Baby gaining too much weight

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My baby is eight weeks now and since he was about one or two weeks he has been gaining 500g per week. At first I thought it was just a growth spurt and it would even out but it’s still happening and he’s jumping up percentile lines. I’m breastfeeding him. I think I’ve definitely been over feeding him at night during his “witching hour” when he’s probably been showing signs of being overtired and needing to burp but I’ve been feeding him to try and settle him. It’s really hard when you’re breastfeeding and they cry and you just want to give that comfort. If he was on formula at least I would have known how much he should be having and if he was having too much. I just got him some dummies so hopefully that will help settle him and I download an app to track how many feeds we actually do. I was maybe too relaxed thinking I’ll just go with the flow in the “fourth trimester”. I haven’t been eating heaps and I’m slim/average weight but haven’t lost all weight from pregnancy so it’s not like he’s getting all my calories. If it’s still happening in two weeks the child health nurse will refer us to a paediatrician for tests. I don’t know what it could be. Hopefully I’ve just been over feeding him and it’s not a medical issue. He’s now eight weeks and almost 7kg. The child health nurse said he’s the size of a four month old and he is double the size of my older son at his age. He’s in the third size for clothes and nappies. He’s not actually really chubby he’s getting longer too. Has anyone had this experience????? I thought you couldn’t over feed a breastfed baby

I could have almost written your post OP!
My 8wo boy has gone from 3.3kg at birth to over 6kg. He's EBF and I offer food most times he's upset which is a lot between about 10pm-2am. He often gets really fussy, spits up, unlatches, relatches etc so he's clearly nor starving and is probably over tired but if it offers comfort it's hard not to 'give the boob a go!'
He's in 3-6 month clothes and has jumped 2 percentiles. So far, I've been reassured it's all normal and he seems very happy and healthy so I expect it will settle in a few months :)

Have you tried a slinh for the evenings? Keeps them nice a cosy and relaxed while you run around the other ones!

*sling

My first baby was a huge- ebf, fed constantly, born on 75th and rocketed up the graph. As he approached the very top the health visitor began making noises about a GP referral. I stopped taking him to be weighed. He was happy and healthy. He's 2.5 years now and much slimmer, healthy and active. Don't worry about it.

My DS was the same, born 3.5 kg and but jumped up to top percentiles soon after coming home from the hospital. He's still up there at the age of 12 months. Their growth will slow down though, just feed your baby on demand and don't worry about it. Having a top percentile baby doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them.

My baby was 50th centile at birth, then dropped over 10% in the first week, but then gained and gained peaking at 98% centile (she was EBF). The HV at weigh-in couldn’t believe I wasn’t using formula. I never worried as you can’t overfeed a breastfed baby. Also, if they overeat, the likelihood is they’ll bring it back up (that was the case for me anyway as, despite the weight gain, my baby was a v sicky baby!)

She’s nearly 10 months now and between 91-98th centile for both weight and height. I love her chunky arms and legs, and her cheeks and tummy! She’s healthy and happy and that’s all that matters xx

Thanks to everyone for telling me about their big bubbas. I’ll try not to worry about it

Firstly, the curves were originally made for formula feeding babies, so whilst they might have been changed from their original data points to include bf babies, that was the original intention for them. As you're right, breastfed babies can't be overfed.

Secondly, I was told that in-utero babies grow to the placenta's ability to feed them. Once born, their genetic makeup takes over as to whether they will become a "big baby" or a "small baby". Two petite parents can have a whopping size baby, but ultimately this baby may be destined to be short and "smaller than average" as that is what it is genetically programmed to be. These babies fall through the height/weight charts (which was my baby!). Your baby might have been destined to be bigger, and rather than being born big is making up for it now, so to speak. Someone has to be on the 100 and someone on the 1. Both are healthy, but statistically they are rarity, and average size is more common.

Thirdly, growth where it is matched on both length and weight is usually OK, it's when there is a mis-match they might have concerns (weight climbing through percentiles, but height following the curve).

And lastly, breastfeeding studies had women express milk before and after each feed for 24hrs, as well as weighing baby pre and post feed. Based on this, measurements were made of the amount of milk a baby drinks in 24hrs and also the fats they receive in 24hrs. For many hundreds of data points, the amount drank was massively different - but the fats they consumed was almost exactly the same. Babies that feed more frequently get a less rich breastmilk, and babies that drank less got more fats in each feed.

So if baby seems happy, relax and keep feeding - it will all be a distant memory when they are starting school and noone could pick who was on what centile when.

Hi, I’ve got nearly six month old twins. They were 6lb 4 and 6lb 3 when they were born. After the initial loss they were putting on 1lb+ a week for a number of weeks. At 10 weeks they weighed around 13 and 14lbs. Now at nearly six months they weigh around 19 and 22lbs and are 98/99 percentiles. They are formula fed but have only ever taken what they wanted. They are chunky and very long but not overweight. Please don’t worry.

Ours went from 50th and is now over 75th at 12 weeks, the heath visitor always asks how we are feeding and as soon as we say ebf they say that's fine you can't overfed a breast fed baby so carry on as you are.
When you go to the bf support people they always emphasise you feed the baby if you think they want it, or if you feel you want to, or if you aren't sure what's wrong, and it will all work out fine. They also say the evening time they feed a lot and that's normal even if you feel you have no milk.
They said if you wear your baby in a sling during the day you'll feed more often then and the baby is like to be more settled at night, but we found if you put him in a sling he just falls asleep straight away!
But either way don't ration the feeds, no professional has ever even hinted at that being a good idea, quite the opposite.

My youngest was exclusively breastfed and went from 50th percentile at birth to 75th percentile after a few months. She was a proper chunky monkey, not long just massive! She then plateaued and when she became mobile just lost all the weight and settled back down to the 50th percentile over time. She's almost 4 now, still has a healthy appetite but is still on the 50th line.

i also exclusively breastfed both my DD's. DD1 was born at about 7.5 pounds, but was on the 99th centile for weight within about 3-4 weeks and stayed there. DD2 was a similar birth weight, but went up to 97th centile for weight (or whatever the next line down on the chart was).

They are aged 7 and 8 now and a perfectly normal size. I say, relax and enjoy your baby. The hardest bit about having a big one was how heavy they get and that they are harder work to jiggle around.