12 week old baby “bordering on overweight”
May 5, 2008 by jamboree
A mother on a forum I frequent had a well-baby checkup for her 12 week old daughter, and the baby weighed in at 14 lbs, 2 oz (90th percentile) and 24 inches long.
Her paediatrician told her that the baby is “bordering on overweight”.
I am burning. Can someone explain to me how a fully breastfeed three month old baby can be classed as overweight? How is that even possible?
I have big babies. Two out of three of my kids were over 10 lbs at birth, and all three of them grew exponentially during their first six months of life — I think I probably have miracle-gro mixed in with my milk or something. At no point was I told that my child was too fat.
Thankfully, this new mother on my forum is very confident and took her doctor’s advice with a grain of salt. She is considering changing doctors based on a few factors, actually. But what about the new mothers out there who are unsure of themselves and put total faith in what their doctors say? What would those mothers do in reaction to their doctor telling them their 3 month old is at risk of becoming overweight? Would these gloriously chubby babies be put on a doctor-prescribed “diet”?
I am horrified at the thought.
Scary stuff. Hathor did a comic on this recently - http://www.thecowgoddess.com/2008/03/30/doctor-joke-diet-for-a-baby/
In all seriousness, I have heard people mention baby-diets - except they phrase it as ‘regulating the feeds’. Appalling, isn’t it?
that is terrifying!
Oh, that is just so wrong! 12 weeks old?!?! Come on, now. For one thing, plenty of people just have big babies. A good friend of mine has very big babies, wearing 12-month clothes by 6 months old.
And you know what? They became totally “normal” toddlers, very healthy, etc etc etc. Just big babies.
Why, oh why, must doctors say crap like that? I’ll never forget the time I saw one of the other OBs in my office, and not only did he comment on how much weight I had gained (it wasn’t outrageous, and I was carrying TWINS!), but then he made a comment on my stretch marks!! NOT HELPFUL!
We got that nonsense from our youngest’s pediatrician a few months back. The baby was having a very difficult time trying to switch to baby cereals- he was born tongue tied and couldn’t form a proper food bolus to swallow. He drank formula to “make up the difference” and got really pudgy. The pediatrician referred to him as the “Michelin Man”- glad I wasn’t at the appointment and hubby has a better sense of keeping calm. While I had to agree he was putting on a large amount of weight, I knew where it was coming from. He weighed about 18 lbs at 6 months– but now that he’s gotten the gist of eating and his tongue has figured out how to work best- he weighs the same 18 lbs almost 5 months later and has grown several inches in length. Sadly, we can’t switch pediatricians because he’s a foster child and we have to go to this goomba until baby’s final adoption (could be another year or so).
Gah, that really ticks me off. Even if you believe that doctors should be concerned about overweight kids, they’re not supposed to even be looking at such things until the kids are two years old! There isn’t even a clinical definition of “overweight” until they’re two. Less than that and the focus is on preventing babies from being UNDERweight.
My daughter was 8lbs5oz at birth and my son was 10lbs1oz. Both grew heartily in both height and weight.. and at each well visit when they’d tell us what the new measurements of the kids were we’d just grin with pride and say “Yep, nice big healthy baby.”
How on earth would you put a breastfed baby on a diet anyway? Not nurse it until it’s full? Switch to formula–there’s a healthy choice! Foof.
My eldest was 10lb 9 oz and long too. He hit the thirty pound weight limit for his rear-facing car seat at nine months, and we went frantically searching for a rear-facing car seat that would hold larger babies. We found one, but it wasn’t easy. He stayed in the 90+ percentiles all through his toddler years, and is still a big boy; but not at all fat, not that there would be anything wrong if he was.
Ridiculous.
It is physically impossible to overfeed a solely breastfed baby. And for god’s sake, if they have to have charts then someone’s kid has to be on the top end of the scale. I hope she does change doctors and I hope she writes to the idiot doctor and tells them exactly why she is changing.
Holy crap. I’ve heard of other things like this happening - doctors deciding an infant is “too fat” and it just burns me up. Especially when they use the percentile chart to determine “too fat,” because the percentile chart is even more useless than BMI - and we all know how “accurate” BMI is…. snort!
That kind of thing really does scare me, because that sort of commentary from a doctor could easily be a recipe for disaster, especially if a parent is still new to the game and inclined to take their doctor’s word as gospel.
So horrifying!
I am burning. Can someone explain to me how a fully breastfeed three month old baby can be classed as overweight? How is that even possible?
You’re right. This is disgusting.
The obesity “epidemic” is making people just plain crazy, is all I can say.
Ooooh, this makes me mad! My daughter was fully breastfed on-demand and was beautifully plump as an infant. I had STRANGERS ask me if I was telling the truth that she was just breastfed - obviously breastfed babies are supposed to look like they’re bordering on starvation? I had one person flat out refuse to believe I wasnt supplementing with cereal. What a crock.
She’s six years old now. She’s a living example of intuitive eating and I could learn a great deal from her. I don’t regret for one minute my choices when she was an infant.
Grrrr.
I exclusively breastfed for the first 7 months (then supplemented) and my son had some failure to gain weight issues before he found his curve. Ironically, after switching to formula, he JUMPED the charts (which made me feel like a bad mom, starving her son, when that wasn’t the case at all).
I hate that we are obsessed with size. And I hate that she heard that from a doctor.
Whenever someone comments on how “big” my son is for his age, I just say, “Thank you.”
When my child was still a baby, I was told she was too fat as well. I reminded the doctor that she was strictly breastfed, and he said, “Oh, nevermind - good job then!” Fat on breastmilk only will go away, fat from formula will not. Keep in mind that most people do not breastfeed, so the doctors are used to dealing with those types of parents.
Wow. Unbelievable. I have a friend who recently gave birth. Apparently her doctor told her that she had gained too much weight over the course of her pregnancy. Don’t you know I saw her at the gym a few days before she had the baby?! Crazy right?! It’s because her doctor told her she could work out up until the baby came. I’m willing to bet that if her doctor hadn’t said anything and just let her be, she wouldn’t have been at the gym that day. These doctors should be ashamed of themselves!
I have seen some pretty chubby babies, but they were about six months old. I guess it’s possible for a 3 month old.
I love fat babies. It means they’re healthy. To a point. I guess. I mean.. if a 3 month old weighed 30lbs, there’s probably a physiological problem of some sort, but I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on tv. The fat gets them geared up for crawling and running, which is when they start to slim down anyway.
My son had his 3 month check up a few weeks ago: 15lbs, 12 oz, and 26 inches long. (And an 18 inch head circumference — yes! He was delivered naturally.) Anyway, babies are supposed to double their birth weights by 4 months, and triple their birth weights (more or less, of course) at one year. The only thing a pediatrician needs to watch for is that a baby is more or less following their own growth curve — whether it’s in the 3rd percentile or 93rd percentile. At any rate, mine’s right off the charts. And that’s ok. He’s gonna be a big’un
I work in early intervention services (kids under 3 with disabilities). The only reason I would listen to this pediatrician is if they had a concern about a medical issue (strange blood work, etc). If not, it’s time to find another pediatrician because that’s just insane.
The interesting thing is that I am overweight. My daughter (now 3) is the most petite thing you’ve ever seen and our pediatrician wanted to have her tested and mentioned “failure to thrive”. Well, as a first child my Mom kept a pretty detailed baby book and would you look at that, she is on exactly the same growth chart I was at her age. You know, before I met all the really yummy stuff.
Anyway I just try to pass the word that is the size is the ONLY concern then ignore them. Oh by the way, we got a new pediatrician as well.
But what about the new mothers out there who are unsure of themselves and put total faith in what their doctors say?
This is the line from your post that really got to me. I work at a telephone answering service and we do have a lot of pediatricians as clients. The fear in the voices of new moms even when they ask the most basic of questions concerns me a lot, and it makes me sad that so many new moms won’t trust their own instincts.
The funny thing is, after 15 years of doing this, I can always tell by the sound of mom’s voice if there is something truly “wrong” with her baby — even if mom says she isn’t sure herself!
I think that’s chubby..
My 2 kids were both underweight when born..
Now one of them (9 yrs old) is above average while the younger one (4yrs old) is rather skinny..
I haven’t got a clue why the difference.
I breastfeed my 6 week old and think it’s the greatest but I can honestly say I have no clue what this person is getting at…
When my child was still a baby, I was told she was too fat as well. I reminded the doctor that she was strictly breastfed, and he said, “Oh, nevermind - good job then!” Fat on breastmilk only will go away, fat from formula will not. Keep in mind that most people do not breastfeed, so the doctors are used to dealing with those types of parents.
So BUDDLEIAGIRL…. are you saying that formula fed babies should be put on diets??? And “those type of parents”…. parents who don’t breastfeed?? I don’t get it. It’s people like you who give other breastfeeding parents a bad rep. Maybe you should pump some in your coffee… might boost your brain cells…. Ugh.
i think its best if you leave it on doctor and let doctor decide it for you
I don’t think yours is overweight. My 12 week old baby is 16 lbs 25″ tall and he doesn’t look chubby at all. A baby needs certain weight in proportion to his height. Another friend of mine whose baby was at the same scale as mine is now 1 year old, the baby significantly slimed down once he started crawling and walking. It’s just baby fat reserved for later. So, no worry, it’ll be okay.