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.

Food is important to get used to a wide variety, yes @FancyAPint. What’s not important is worrying about needing to restrict it or create the perfectly balanced diet daily right now.

If a child jumps up or falls more than two percentile lines I think it's an automatic trigger for a conversation about food, that's all, so the OP's baby's weight itself isn't an issue (categorically not overweight for the age).

I don’t u derstamd the issue with stock - it’s very good for you? At least the one cooked at home. You can get ones without salt if you want shop bought. There’s plenty of salt in what you already give her anyway.

No the issues not the weight it's going up so many centiles altho I imagine she is the same length wise too. She's not tiny.

I'm taking it all on board. Never thought to try sweetcorn. She likes peas and things and eats those when having something different to a pouch for tea. I wonder if I've clung onto the sandwich stuff too much for dinner because a health visitor said she always gave a light lunch like a sandwich.

I clearly take everything too literallyl

It can be really stressful weaning and it can be hard to know if what you're doing is right or wrong. You just have to do what you feel comfortable with (and your baby is clearly thriving so don't feel stressed over their weight!)

I, too, don't solely do BLW. From 6m to just under 8m, I exclusively spoon fed DD. I was worried about choking and wanted to make sure she was getting nutrition into her and not just all over the high chair and floor. Now she's 8m I do a mix, but it's beginning to verge onto the majority being BLW.

For breakfast we usually do weetabix (plain or with fruit added in), pancakes or toast. For lunch it can be anything, today it was finishing off the weetabix and fruit from a few hours beforehand because I'd made too much and then some pasta from a pasta bake I'd just made. For tea, she'll either have a serving of pasta bake or the left over cottage pie from last night's dinner. All this alongside 3 bottles of milk a day (usually around 24oz but that fluctuates depending on how much food she's eaten).

I don't have a problem with pouches, either. They're handy when we're heading out for the day and DD really likes baby yoghurt (although I do buy big tubs of greek yoghurt, too). She also likes the fruit ones. As long as they don't make up all of your baby's diet, I really don't see a problem with them. Fruit in a pouch is better than no fruit at all. And I found them really helpful in getting DD to be more adventurous with food (to begin with she wouldn't even touch the pureed sweet potato I'd made her, but now she'll happily eat it. They were good for the first few weeks when she struggled with anything that wasn't super smooth).

It'll be fine. You can always add more variety in. But you're doing a good job, and don't let food snobs make you feel like you're a bad parent.

Where is she for height?

I wouldn't worry about her weight at all, it's not like your feeding her chocolate and macdonalds. Stop being so hard on yourself.

You'll find it slows down when she starts moving around more.

I agree baby led weaning is scary but I still encourage you to give it a try. Sticks of cooked broccoli, corn on the cob, sweet potato sticks soft pear etc, they love it and make more of a mess with it than eat big chunks anyway. Their gag reflex is very far forward at that age so chances of choking is slim. How about making up frozen lollies out of fresh fruit or yogurt?

Sounds like your doing a great job.

I think your issue OP is the food you are giving her has too much hidden salt and sugar.

My DD likes toast. I was given the amount of salt per 100g that I should be feeding a baby and found that nearly all bread and bread products are medium to high with the level of salt. Then there is any spread you add put on it so mine has unsalted butter.
NHS link - www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/childrens-health/how-much-salt-do-babies-and-children-need/

Likewise I noticed that pouches like some adult foods tend to use fruit juice rather than sugar. Fruit juice is just sugar under another name.

Babies and children will happily eat plain natural yoghurt especially if you start them on it young. Even natural yoghurt has sugar in it but a lower amount of sugar than flavoured yoghurts/fromage frais/custard pots

NHS generic advice on sugar - www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/how-does-sugar-in-our-diet-affect-our-health/

Try avocado. Really nutritious and quite a few babies find it yummy, also dippy egg and soldiers. Yum

Lots of bread and bagels and fruit pouches which all contains sugar, for a baby that assuming isn’t mobile.
More veg, protein, cheese, eggs, chicken - salad pieces etc. lots of water and I’d give her milk with her breakfast and milk before bed and that’s it.
I cooked everything for my son, but then I had the time. I would literally blend most of it - minced meats are useful too.
Good on you for asking OP. Good luck.

She does love a sweet potato jacket with cheese. It's not all bad. They wouldn't measure her length because they said it will be checked at her pre year check but she did comment she is long. It's definitely not that she's over weight. I don't think anyone would look at her and think that.

Thank you. You're really making me feel much better and the encouragement to try more varied stuff is great. I'm going to stock up tomorrow and try more things. She loves Greek yoghurt too with fruit added.

Regarding yoghurt. My kid wouldn't eat it on its own. But I whizz it up with blueberries and bananas stick in little pots and freeze for later. So no added sugar

Also make a tomato sauce: passata, courgette, sweet potato, aubergine, garlic, onion, pepper and fresh tomatoes. I add a couple of slices if bacon too. Whizz it up and freeze in pots and serve with pasta. If big pasta too much you can always mash the pasta up a bit with fork.

Theres loads of stuff you can batch cook and freeze and its loads more nutritious than the ready made pouches which lose all the nutrients in the packing process.

I've never tried her with pasta so that's something to have a go at.

Are they allowed bacon then? I've steered clear of that and ham because of the salt. The hv did say today she can have ham.

I do a massive batch of the sauce and stick two rashers in, so it'd probably be an eighth of a rasher in a portion. But if she's having cheese etc. I just add up what they have in a day and make sure it doesn't go Iver 1 gram, but remember there's also salt in formula. I also get the pasta which is half wholewheat abd half white pasta so its more nutritious

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.

Baby led weaning is just giving her food to eat herself like the banana, crumpets and sandwiches you're already feeding her.
In fact if your breaking those into very small pieces or putting them in her mouth for her that's not good choking wise either.

That aside I wouldn't worry too much about weight gain, mine all had a stage between weaning and crawling where they got chunky but then they grew into the extra chub once they became mobile.

My ds is 99th for both weight and height but skinny... Seriously he is trousers fall off him unless I get drawn strings. He's just stocky.
He eats everything I mean everything.
I know your worried but a bbay first aid course would help. Reassure you. Ds chocked once and I sorted him and he's now fine. He still rams food in.
I think a fruit dessert after lunch or tea is fine. But maybe try fruit as a peice for them to munch on rather than mushed ones - it's takes a lot of apples pureed down to fill a pot.
75 th centile isn't huge either op

She needs to eat fresh vegetables for a start

I would just give her a fruit pot every other day and chop her up a couple strawberries or bits of apple the pother days. As baby gets a bit more active baby will soon lose it. Make sure you do not give sugary drink but plain water. Some people forget orange juices contain calories.

If you offer her brown pasta and rice she will never have tasted white pasta or rice first and so will enjoy the brown wholemeal variety. I find the best way is never to offer the sweeter variety of anything and they enjoy the one you offer them.

Op - mine didn’t eat anything at all, like nothing, until he was 10 months old. Everyone’s comments are still worth taking on board but try not to worry. They’re lovely and mouldable for a while. I kept worrying about “making rods” etc but they’re still learning everything so even if you’ve used pouches up until now, doesn’t mean that you can’t introduce a new way of doing things now.

Surely just weight centile isn’t worth much on its on without the height one? Just measure her yourself and have a look in the book chart where she’s placed length wise.

Maybe the easier way is to try and see what fast simple meals you can cook and eat together.

Some speedy lunches most small ones like:
Omelette - add whatever you have in the fridge (cheese, veggies)
Scrambled eggs
Small baked potato done in microwave. Add tuna/ greek yogurt
Mashed avocado on toast
Houmous and pitta bread
Thick soups and bread ( make at home, freeze in batches for easy fast lunches)
Pasta, cream cheese, peas, spinach, broccoli (any veg)
Poached fish

All can be easily served alone, or with some raw veggies and salad bits on the side. A plate of picky random bits often goes down well.

How can they possibly comment on the weight without measuring the height? That is ridiculous. For all you know she is 99% for height and is on the skinny side?

My DS was that weight at 7mo! He is obviously tall/long and solidly built so I've never had any questions. He's now 97th centile for weight and height.

Traditional weaning is doing a mix of finger foods and spoon feeding which sounds like what you've been doing. Agree with others that there's a lot of processed food but it's hard when you're busy! We save a portion of our dinner for DS' dinner the next day, he normally has plain Greek yogurt afterwards. He has a plate of things for lunch so savoury muffins, rice cakes & pb, tomatoes & cucumber, some fruit, small sandwich or wrap, toddler crisps, cheese cubes etc - anything that's easy to put together.

Don’t panic, it doesn’t sound too awful to me.
Mine is 9 months and he’s DC3 so am fairly confident with BLW etc. For breakfast today he had a bowl of porridge and a satsuma. Lunch was a Philadelphia sandwich with some carrot and cucumber sticks. For dinner he’s just had some pasta in a tomato sauce that I blend some veg into, some sweet potato wedges and a few spoonfuls of Greek yoghurt.