Moms of big babies, please share your advice!

[Laurucha]

I've got a giant baby. He started off big, and keeps getting bigger! He has been above the 99th percentile since birth. (Side note: It's a pet peeve of mine when people say their babies are in the 100th or 125th percentile. There is no such thing!) My husband and I are both tall and were large babies, so I was expecting to have a large baby, but it is presenting some challenges.

Right now he is five months old and I am still able to more or less cope with his size. But it seems like he is on the verge of outgrowing all his baby stuff. He barely fits in his baby tub, and I am not comfortable putting him in the big tub when he can't sit well on his own. Clothes are about to become a big problem. He is wearing size 18-24 months now, and things barely fit, especially since he wears cloth diapers. The next sizes are toddler clothes, but I don't want to be putting him in shirts that ride up all the time (as opposed to onesies). And the pants are all cut for long, slim toddlers and he still has super chubby baby thighs!

It's also getting really hard to carry him. I put him in the Ergo whenever possible, but still, I am starting to feel some back and shoulder pain. He often needs to be carried to be put to sleep, which I believe is normal for a baby his age. I cannot manage to carry him without the Ergo for more than a few minutes. It's also frustrating that other people (like grandparents) have trouble carrying him.

If anyone has any specific recommendations about products that worked for them, or general advice about coping strategies, I'd really appreciate it!

[sageowl]

DS was an off the chart baby.  He's still very tall now, but once he got moving, he leaned out completely...

I had to deal with all the same stuff you mentioned--clothes outgrown in a blink of an eye (fortunately I inherited a lot of stuff from friends), too big for the baby bathtub, outgrowing cloth diaper/covers, onesies that can't be snapped, too big to carry, growing out of carseats...you name it.

Fortunately he did finally slow down a bit after 12 months, and I got a bit of a break for a little while.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

Saw this on the front page and figured I would weigh in.  Ds is now 5 but he was a big baby.  Big enough that our friend, who was in nursing school at the time, told people he thought he had a glandular issue.  Anyway, he was huge.  He's still a big kid, although now just tall no longer baby chubby.  People usually think he is 8 years old!  

Bath-ds outgrew the baby bath by 3 months.  I would take a bath with him.  He and I both got in the tub and I gave him a bath that way.  We did that until he was almost a year.  Often I would then call dp and take a quick shower because I find baths to be a lot of sitting around in your own dirt.

Carseat- we bought the highest weight limit rear facing seat available at the time. We had been given a baby bucket seat, but he outgrew it by 3/4 months.  We bought the convertible seat and kept him rear facing until he outgrew it by weight.

ergo-I carried him all the time in the ergo.  I learned to pull the straps tighter than I thought I should and that help distribute the weight a lot.  I also started carrying him on my back "early."  In the US people usually wait to carry kids on their backs, but not so in other parts of the world.  I started only carrying him on my back if I was going somewhere with someone else who could help get him in/out and keep a closer eye on him, until we got used to it.  Really though tightening the straps (the ones you can grab from behind your shoulders, that make the shoulder straps tighter, and the one that goes between the straps) really changed it for me.  Having him ride up high instead of sort of sagging down.

Clothes- thrift stores!  You can find onesies all the way up to 3t.  I think Children's place makes 3t onesies.  We also found onesie extenders, they are like tiny pieces of fabric that go between the sets of snaps.  Anyway, they helped keep us in sizes for a little while longer.  We did mostly stretchy pants, leggings (you can kinda roll/scrunch them up), shorts with tights/leg warmers.  Before he was walking I just let his pants be crazy long.  Once he was crawling/walking I had to work a bit harder to find better fit pants, but once he was crawling/walking he stopped growing so fast.

Moving/crawling/walking- once ds started moving more he slowed down in growth.

Caution- people will think your baby is older than he is (ds also walked a bit early).  People will hold your kid to expectations that they hold older kids to when it is inappropriate.  This is still an issue for ds.  People think he is 8 (he's 5) and expect him to act more like an 8 year old.  It was particularly bad when he was 12 months and walking around at the playground and folks thought he was 3!!!!  And then would get mad that he wasn't waiting his turn or letting "the baby" go first (when the "baby" was 18 months old!) 

[pbjmama]

Your baby may always be big but from months 6-12 months his growth will probably slow down significantly. Onesie extenders might help with the clothing. If you have trouble carrying him you can find more ways to get on his level if he needs you - maybe rocking or sitting on the couch. Use the stroller. Carrying your baby is great but the stroller is a good choice in this situation. You can still hold him lots at home or take him out to hold him when you are on the go. Have you tried back or hip carry with the ergo?

[LeighPF]

Monkey was the same way. 15 lb at two months. 20lb by five months. Into a convertable car seat and a back carry from four months

But then he got moving. Once he really got crawling a few months before his birthday he stopped gaining weight pretty much and focused on length (25 lb at 15 months). My one and a half he was a little chunky and by two and a half it was gone. Not everyone slims out, but the huge weight gain at the beginning is pretty normal for some kids (I have known several others)

In the mean time.

-Learn to back carry, makes a huge difference.

-Bath with him. Mine loved it and it was a fun time together, particularly if one of us was in a bad mood.

-Clothes. Onesie extenders or 24 month Carter's onesies are long and were always the best on my chunker (and my skinny mini).

-Pants. We did prefolds the first year + and I know that fun. Buy what fits in the rear and then hem them. They will end up lasting a while as the diaper is not getting any bigger. We had the best luck with knit pants and sweats. The older style Hanna Anderson Wiggle pants with the but patch fit wonderfully over a big cloth diaper and I have had great luck finding them used once I started looking. Made By Rae's Big Butt Pants pattern is also supposed to be amazing and very simple if you can sew a strait-ish line.

[phathui5]

Are you carrying him to sleep for naps or at nighttime?

With my youngest, what I do at bedtime is swaddle him and then nurse him and I think that the swaddle helps him stay asleep longer, though right now he's sleeping next to me with his legs wrapped and his arms out.

[spughy]

Great advice about doing a back carry "early".  It's not, really, compared to when most other parts of the world shift babies to the back.  I cringe when I see moms here with babies a year or more still in the front - SO not good for mama's back!

On the bath thing - if you have a utility sink in your house, use that.  Give it a good clean and it's fine, and usually at just the right height to be comfortable.  That should work until he can sit up in the bath reliably.

[butterfly_mommy]

My son was 97th percentile in weight and 85th in length at birth and stayed there or above since. He outgrew the stretchy wrap at 10 wks weighing in at 16 lbs. He was 25 lbs at 6 months and 30 lbs at a year. He outgrew his bucket seat at 3 months so I got the highest weight at the time convertible a Radian he then out grew that in weight just over a year so I had to get him the newer higher weight seat that had just come out which he out grew by 2 years and I got him another new higher weight limit Radian! I used to wear him in my woven wrap and started back carries pretty early. I wore him till he was 2 or so on my back in a woven he was about 40lbs. I can still wear him in a woven wrap now at 50+ lbs. He was in 18 mon sized clothes at 6 mons Old Navy and Children's Place used to make snappy shirts all the way to 5T and I really liked the American Apparel Karate pant. DS didn't wear real pants till he was about 3 and slimmed out. Oh also he wore a lot of wool longies and shorties as a baby and toddler. He wore wool shorties as pants at 6 mons and shorts at 2 years :) He has shorts that he wore this past summer at 4.5 that I remember buying for him when he was 18mons old :) Cloth diapers were crazy too as he was into large size and the biggest of the one size diapers at like 9 mons old! I had to go to toddler sized prefolds and custom fitteds with wool covers. For bathing I or DH would take him in the shower with us. He did slow down and now he is still a big guy but not so far off. Like I noticed that most of his clothes are a size 5 or 6 now (he turns 5 in 2 weeks) He has only gained maybe 3-5 lbs over this past year. He is not that chubby now but he is solid and strong.

My DD is not like DS at 6 mons she was only 16lbs 5oz. My DH was all freaked out asking "Are you sure that's ok?" She is 55 percentile in weight and 85th in length. 

                      

DS at about 5 mons or so and around 23 lbs         DS at about 4.5 years old and 50lbs

[loveandgarbage]

My big baby is now a big 6.5 yr old. He started out at 11lbs 14oz and 24 inches. He's now "only" 97th for height and 93rd for weight :). I was able to find 2T onesies by Carter's (which he was in by 6 months) and also had good luck buying toddler pajamas for him when he was a baby. Pajama shirts are tighter and don't ride up as much. I also found that Carter's pants were a little more forgiving in the thigh area and the waistband HAD to be elastic. We also had a bunch of Hanes sweatpants that I think I got at Target. He wasn't much for being worn by the time he was 9 months, which definitely gave my back a break! But doing rear carry is a great suggestion. I remember him outgrowing his baby bather too, but I think I still used it with him and just did short baths so that he wasn't too uncomfortable! When it gets to be the time for shoes, Robeez fit his cute chubby feet. And then Stride Rite makes a double wide version of some of their softer soled toddler shoes, which were a lifesaver! As for carseats, we were able to rear-face in a Britax Marathon until 1.5 yrs (when he outgrew the weight limit-- he actually was on the verge of outgrowing it at 12 months but then he didn't gain weight for awhile) and then had to forward face. When he outgrew that due to height we bought a SafeSeat, which is a 5-pt harness that has a 60lb weight limit.

[iixivboots]

Buttefly_mommy, what a gorgeous kid in gorgeous knits! :)

I don't know but I think my son is pushing 20 at 5.5 months, so I'm following this thread, He was down to the 75th percentile for weight at 4 months but now I think he's back up.

[Laurucha]

Thanks for all the tips everyone! I read your responses when you posted them, but it has taken me days to find the time to compose a response. I’d better keep this short before baby wakes up again.

I guess he is a bit clingier than some babies. He has some tummy time every day, but generally he cries if he is not being held. I can’t get much use out of the stroller. I guess once he’s crawling he won’t mind being put down so much.

I tried moving him to the back in the Ergo, since everyone seemed to agree on that, and he immediately started fussing. When he is in the Ergo on the front, he looks up at me frequently, so I am thinking he needs the comfort of seeing my face. He’s just not developmentally ready for it, I think, but I’ll try again in the future.

I haven’t found any onesies in larger sizes but I’ll keep looking now that I know they exist. I kind of hate pants, since they are a pain for diaper changes and they look so funny with cloth diapers. The only local places I know of to buy affordable clothes are Target and Old Navy. The good thrift store is a long drive.

I got a baby carseat with a 3-pound weight limit, so he hasn’t quite outgrown it yet. I guess it’s about time to research our next carseat. I find all the options confusing.

[skycheattraffic]

For help choosing a carseat, post in the family safety forum. There are a number of car seat techs as well as knowledgeable mamas with kids of all shapes and sizes. They can steer you in the direction of carseats that would be the best fit for your kiddo.

[bankamundi]

my 9-m-o was 10 lbs at birth, and he is now in 18-24 mos clothes....he's been in them for a couple months, as his growth is slowing down. Which is good, because he's 31.5 inches tall!!

we also use cloth, but I use really trim cloth, which helps, and I choose only the baggiest, stretchiest styles. he doesn't wear jeans or skinny pants ;).  I think in this situation, all you can do is buy the clothes that fit him best, and make do. I have to roll up pants and sleeves to accommodate my baby's torso/diaper girth. He never fit into newborn hats and we've been bummed out several times by hat gifts. He had a 14-14.5" head at birth, and now he's around 19".  I think that's about a 2t head.  

I think it's a good lesson from the get-go that everyone follows their own curve, and there's nothing wrong with being a little off the charts.  I love Zutano brand, and I shop on Zulily all the time, ISO stretchy comfy clothes.  I like getting overalls and rolling up the legs.  In a few months it'll be warm and we can do overall shorts, which won't need rolling up. They'll just look like capris ;)