned about your DD, they'd make it known😊

There’s nothing wrong with 75th centile. Not everyone can be on the 50th.

I’m like you in that I give a lot of pouches as I lack confidence in trying new things. I do a lot of batch cooking now though and try to give more home cooked meals.

The “just give them what you have” thing annoys me as my baby has shown signs of having some food allergies, and it’s amazing how many meals DH and I eat that contain these allergens! So it makes it really difficult. Anything he can eat, I’ll make extra of and blend though.

I wouldn't be giving her sweet stuff at all. She will develop a taste for it then. Bagels & crumpets are very high carbs too and very filling. Which will likely put her off her main meals, especially as she's still on milk. Food before the age of 1 is mainly exploratory. She only needs tiny bits of anything you give her

My 4 month old is 18lb 3oz and we're obviously not even weaning yet 🙈

She’s 9 months? I don’t think her food matters at all really she’ll be getting her vitamins and calories from milk. Food is just for her to start getting used to at this age. Is she having too much milk? I’m sorry I haven’t bottle fed so never knew how many Oz they should have.

If not I wouldn’t worry in the slightest. It’s only 75th percentile

Also Fromage frais is very very high in sugar even though there is calcium & added vitamin d. I would give her only half a tiny pot with one meal then the other half with the next

She sounds bouncy and bonny, she's not overweight or anything x

Rarfy, you mentioned stock earlier (I know mine would have had it in gravy, no one said not to. I didn't add salt to meals). I found this which might be helpful:
www.mummycooks.com/blogs/advice/using-stock-cubes-in-homemade-baby-food

@Rarfy Also, soup doesn't need stock. I make leek & potato soup and don't use stock - it's lovely. Half an onion, 2 potatoes boiled up then add 3 chopped large leeks. Tiny bit of salt then whizz up :)

Eh my DD is 8mo and 20lbs. She has healthy home cooked meals with tons of fruit and veg, feeds herself so stops whenever she has had enough, and is breastfed. Hasn't occurred to me to worry about her weight! She's just robust, healthy and a good eater, and hasn't started being mobile yet

Don' worry! It's all good! My first DS was born on 7th percentile, for 3 months stayed around 10th, then he's got hungry! Around 7 months (yup) he was around 95th percentile (yup) and that was just from milk (mostly) and health visitors started to be interested, but we changed nothing. As he started walking he gradually started "loosing weight" naturally. Now, 3 year old - on 50th percentile, active, happy smiled!

You don’t eat meat and vegetable everyday? So at do you eat. I’m guessing the beige foods you’ve been giving your DD. Can you at least try to give her unprocessed foods even if you don’t eat it?

Oh and I just cook all our meals without salt now. It's amazing how actually a lot of stuff doesn't even need it. If we do want salt, we add it after it's been served, but I've found myself rarely bothering now. I try not to give her anything processed as most has added stuff.

She doesn’t need desserts.

I did try the wafers and meltu puffs to get my head round the choking thing and it helped. She's good at feeding herself chunks I don't worry about it half as much as I did.

Tbh I think a lot of it probably is to do with what we eat. Because we eat late it's a lot of convenience foods. I eat nowhere near as well as I did pre baby now.

I did wonder about baby stock but the health visitors weren't very helpful about them so I steered clear.

Don't listen to cherry coke, food is important just now, it's a window of opportunity in terms of her growing up to be less fussy, the more variety you offer now the better. Lumps will also help her teeth come through. Try to only use pouches when you are out and about and give her your food instead (assuming that also isn't processed stuff). Have a good look on nhs website, google nhs weaning. If they were worried about her weight they would also do her length, as long as height/weight are within 2 centiles of each other then she is fine. Try not to be over sensitive, if the hv didn't advise you to reduce processed food, include 5 portions fruit/veg a day and include protein at each mealtime (can be veggie protein not just meat) then they wouldn't be doing their job properly and you would be complaining years down the line that you weren't told otherwise when wondering why she only accepts processed stuff/beige food

Sorry what's the issue? Is 19lbs overweight or is it that she has jumped from the 9th percentile to the 75th percentile. My son was weighed at 8 months and was roughly 19lbs. He was born in the 50th percentile and Health visitor said nothing and that he was healthy. He eats fruit and porridge or bread with peanut butter or avocado at breakfast, a veg or fruit salad and fromage frais for lunch and a normal dinner usually chicken veg and pasta. He is due another weigh-in in a couple of weeks and is bound to be over 19lbs at 9 months.

Is he overweight too? Eating too much. He is 1uite tall and very slender, I get remarks on him being both too small and too big for his age by busy body strangers.

I was sure he was normal and fine but now your post is making me think I am overlooking something

If she can manage sandwiches I would think your DD could easily manage homemade casseroles or roast dinners chopped up.

The vast majority of pouches are very sweet and don't contain much protein (I think I remember a big organic brand casserole having 8% meat) and they're made appealing by using lots of sweet tasting vegetables (butternut squash, sweet potato, carrots) and often have some fruit thrown in for good measure. This doesn't matter once or twice a week but I'd worry you might be fostering a sweet tooth if most main meals are coming from pouches.

My only other thought is that I've avoided giving a pudding after every meal as I grew up with an enormous sweet tooth which I'm hoping not to pass onto my DD, and avoiding the expectation of pudding with every meal is an easy one when they're babies.

It is quite a lot of sugar for a very young child OP but you've been doing your best!

My DS is adopted and came to us at 13 months - he was eating baby porridge for breakfast, a mulletrrice for lunch (!!!) and a baby ready meal for dinner. It took us 6 months to get him eating "real" food and even now at nearly 3 he is only just starting to eat vegetables at all. The sooner you start, the easier it will be. My Ds wouldn't eat any lumps at all until he was 2.

You say you eat quite late - why dont you save a small portion of dinner for your dd to have the following day?

Baby pouches really are the equivalent of an adult eating ready meals and takeaways every night, it sadly becomes the norm but it isn't very healthy.