Baby over 99.6th centile since weaning

[bigkidsdidit]

hi everyone

My DS has always been a big boy, 8.12 at birth (but 15 days late) and roundabout the 91st centile since. I am 5ft 7 and DH is over 6ft so we thought he would be big.

At five months we started weaning after he grabbed a banana out of my hand and ate it. By 6 months I finished bf and he went onto full ff. As I'm back at work now I hadn't weighed him for yonks but did this week and at 7.5 months he is now 24.1 lb- up to 99.6th.

A typical day is - 8oz formula on waking, half banana, half apple for breakfast, chicken carrots and mash for lunch (at CM), 6oz formula at 3pm, lentil casserole and broccolli for dinner, 6-8oz milk at bedtime. He is NEVER full with solids, although he mostly feeds himself I stop giving him things rather than him refusing.

I wouldn't worry but it's such a large jump in 8 weeks. Would you worry? I was expecting his weight to stabilise on solids especially as he's started more or less crawling and climbing now. Would you worry? Wwyd?

I really wouldn't worry - its not that much of a massive leap in terms of the centiles. He probably can't believe his luck that he has all this food! When he got weighed what was the HV's reaction? If s/he wasn't bothered (which I'd imagine to be the case) then I really wouldn't be either. Sounds like a perfectly normal, happy growing laddie to me :)

I wouldn't worry too much if I were you, as long as his weight doesn't go above the 100th percentile. His daily menu sounds extremely healthy, so unless he's eating adult-sized quantities you don't need to change anything there other than to replace part of his breakfast and all of his afternoon formula feeds with food (porridge in the morning, for example, and fruit or a yogurt in the afternoon), and offer more water.

DS1 was always big - on the 98th percentile for height and weight from about two months - and was very slow to walk but by the time he did, around 16 months, he did lose some weight, and is now on the 91st percentile for that.

I think it takes time for them to start burning sufficient energy to lose their baby fat, and your boy sounds like a fine healthy specimen who just enjoys his food and isn't quite mobile enough to lose significant amounts of weight. And don't forget, with winter coming up, he's bound to have a bug or two that will send him off his food and make him lose some weight so a bit of padding now will stand him in good stead.

What centile height is he?

Thanks for replies everyone

I weigh him myself at a drop in scales at the GP surgery - being at work I can never make it to see the HV. Plus she used to tell me off for him being on the 91st ( and ebf) so god knows what she'd say now!

I can't get his height done for some reason, the HV refused in June and when I try it's really inaccurate.

Thought I was worrying too much but 2 centiles seems so much!

My ds was on about the 90th centile born but then by 6 months was waaaay over the 100th centile. He did eat a lot but all appropriate foods for his age. The hv told me that you can't overfed a baby with the right foods, and although they talked for a while about testing his hormone levels etc, they never did. At 2 he was still huge for his age but then all of a sudden he started growing taller and slimming out. Now he is a slim but tall 8 year old. I think all children develop at different rates. Don't worry about it, the foods you are feeding him are healthy and appropriate, I think those centile charts cause more concern than help for a lot of people.

Thanks fresheye. Actually that sounds a lot like DS's cousin, perhaps he'll just slim out. Or just be a big lad all his life!

One final q- I never give him snacks so that he'll keep his afternoon bottle. I was planning on keeping it for a few months yet. Would any of you start encouraging him to drop it?

DD who is actually a rubbish eater has gone from 50th centile at 6 months to 91st at 10 months - totally bizarre. And not I am not worried at all - like your DS she is very tall so this is to be expected. I'd keep teh afternoon bottle at this age - milk is major :-)

It isn't actually possible to be over 100th centile - these refer to weights in relation to the rest of the population, and being 99th centile (the highest) means that this measurement is greater than 99% of the population.

In isolation, the weight centile is completely meaningless as a health indicator. If you have a child on 95+ for weight, who is also on 95+ for height, then you have a totally normal large child. (If a child weighing the same was on 2nd centile for height, then it would be a completely different matter).