Is he too heavy now?

krissyh21 · February 2010

I don't normally post here, but figure you would be able to relate better then the regular boards. So TIA for listening.

DS was born 5 weeks early and weighed 4lbs 9oz at birth. I was instilled on how important it was to feed him every three hours to bulk him up. I did that and he did great. At his 1 month check up, the doctor took him off high calorie formula and switched him to regular. He also told me to stay with the 3 hour feeds in the day time, but at night I could let him go as long as he wanted. I did that.

Then at his 2 month appointment he weighed 9lbs 10oz and the doctor again was happy with the gain. He said nothing as far as switching so I stayed with the 3 hours feed in the day.DS is also drinking 5-6oz at a time.

Now, at 12 weeks, DS is weighing, according to my home scale 12lbs. Everyone around me is calling him chunky, and "oh he is getting huge". To me he looks good. But with everyone commenting on his chunkiness I am concerned with how much he eats in a day.

Should I be sticking with the 3 hour feeds in the day time. Or try going until he is hungry? I do not want to over feed him?

beachykeen1723 · February 2010

We feed on demand, which ends up being every 3 hours. I would try it for a day, and he might surprise you. I also wouldn't worry about him being chunky- we get that about Cooper sometimes, but it is mostly from people who saw him when he was teeny tiny.

CHeck and see where your LO is on the growth chart for actual and adjusted ages, it might give you some reassurance.

https://pediatrics.about.com/cs/usefultools/l/bl_percentiles.htm

TriciaJoy · February 2010

ditto the PP. I wouldn't worry overmuch about it. You can always plot his weight and height out and see where he falls.

If you think he looks a little chunky, check the weight-for-height chart. Robbie got really fat for a couple of months there.. he was only at 25% on the weight chart, but wasn't even on the height chart at all.. he was at about 95% for weight-to-height.. which really was too much. (now he's about 75% and looks good.)

Weight chart:
https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/data/set1/chart01.pdf

Length chart:
https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/data/set1/chart05.pdf

Weight-to-Length chart:
https://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/data/set1/chart11.pdf

eacabraham@gmail.com · February 2010

Twelve pounds is awesome! Good work!

I wouldn't put too much store by those comments - they're pretty common things for people to say, and babies do tend to hit a stage where people who don't see them every day just can't believe how big they're getting.

lemen99 · February 2010

BlueShoes32:
Twelve pounds is awesome! Good work!
I wouldn't put too much store by those comments - they're pretty common things for people to say, and babies do tend to hit a stage where people who don't see them every day just can't believe how big they're getting.

This!

And I do think I would do on-demand, it worked well for us.

mrsbnlmel · February 2010

Our boys sound really similar in size. Our LO was born at 4lb 10oz. He will be 4 months on Monday and is just now 12lbs. That only puts him in maybe the 3rd for weight, so if you are at 12lbs at 3 months, I'd guess you are right on track.

People tell us how chunky ours is getting too. I agree with the PP. They just haven't seen him since he was a tiny baby out of the NICU. They are just commenting on the changes.

We have transitioned to feeding on demand- sort of. He basically sticks to his 3 hour schedule anyway and eats about 5oz. I'm sure you don't need to worry about over feeding at this point.

mek10976 · February 2010

Simon was born at 3lbs. 11oz. and quick to catch up on his weight. At 2 months he was in the 25% and at 4 months in the 50% and just kept going. I think he is finally leveling off. We tried to keep the NICU feeding schedule of every 3-4hrs. combined with on-demand. He mostly was hungry around 3-4hrs. but if he went a little longer, we went with it and didn't force feed him. I also worried about over feeding, especially since the pedi said there was a study done that showed preemies who were force fed ended up being overweight as adults.

I would try on-demand and see how it goes. Since you have a scale at home, it will be easy for you to track his weight gain.

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