6 month 99th centile line

[CJ98]

My daughter turned 6 months last week & I’ve had her weighed today but I’m worried that she’s overweight. Everytime she’s been weighed since birth she’s always been above average, I’ve already had a development assessment a few months ago & when they’ve measured her height everything balances out - as in her height and weight level out & they had no concerns.
I honestly feel like I’m such a terrible parent everytime someone asks me how much she weighs and I tell them.
her daily routine is as followed although it changes daily this is roughly what a day to day routine looks like..
9am she’ll wake up and have a bottle,
between 12-1am she’ll have another bottle.
between 3-4 she’ll have an Ella’s kitchen pouch
and then between 6-7 she’ll have a bottle.
she might have another bottle around 10pm
she’s currently drinking 7oz of milk - shes bottle fed and the last time I had an assessment I was told to continue feeding my daughter whenever she wants feeding.
I honestly feel like I’m doing a rubbish job of being a mum & as a first time mum I’ve found myself constantly comparing myself to other mums around me. I honestly don’t know what I’m doing wrong, I don’t want to constantly feel judged because I have an “overweight” child.

What centile was she born on?

I wouldn’t be worrying at all, honestly. You’re definitely not over feeding her or anything. A fat baby is better than a skinny one!! I can’t imagine she’s moving all that much at that age. When she starts crawling and walking she’ll probably lose a bit

You aren’t a terrible mum, babies will drink what they want and some babies and children are just bigger than others. If the HV has no concerns then she’s fine. I would say though it would be better to give her some real food rather than a pouch every day, you could try mashing up some veg for her or give some veg sticks to chew on to get her used to different flavors and textures.

That’s exactly what everyone has said, once she starts crawling and rolling I believe she’ll start losing it but it’s the initial thing of having an overweight baby & peoples opinion getting to me too much.

I agree with @Overthebow - try to wean her onto real food not pouches. In that way she will learn to chew. The solid starts website is fab for that. Start her on a wide range of veg and fruits first.

My mum has said the exact same thing, a baby will only drink what they want to drink & you can’t over feed a baby. It’s the health visitor that’s got concerns but nobody else seems to have concerns. We’ve only just started her with weaning so we are just starting with things, once she gets used to the liquid forms of them we will then start with mashing those ingredients up for her.

I wouldn't worry at all, if her height and weight are on the same percentile that's the important thing.
My DD was always 99th for height and weight too from around 2 weeks old, she is now 10 and slim but very tall!
Babies also do get a bit chubby around 6 months when they start eating solids and not crawling yet, it's normal and they tend to lose it once they start moving a bit more.

My babies were both very big. And they were less than average weight at birth to start with. They just liked food! They soon levelled out! Distance yourself from people with those opinions because I don’t know what they think they’re trying to achieve?

if there were any concerns, the HV would say.

also, I presume you’ve only started weaning a week ago, so don’t worry about using pouches. Solids are a whole new thing you and baby have to get your head around!

What's the concerns the health visitor has?

I wouldn't worrying at all if your baby is happy

As PP said maybe try homemade food rather than the pouches

Is she doing lots of tummy time, baby gym, sensory toys etc

Again though I really wouldn't be worrying

That's another thought how tall are you and your babies dad ?

that’s what everyone has told me, once she starts moving she’ll lose it but it’s the comments I’m receiving at the moment that’s making me paranoid.

That’s another thing that’s getting too me everyone has told me to start her on straight solids but I’m finding it easier to use the pouches and increasing on the thickness of the things I’m giving her over time.

I’m around 5ft 3 and my partner is around 5ft 10 but we both have extremely tall people in our families - both male grandparents are over 6ft so we believe it’s just a family gene.

There you go you have the tall gene in the family. Maybe your child will follow suit

Don't even give it another thought. You are doing amazing

The HV concerns are that I’m over feeding her, she’s the one that sent me to see the development people to see what I was doing wrong but they just said that I need to keep feeding her whenever she wants feeding. She doesn’t really like tummy time but we keep trying her & we lay her on the floor and allow her to kick about and stuff.

That’s literally what everyone has said. Everyone is tall in our families & we believe she’s going to be tall. She’s already around 2ft and she’s only 6 months

Try and forget about it now and just relax and enjoy your baby ☺️

She was born on around the 75th line I believe.

Well thanks for that, why is a fat baby better than a skinny one? Neither is "better" than the other. My daughter was on the 1st percentile for weight and 99th for height and has been most of her life. I managed to get her into the 2nd at one point. She is now 16 and almost up to the 20th percentile for weight (still 99th for height) yet eats like a horse. She can polish off a 12" pizza in one sitting but also loves her fruit and veg and everything in between. She eats more than me yet just doesn't put on weight. Her dad is the same.

It's one thing to tell the OP that her baby is just fine, but please bear in mind that there may be other mothers at the opposite end of the scale reading that feel like a bad mother because everyone always comments on how very tall and very thin their child is no matter how much you try to help them put on weight!

Someone has to be on the 99th percentile! My DS was born on it and was still on it at whatever age (can't remember now) you stop getting them weighed. He's average weight healthy young adult now.

Please stop worrying!

I have a 90th centile girl for weight, height and head size - she is by definition bigger than 90% her age and has always been, she’s 22 months and could be mistaken for a nearly 3 year old. People are always surprised about her age. A friend of mine has a 5 centile girl and people are surprised about her age too. Anyone that much above/below the average will attract attention and comments, you’ll get used to it! You are NOT over feeding her if she’s fed on demand, doesn’t suddenly jump up the centiles and her height and weight are in proportion to each other. People just notice what’s different and comment 🤷🏻‍♀️ DD has lost her baby rolls at 22 months but is still tall and sturdy 😀 Your girl is perfect x

It’s not the pure, purees are a perfectly valid choice to start your baby on. It’s the use of the pouches, pouches are fine for a quick meal now and then but home made food is going to be better for baby and they need to get used to the taste of actual food. You can make purees from cooked vegetables or mash them up, and then start to mix flavors and different textures as baby gets used to it.

She’s on different lines for her head, weight and height and it’s what’s stressing me out. She’s perfect on her head and then when it comes to her height and weight she’s all over the place. I feel paranoid everytime I get her weighed to the point of me not wanting to do it because of what they’ll say to me.

I wouldn’t worry if height and weight are roughly in proportion. Someone’s baby has to be on the 99th percentile!

Both of mine were big babies, DS1 was was on 99.6th centile for height and 1.6kg above it for weight at 7 months and looked like a sumo wrestler with rolls of fat but none of the medical professionals were worried (partly because he was EBF and mantra is you can’t over feed a BF baby). He tripled his birth weight by 6 months. He retained some toddler chub till starting school but by 8 was skinny as a rake (ribs visible) and is now a 6 foot tall very skinny 14yo.

I think the most important thing is to let them feed to appetite and neither push more than they want (“you must finish your plate”) nor underfeed to try to bring weight down. Latter can lead to a vicious cycle as a child will compensate for feeling constantly hungry by overeating when they get the chance and it breaks the ability children naturally have to trust their appetite and stop when full.

Just be warned that weaning might be a challenge. Mine had basically put on all the weight his body needed already and just wasn’t hungry. He barely ate any solid food till he was 2 (just odd yoghurt or porridge) and stayed the same weight from circa 10 months till 3yo. Again trust your child’s appetite and offer food but don’t push it.

Good luck and enjoy! The main challenge I found was that both babies were too heavy to carry any distance from very young and we had to buy a bigger rear-facing car seat at 5mo for the younger one as he was tall and had outgrown the 0-2yo one we had from newborn.

I wouldn’t worry sounds all fine. Plus id wean how you like. BLW is just one method. You can spoon feed in the traditional way and increase thickness at your pace if you want. I do spoon fed but also finger foods for my 8month old. Both methods have benefits but you do it how you want.