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Ben had his 10 month check today which included him getting weighed and he's on the 98th centile. I've not had him weighed since July as I was told off by the hv last time that he was putting on too much weight and now he's put on even more going from the 91st to 98th. So the health visitor went through his chart and said that he needed to lose some weight to bring it more in line with his height, he's between the 75th & 91st. I was really shocked that I was told that a baby needs to lose weight. I dont feed Ben junk, the worst he has is the Heinz biscotti biscuits and rice cakes. He has lots of vegetables, meat and fish. should I be concerned that hes heavy and follow the hv advice or go with my gut and ignore her. 

Replies

  • Is he mobile yet? S kept going up on her charts, but the nicer HV said not to worry as they often peak and then drop down when they start moving, which is exactly what happened and she's levelled out to be on the same line for height and weight. Does he drink a lot of formula milk? He'll soon start to drop milk feeds which will also bring his weigh down. Mother's instinct needs to be relied on. It's not as if he's massively over and as you say, it seems wrong to put a baby on a diet!

  • He's cruising and crawling, we're slightly space limited at the moment so he doesn't have much room! He's dropped to 3 formula feeds, sometimes 4 if he's up overnight. I'm not really willing to drop the afternoon bottle yet as he loves his milk and he'd be a nightmare by teatime without it!

  • He should be having 3 bottles at this age, the only one I would try to get rid of is the nighttime one (if he'll settle without it -there are times when S decides she wants milk at night and nothing else will do!) You could always keep a food diary for your benefit, but maybe he's just had a bit of a spurt and the weight will drop off when he's fully mobile.

  • I got told by the hv that N was putting on too much weight when he went up from the 75th to the 91st centile. Then when he went back down to the 75 th the dietician told me she was concerned he'd lost weight!

    You can't win, so I chose to ignore them.

  • They can't really say anything from one snapshot surely?  E generally goes up the percentiles then has a growth spurt and gets taller but doesn't gain so much weight so one weight in over 4 months isn't going to show much,  IMO anyway. It's more of a pattern with E than a snapshot.

    I know E is having too much formula,  she loves it,  but I'm also not going to cut it as she's lactose intolerant so her only dairy is from formula. So I would do that,  follow your instinct. 

  • Ignore her. I wouldn't change a thing.

    What an utterly ridiculous thing to say to you - he's 10 months old!! Really that's a very irresponsible thing to say to you and I'd think about making a complaint.

  • I have no children yet so have no experience to draw on but I completely agree with Marmite, that is a very irresponsible thing to say and is a hang up you can do without!  I would go with your instinct.

  • Ignore. And don't see that HV again. Terrible advice - he's pretty much in proportion so is fine.

  • Erm ignore her and do what YOU feel is bet for YOUR baby.

    And as for dropping milk feeds, again do what works for you. Louie was still having a milk feed before bed at 22months.

  • N still has a bottle of milk in the morning and before bed. I couldn't care less what anyone thinks.

  • Thanks ladies, I thought it was crazy to be told that at 10months he needs to lose weight! We shall carry on with what we're doing!

  • Urgh, horrible comment.

    Don't see her again, I didn't see my health visitor after ten weeks after she insisted I needed to wean B at 12 weeks!

  • what everyone else said, that was awful of her to say! hugs x

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