Is it my fault she's "chunky"???

[Ruby2]

Dd's 6 month well baby check up is tomorrow and for some reason I'm nervous about what the ped. will say about her weight. She is EBF but SUPER chunky. Neither dh or I was this big. I can't say for sure how much she weighs, but she has lots of sweet baby rolls on her arms and legs and fits great into 12 month clothes. To me she just looks healthy and a little big for her age, but I'm worried that I'll have to defend myself...

She eats when she wants and we cosleep, so she's latched on a lot during the night. She wakes up often in the night, and I just roll over and let her latch on and she goes back to sleep. She's probably getting milk when she's not actually hungry...is this horrible??? I always thought that EBF babies would be whatever weight they were supposed to be and that I didn't need to worry about it, but I'm second guessing myself.

Any thoughts??? Thanks for the advice.

[Knitting Mama]

Oh, mama, I am sure she's just fine! Chunky babies are wonderful! My daughter is on the other end of the spectrum, and I worry constantly too, that she'll be labeled FTT at an appointment.

[Mommy2Austin]

My middle child has always been a moose He's now at 2.5 years old starting to slim out. He's just built like a linebacker. I wouldn't sweat it

[Path2Felicity]

Oh, mama!!! You sound like you are doing everything right

My DD, at her 6 month appointment, was off the charts for her height and head circumference, and 90th percentile for her weight. Our pediatrician said it was wonderful and that my milk must have good stuff in it

I asked her when I should start worrying about her weight and she said right now was wayyyy too early (DD is not crawling yet). She said that once DD can become more active and starts eating more solids, it'll even itself out. So, don't sweat it at all. I'm not.

Be happy! Your DD sounds beautiful and healthy!

[IntuitiveJamie]

I have not had a ped say anything. But my husband is concerned about our 2nd b/c he's built like a moose as Mommy2Austin says about her child as well. My first is ultra skinny, from day 1 and he eats great..veggies proteins and the whole gamut. My 2nd is chunky monkey from day one and picky. He is slimming down at almost 3, but my husband keeps saying he's overweight and about childhood obesity rates. I just say "whatever" they obviously have diff. body types and Wyatts is squishy right now. I don't know what my husbands so worried about, apparently him and his brother were exactly the same and neither of them are obese as adults.
I'm sure you are not doing anything wrong!

[major_mama11]

I know docs sometimes will give you flak for having a chunky baby, but in my experience, the breastfed chunky babies usually thin out quite a bit as toddlers.

I have a control group of 3 (DD, DS, and Nephew)- all were breastfed, all had mega fat rolls as infants, and all thinned out big time when they started walking. Nephew especially is extremely thin now, at age 3, after gaining something crazy like a pound a week for part of his infancy.

[mom2happy]

Oh my gosh! My babies at six months literally have the bodies of sumo wrestlers and my ped. LOVES it.
I think it might be a foremilk imbalance thing that makes some bf babies fat, or just genetics, who knows?
But if it eases your mind, my kids are both 5 and 7 and perfectly thin normal weight healthy eating kids. My new one however, is 7 weeks and rapidly gaining weight and rolls upon rolls and weighs 14 lbs already.

If your ped. says anything about it- switch!

[1blueheron]

Originally Posted by Ruby2

I always thought that EBF babies would be whatever weight they were supposed to be and that I didn't need to worry about it

Yup. For BF babies, big is beautiful, period.

[maptome]

I was worried about the same thing for DD's 6 month WBV, but doc said she was perfect. =) Now, looking back at the photos of that time, she was extra chunky, but then she had a major growth spurt and started crawling and slimmed down quickly. Chunky is definitely age appropriate for 6 month old and beautiful.

[2xy]

My sons were only exclusively BF for the first four months (back then everyone pushed you to feed "real" food)....and they were very chunky babies.

They are now lanky teenagers. DS1 slimmed down when he was about 5-6 years old. DS2 slimmed down at around age 2. DS2 is now 5'6" tall and weighs about 105 lbs. DS1 is 5'8" and weighs about 135. And they both still drink whole milk.

[Mawood]

My daughter was wearing the 6-9 months clothes with 4 months already and I am using the stage 4 diapers (the picture on it is a walker) cause she is so big (almost 17 lbs). She is long too but she is very heavy which is tough on me and my back as she is still not very mobile and likes to be carried a lot. Anyways I have the same worries. And at our 3 months visit the ped said he likes babies "a little fat" at that age so I hope he will keep saying that for a while. I feed on demand and co sleep as well and I go through days where I worry if I feed her too much but actually I think she is really healthy and strong.

[AFWife]

When she gets mobile she'll thin out. My DS was in the exact position. It will slow down.
There's a study somewhere on MDC about how BF baby fat comes off easier that FAT FAT you know? No big deal.

[Bokonon]

My EBF baby gained 14 pounds in her first 6 months, and 3 pounds in her second 6 months (wasn't even crawling, and didn't eat solids!). It's very normal for breastfed babies to get chunky and then slim down. My son was 3 pounds when he was born, got super chunky by 6 months, and then started slimming down. At 5 years old, he's been in the 25th percentile for weight for about 4 years now, and he eats like a horse!

Keep doing what you're doing and enjoy those rolls - they don't last forever! (and you wouldn't want them to!)

[KempsMama]

My chunky monkey is now 2, but at 6 months he was 24 pounds. My pedi never said a word, and now at 2 he's a big kid, but not overweight by any means. He's in the 97% for height and 80% for weight.

[annettemarie]

You say chunky like it's a bad thing!

All of my babies were chunkariffic around that time, right before they started taking off with crawling and then walking. I think it's Mother Nature's way of giving them some well-needed extra padding, LOL! You watch, I bet when she goes in at 9 months she'll have plateaued.

And FWIW, my kids are all in the 10-25% now. Every kid needs to find their own growth curve.

[AFWife]

If it helps...

DS at 5 months: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pi...2&id=500910312

At almost a year: http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php...50159062785313

[lach]

Both of my babies were 20lbs by 4 months, and one was 21lbs and the other was 23lbs at one year.

All babies grow differently, but it's fairly common for EBF babies to really chunk up for the first half of their first year and then concentrate on growing in length for the second half. Interestingly, the opposite is true of FF-fed babies: they tend to really speed up their weight gain in their 2nd 6 months. Because the growth charts are based on mostly-FF babies (they were done in the 50s and the 70s), this means that it's very common for EBF babies to be way off where they're "supposed" to be on those charts. And your doctor should know that if he knows just about anything.

So I wouldn't worry.

[vrclay]

My FIL gave me grief about our first son being "fat" - at 4 months old. For a while I ignored it and then I snapped and told him 1. our ped says he's fine (he was off the charts for weight but EBF) 2. babies need fat for brain develoment and 3. the extra weight is natures way of protecting him in the event he gets sick and loses a pound or 2.

Sounds like your little one is just on the big side, but pefectly healthy.

[AFWife]

Originally Posted by vrclay

My FIL gave me grief about our first son being "fat" - at 4 months old. For a while I ignored it and then I snapped and told him 1. our ped says he's fine (he was off the charts for weight but EBF) 2. babies need fat for brain develoment and 3. the extra weight is natures way of protecting him in the event he gets sick and loses a pound or 2.

Sounds like your little one is just on the big side, but pefectly healthy.

Maybe it's a FIL thing...mine did the same thing. He picked up DS at about 6-7 months and said, "What does the doctor say about his weight?!?" in this accusatory tone.

[Xavismom]

At 6 mo WBV, my DS was in the 97th for height and weight. He is wearing 14-16 mo size clothes, his ped thinks he looks fantastic

I wouldnt worry about it a bit.