I completely agree, I was always being told my daughters looked hungry and isn't it a shame that they don't have chubby arms and legs, That was just my Gran. They were breastfed and lean but strong and healthy and their weight gain was slow and steady but they looked very different to my formula fed nieces with chubbier faces and arms and legs. They all look the same now they are older but my nieces don't like drinking milk if its not formula and are reluctant to try eating the same things my daughters will try.
The price of baby food horrifies me, I breastfeed as long as I could to avoid paying £7 for formula and a bag of carrots and parsnips costs less than a jar of baby food and can feed the entire family of 5. More importantly, from my experience it fills them for longer and they are more likely to be happy to have savoury snacks. When they have had baby food for convience when travelling or out for the day they want anything sweet and seem to suffer from low blood sugar and be very ratty coming up to mealtimes.
I breastfed all my children too, and according to the growth chart, they are underweight. That doesn't bother me, as they will 'fill out' as they get into their late teens, so no point in making them fat before then. My children can run about for ages, and have loads of energy, and my toddler hates jars of baby food, would rather have proper food.
My friends eight month old breast fed son weighs 3 pounds more than my three year son (who was bottle fed). Obviously a balanced diet is important but I think it is ridiculous to be too concerned about these weight charts.
You don't need to put them on a diet.You just need to feed them a healthy balanced diet to start with.
There will be some variation from baby to baby,so babies,children and adults are fatter,some skinnier,I've noticed that with my own children,yet they all eat the same.It's not always the bottlefed ones that are the fattest either.My eldest daughter was breastfed till 8 months,but at her check up I was told she was obese.My number 5 was bottlefed and has always been small and thinner.My youngest was bottle fed from the start,he's tall,he always was,but there's not much meat on him at all.
If you're sensible about what you're feeding your child,and how much you're feeding them, there's no need to put them on any special diet.
At last people are starting to realise that a fat baby is not a healthy baby. I have seen people give their small babys' chocolate, milk shakes in a bottle - generally just rubbish food that a baby should not be getting. Probably even worse in America though, they have probably been getting fast food diets. Peeling vegetables and washing fruit is not hard, nor do they work out expensive if you make a dinner for the family, takeaways are more expensive.
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I completely agree, I was always being told my daughters looked hungry and isn't it a shame that they don't have chubby arms and legs, That was just my Gran. They were breastfed and lean but strong and healthy and their weight gain was slow and steady but they looked very different to my formula fed nieces with chubbier faces and arms and legs. They all look the same now they are older but my nieces don't like drinking milk if its not formula and are reluctant to try eating the same things my daughters will try.
The price of baby food horrifies me, I breastfeed as long as I could to avoid paying £7 for formula and a bag of carrots and parsnips costs less than a jar of baby food and can feed the entire family of 5. More importantly, from my experience it fills them for longer and they are more likely to be happy to have savoury snacks. When they have had baby food for convience when travelling or out for the day they want anything sweet and seem to suffer from low blood sugar and be very ratty coming up to mealtimes.
There will be some variation from baby to baby,so babies,children and adults are fatter,some skinnier,I've noticed that with my own children,yet they all eat the same.It's not always the bottlefed ones that are the fattest either.My eldest daughter was breastfed till 8 months,but at her check up I was told she was obese.My number 5 was bottlefed and has always been small and thinner.My youngest was bottle fed from the start,he's tall,he always was,but there's not much meat on him at all.
If you're sensible about what you're feeding your child,and how much you're feeding them, there's no need to put them on any special diet.