Health Vistor says my 8 month old boy is over weight.

[Lauracrazygirl]

So last week my HV said my son is over weight and I need to change his diet to make sure he doesn't gain any more.

For the record my son is
8 months old
25.3 lbs
Head to toe measures - 76cm (he is a long baby)
Wear a mix of 6-9 and 9-12 clothes

This is what he eats in a 24 hour period.

5am - 6oz bottle = 115 cal

9am - breakfast -
rusk - 70 cal

4oz - 80 cal

1pm lunch -
one jar - 120g - 70 cal
Yog pouch - 80 cal

3-4pm
4oz - 80 cal

5pm lunch -
one jar - 120g - 70 cal
Yog pouch - 80 cal

6.30pm - bedtime bottle - 6oz - 115 cal

7pm - 5am - sleeps for 10 hours

So all that equals 760 cal per 24 hours for an 8 month old baby.

My HV says I should cut out the 3-4pm bottle. Which I have been trying to do for the last week but my son has been so upset without it so I have just been giving him it.

I feel she was really hard on me, she kept saying "over weight babies struggle to crawl and have all sorts of health problems" she also ended our phone call with "remember I'll be weighing him when I see you next so I hope hes in a better place".

But I googled how many calories an 8 month needs and most sources say between 750 - 900. Also the average weight of an 8 month old boy is apparently between 17 - 22lbs. So he's a little over but not much.

So my question is, do you think she's right?

Should I keeping trying to cut out that 4oz bottle.

What centile is your son in in his red book?
Has he always been in the same centile line?
If there is no difference i would rake no notice at all of the HV although just to make my own life easier id be making sure i gave my baby all kinds of food in their natural state,ie not processed with additives as it becones so hard to get them used to ordinary vegetables etc when theyve been on jars etc for ages. )
My DD Iis 3 and weighs 11kg, shes on 2nd centile and us ting si aooears to be under weight, i have been assured by hospital consultants she is fine as she is on the same centile line she has been on since birth and has not deviated, she is just small, if your child is on the same line as always hes probably just a big person.

Fruit doesn't need to be puréed, you can mash if it's required but usually just chop and give as finger food

Baby doesn't need pudding at every meal either

At 8 months, my dc just ate normal food. I served up a portion of whatever we were having and let them eat to their appetite. No purees at all.

Yes, honestly just give him whatever you are having, just cut it in to pieces he can hold. Don't worry about portions too much. A few of each thing and if he eats it all great and if not then save it for another time or compost it. There's a whole industry around feeding babies but it really doesn't need to be complicated.

I'd make every meal savoury-based.

Wheetabix, Toast, porridge, Steamed carrots, broccoli, slightly mushed peas, sweet potato or whatever. Little bit of cucumber. Tiny cube of cheese (salty!) Plain cracker/breadstick/bread/oatcake.

Possibly a tiny portion of what you have for dinner or simple meal. A few pieces of pasta, a few bits of veg, little shred of roast chicken, that sort of thing.

Every so often give a 'pudding' of fruit puree but it doesn't need to be every meal. Jars, pouches and little crisps and baby snacks are fine to give variety or for ease if you're out but generally small bits of plain unsalted normal food is totally fine especially at that age.

You should try to introduce the concept of meals being savoury and sweet things like fruit being occasional, and after the savoury.

I honestly never measured or recorded what mine had, I just let them try munching all sorts (as safely as possible) and enjoy their food. Even my big child was mostly full from his milk rather than actual food until he was a lot older.

I'm not proclaiming to have got it right but my large children were fed like this and are both happy and a healthy weight and good eaters. Kids do have a naturally sweet tooth though so you need to try to curb it a bit from a young age.

Can I check something.

Are you having a call with a Health Visitor or a Health Visitor's Assistant?

The former will have gone through very stringent training and gained a professional qualification. The latter will not.

HV/A appointments are not mandatory. If you're not getting anything from the calls / meetings then stop doing them. If all you get is this stress, and these judgemental comments then bin them off ASAP.

If you were giving your child only processed foods, I'd suggest mixing things up a bit. But you're not.

You're doing the best you can. Try to stop "should-ing" on yourself and trust your instincts.

He doesn't need puree, just give him proper food! Feeding himself means he'll lesrn to self regulate better too.

My son was over the 90th percentile for height and weight. I spent a long time stressing over his weight thinking he was
Too chubby but my hv just said stop worrying he’s fine. He is now a six ft 2 inch 21 year old who is athletic and fit. Cut out the processed sugars and just carry on.

My Hv tried to imply DD was 'quite large' and shouldn't get any bigger at her one year appointment, but I had already spoken with the doctor on this matter and the dietician as she has allergies. Both were unconcerned (she is 98th centile at last weigh in but also over 90th for length).
She is a bit slow with walking and crawling etc but slimmed down a bit once she started crawling so much

You’re doing fine! My little one is on 25th percentile and people say how small he is, you can’t win 🤷‍♀️

To help you with your weaning this is what I give my just turned 9 month old (no doubt others can add suggestions to this). I’m gradually increasing his portion sizes.

Breakfast: approx 80g 1 weetabix and milk/porridge/toast with spread

cut up fruit (usually strawberry or banana)

Lunch: approx 100g of what ever meal we had last night (mashed or chopped depending on what it is). E.g. cottage pie, cauliflower cheese, chicken pasta, salmon fish cakes

plus mashed veg (broccoli, carrot, sweet potato, squash etc)

then fingers of red pepper/apple/banana/cheese/courgette etc

Dinner: approx 80g rice pudding plus mashed fruit/cheese on toast/some of what we’re having for dinner and possibly a couple of small rice cakes

I’m breastfeeding, so no idea how much milk he has.

Also, should add nothing wrong with using a pouch from time to time. I just avoid the puréed fruit ones which are quite sugary.

The HV told me today not to give my 9 month old multivitamin drops despite it being NHS advice to give all 6month to 5 year olds vit A, C and D if not on formula feeds 🤦‍♀️

I like this visual as a guide for potions as I know that I have a tendency to out too much on the kids plates
httpss://www.superhealthykids.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/HandPortionChart_1222.jpg

Jars/pouches are for emergency snacks when out (so presumably not, currently). Think about what food you want him to eat as a toddler, and give him a bit of that.

By 8 months you should be easing off purée - they need to learn to chew.

Chopped up food on a spoon or just put on his high chair tray to eat. When he’s still hungry, a bit more.

I was always told the opposite and that I needed to add cheese/butter/cream to everything I made . I didn't and my DC are absolutely fine and healthy.

I was always told that as a rough guide a baby should double their birth weight in 6 months, and treble it in a year. Of course, some babies will do more than that and some (like mine) will do less. Parental size will play a part too. If your and babies dad are both tall then baby will be too.

Your health visitor is a trained medical professional expert. If you want a second opinion you should ask to talk to another health visitor, not ask untrained randoms online who will just tell you what you want to hear.

When we adopted DS and he was morbidly obese and we were monitored really closely on what he ate and his weight. I’m not saying you DS is by the way, he is heavy but he is also really long so he is proportionate.

The best advice that we were given (and we were given lots of it was that his stomach is about the size of his fist. So that’s about the right amount for him to eat across his whole meal.

The second best advice was to stick to veg rather than fruit, and no need for pudding but no harm in a taste.

I had this a lot from HV and my little boy was a right chunk. I will say he is 2 now and although not skinny has been in the same size clothes for a year- he has slimmed right down and stretched up. I was a hugely overweight baby as well!

I asked the doctor when the HV started tutting and telling me to give him water and distract not feed at 4 months as ‘overweight babies become overweight toddlers’ the doctor said if he was breastfed they’d probably be congratulating me says it all really! He also told me to feed my baby a varied diet and not withhold food and that he would even out - he has. I thoroughly expect my next one to be the same - not even sure I’ll bother with the weighing- it was obvious he wasn’t malnourished!!!

That’s a whole lot of sugar!
Ditch the pouches/jars.

By 8 months give him what you are having but without the salt.

Seems very high in sugar. Can he eat protein such as egg?

Maybe vegetable puree instead of yogurt?

@Lauracrazygirl

This thread has been far more helpful than my health visitor.

Yes, my son was born big 8lb 11 and a 38inch head.

I have a few more questions

Should I only use jar/pouches if travelling to family?
Should give my son a fresh fruit puree as a pudding or a meal?
How many grams of food should I give at lunch/dinner? Right now I give 100g.

Thanks

Yeah use pouches for out and about. No need for fruit purée. Just fruit is fine. A few raspberries or some banana. Just give him what he will eat. Don't measure it in grams. Give him a plate of finger food and let him eat til he's finished.

Oh my goodness what an awful experience for you. I've always been advised that babies are really difficult to over feed as they aren't 'greedy' and are great judges of their own appetite!!! I'd definitely keep up with your current routine and ask to speak to a different health visitor/get a second opinion for your next appt x

Thanks again everyone!

So having read all your comments about jars and pouches I've decided to ditch them other than for emergencies

So I've been looking a baby recipes online and I've made a shopping list of fruit, veg and meats.
I'm going to spend today doing some batch cooking for my boy. I've dug out some ice cube trays and weaning tubs that I use to put stuff into the fridge and freezer.

I understand my HV is a trained medical professional and her advice is based on evidence.

But my experience with her has been very negative.

Firstly she has been late to every face to face meeting we have had, she talks about other mothers she visits in a negative way and she seems to always be in a rush to leave (she always talks about how busy she is).

After she said I was giving my son too much milk I asked;
"ok, so how much milk should I be giving him per day, what's the minimum amount?"

She said "oh well, every baby is different,it's not an exact science and you've got to remember that your giving him breakfast, lunch and dinner, so he's not going need as much milk"

Me ".......ok, but surely there must be an minimum amount for an 8 month old, I'm giving him 20oz a day and 3 meals, is that really too much?"

HV- " one sec, let me put you on speaker and my manager can explain it to you"

So the manager was alot nicer and said the minimum was 16oz per day, I explained what I was doing she said "your not doing anything wrong" my HV butts in and says "yeah but she doing...." then manager again said everything was ok, I might just have a big baby.

The whole phone call was rather unpleasant, like my HV was trying to get her manager to gang up on me but her manager wasn't having it.

My DD was a huge baby. I really worried but the advice from my HV was it would settle down as she became more mobile. It didn’t actually - but sort of dropped off age 4-6, just as my MIL predicted (DH had been the same).

I agree about more home-cooked food but don’t beat yourself up about the odd pouch when you’re visiting family (although batch freezing is really helpful). The River Cafe Baby and Toddler book is brilliant for ideas - much more down to earth than most.

I really don’t think dropping a milk feed is the way to go. BLW can be good for monitoring over-eating - they’ll stop when they’re full

How often are you seeing her? And can you request someone else?

She sounds horrible