"Obese" newborn

[Growingyou]

Hi everyone, looking for some second opinions. I gave birth exactly 3 months ago - my little one was a very average 3.3.kgs at birth (arrived 2 weeks early). He is now an enormous 8.57kgs (69cm long), so is completely off the charts size wise. Naturally, everyone who meets our little baby is stunned by his size. He is 100% breastfed and definitely has a hearty appetite (still waking 3x nightly for feeds).

My mum commented that it's great to have a big healthy baby, but not so enormous that he won't be able to reach his developmental milestones. Also, she raised concern that he would develop fat cells that are almost impossible to change as this becomes his bodily structure. She said it's very difficult for overweight children not to become overweight adults.

The doctor says breastfeeding protects against obesity and while I should feed on demand, I should also try to stretch him out to a minimum 2 hours between feeds.

I don't know whether I should get a second medical opinion. Anyone have any advice?

Repeat after me: you cannot overfeed an exclusively breastfed baby

My eldest was huge. HV told me to be careful weaning as he was so vast. Lost it when he started crawling and was always fine after that.
As an adult, perfectly normal, possibly on the skinny side.

@Motherofcats007

Repeat after me: you cannot overfeed an exclusively breastfed baby

This times 100. Your mum is a moron. A overstepping uninformed moron.

My first had a feed at least very two hours for months. Quite chubby. In clothes three months bigger. Born at 3.08kg.

He's now 20, very tall, once he started crawling and walking everything evened out. I probably did feed him sometimes when he wanted something else but no harm done.

Your mum should stay quiet. She's not helping.

I like others had a gigantic baby and now at 5 he's built like a whippet!

My ds wasn't breastfed but had/has a ridiculously appetite. I took him to the Dr a few times as I was convinced he had silent reflux and was trying to ease it by drinking milk. The Dr said spit up doesn't matter if he's gaining weight. He was 34lbs on his 1st birthday but all he had had was milk exclusively til 6mo and then slowly introduced fruit and veg but regardless he was massive. His weight gain slowed but even now he is big and doesn't want to stop eating.

OMG ignore your mum!

There is no such thing as an obese baby!

Also, ignore your doctor about stretching out feeds. Doctors get practically no pre-registration training on BFing. They do something like an hour on mastitis and other serious complications. They do nothing in their standard training on what normal BFing looks like or how to support BFing.

Speak to people who actually know what they're talking about. e.g. the National BFing helpline. They're open 9:30am - 9:30pm on 0800 100 0212

They'll likely tell you to feed on demand and ignore any spacing advice.

www.nationalbreastfeedinghelpline.org.uk/

My DS was massive as a baby, over the 99th percentile - but his body really changed shape once he started walking, he lost the chubby look.

He's still taller almost all of his friends though, and he loves being tall.

my ds2 was a big baby and gained weight a lot with breastfeeding. He was such a chunk and pretty much on same lines as your baby. He slimmed out as he started walking, then was a skinny child, and then as a teenager hes now fairly average build

posted too soon...
I dont think you should space out his feeds. i think at this age continue to breastfeed on demand. You cannot make a breastfed baby diet. Hes a baby. He needs that extra energy. Its not the same as an overweight adult. He will use every bit of that chub to grow tall and healthy and to feed his brain

You can't overfeed an exclusively breast fed baby. Both my DD were huge babies, both over the 99th centile. They are mid teens now and both are very slim, DD1 is average height and DD2 is very petite. Ignore your mum. I do feel for you though as I got very fed up with the "my god she's huge!" when people saw my babies...

And I echo what @shesellsseacats says too.

My first son was like had more than doubled his birthweight by 12 weeks. Exclusively breast fed.
We used to call him our little Buddah as he just had rolls of fat everywhere. He walked at 11 months.
He is now 20years old and is very lean. Eats like a horse, is active, plays sport goes to the gym. Super healthy young man.
No one believes he was such a fat baby and sturdy toddler.

Dd was a breast fed chunky monkey with rolls of fat. She was a slim kid and is a size 4, sometimes a 6 as an adult, she's tiny.

I had two enormous fat babies. EBF and at the maximum centile from day one, even with massive reflux. They were like little barrels until 10 months/ a year. I had to buy clothes way above their age to fit. Once walking it dropped off.
Now both in their 20s, tall skinny, fit young men who struggle to gain any weight.

Please don’t worry unless the doctor has told you there is a need. Some babies are bigger than others and when they get mobile they tend to even out! My first was teeny tiny and my second is a whopper but I’m sure they will lose the baby fat when they start crawling, at least that is what I have seen with other babies!!!

Honestly I’d ignore it, my son was 95th percentile at 1 he’s now three and on the third percentile he’s so skinny now he looks like a Belsen victim.

My tiny tiny friend had a sumo baby (she's Japanese and called him that). He was giant and utterly rolled in fat. He's now a hulking hockey player who towers over both his parents. Pure muscle.

Also exclusively BF. You can't overfeed them.

My eldest was enormous as a baby. Always the fattest baby in the room until he was about 2 ish. Now at 9 he is a skinny beanpole.

One GP told me that DS2 was the fattest breastfed baby she had ever seen. He was born on 75 centile but was enormously fat. He was actually a very efficient feeder. When he was about 6 weeks old he fed for several hours in the evening and then slept for about 10 hours. Don't worry. He wasn't an overweight child and is now a thin 20 year old.

Listen to your baby, they are the most important one in all this. Feed and sooth on demand like any baby. I had a massive off the chart EBF baby and by 3 she was back on the chart and now age 5 she’s average size. Don’t restrict a baby’s breast milk, you’ll both be miserable for no reason.

My son was exactly the same weight at the same age as yours, and ebf as well. He's now 24 years old, 6'4.5", and very fit and slim. You can't over breastfeed a baby, that's just rubbish, and your baby is not obese. Stop listening to this nonsense.

If u can't be chubby when ur a baby when can u be! Listen to the docs that aren't concerned.

My first born was a big chubby baby everyone used to comment on her. Used to get the 😮 she's only 5 months what are you feeding her etc. She's now 4 and a little skinny thing. Hard to believe she was the big chubby baby. Once they get on the move they lose it. By time she was 2 she was quite slim had lost all the rolls.

DS was 98 centile for weight and 75 for length for a long time. Almost EBF til 6 mo (a few bottles of formula while I started tutoring again and in a vain attempt to stop my sleep deprivation).
He more or less skipped 6-9 mo clothes, bit late to movement milestones etc.
4 now. Good eater still. Had a HUGE growth spurt last year (about 6 cm in 3 months) so his height moved onto same line as weight). No rolls anywhere now, just WAY taller than average for a just turned 4yo (more like a just turned 5yo on the chart).

But, HV said we were a good advert for BF when he was 7 months ish

Never spaced feeds. Fed on demand to 18 mo when he more or less gave up in the day then I night weaned at 21 mo.

My DS was like a Buddha. Top of the charts, backbreaking to lift and a chubby little creature.

10 years later he is one of the smallest kids in his age group, and lean and muscly as a whippet.