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South Florida Babies
Is my baby overweight?
Benjamin is 19 lbs and will be 4 months on the 6th. He's probably 27 or 28 inches long now.....but he is seriously heavy. He was only 7 lbs, 7 oz and 19.5 inches at birth.
He is exclusively breastfed BUT he is dependent on the breast for ALL naps and sleep. I really can't get him to sleep any other way and I'm not in favor of letting him CIO just yet. He finds such comfort in nursing, but now I'm wondering if he's just getting too much milk. I know that BF babies are chunkier for the first 6 months, but 19lbs at 4 months?! He's going to hit the weight limit for his swing and car seat!
Benjamin's 4 month well-visit is on the 13th and I plan to ask the pediatrician. At his 2 month, he was 13 lbs, 5 oz and the ped said not to restrict his calories in any way.
Am I just being a worry-wort? I feel like his dependency on the breast is my fault. I've been trying the Pantley pull off, but he just wakes up and roots for me. If he doesn't find the breast, he gets pissed. I've tried patting, shushing, singing, rocking.....I'm so tired. He's a bad sleeper, only napping for 20 mins at a time and waking ever 3-4 hours at night.
Suggestions, advice?
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Re: Is my baby overweight?
there are no overweight babies, especially not breastfed and don't let nayone tell you the opposite. Both my boys were EBF'ed and like Benjamin depended on it for everything. I don't remember what they weighed at 4 months both I know S was 21 lbs at 6 months and N was 23.5 lbs at 6 months. Nate didn't even touch solids until he was nearly a YEAR OLD! He is a chunkier kid but as time goes he is thining out big time and losin his rolls. Sebastian is a string bean: skinny and tall and you would have never thought he was that chunky as an baby.
Continue doing what you are doing, it's obviously working great!
in response to your sleep question. My kids were alwyas horrible horrible sleepers and reacted the same as Benjamin when I denied them to nurse. I just recently weaned Nate and Seb nursed until his 3rd birthday. they sleep great now.
We tried cereal with both and even tried formula to get them to sleep longer, nothign worked!
I agree with V! I can not comment on the BFing aspect, but weight is not even discussed with a pedi until they are a toddler. You should still discuss it with your pedi, as it will provide you some additional comfort, but your baby is not overweight!
Photo courtesy of www.yaporiginals.com
It's Beshert
BF babies tend to be chunky the first four months or so and then can drop a few percentiles on the CDC chart later on. That can be totally normal since it is a mostly based on formula fed babies.
Also with BF babies there's as difference between actively nursing and comfort nursing. A sleepy baby can be at the breast but not really getting any milk, it's just comfort nursing. I wouldn't worry about over feeding a BF baby. It's a lot easier for them to regulate their intake than it is for a bottle fed baby.
And babies need that extra chunk once they become more active. Keep up the good work.
for the sleep...
Have you tired Pantley's tricks for extending naps? That really worked for us.
You can also wear a baby for naps if needed.
For the PPO to work for us, Andrew would have to be really deeply asleep. Then I would cover up my breast so he couldn't smell the milk as easy.
Cosleeping was very helpful for us so I didn't have to really wake up to nurse. I did a lot better when I stopped looking at the clock. LOL
Like everyone else, I doubt he's overweight. I'm sure your pedi will give you peace of mind about this at your next appointment.
Will he take a pacifier? Emma NEEDS to suck to fall asleep, but luckily the pacifier does the trick. I hate that she's so reliant on it to get herself to sleep, but it saves me from having to always nurse her to sleep.
Yes, I'm in Boca/Delray. Would love to get together! My email is vgraeberlin at hotmail dot com. I'm a part-time WAHM, so I'm able to get together whenever.
There's no such thing an an overweight baby! My little guy has always been in the 95th percentile, he was born at 9lb 6oz. He was a whopping 14lb at 2 months old and was 22lb and 27 3/4 inches at 6 months old and was wearing 9-12 month clothes at that age.
At one year he was up to 27lb and 33 inches. I just weighed him the other day and and he was 29lb and I'm guessing he's 35-36 inches now, he is growing like a weed!!!
Don't worry, the weight starts slowing down as they get bigger, as you can tell! Now Zachary may be bigger and weigh more than most kids his age, but he is proportional and I would even say he is "skinny" for a baby considering his weight.
Like others said, don't even think about it until he's a toddler, and by then I'm sure your pedi would be saying something.
My Blog: SIREN.ORG!
Hi Virginia!
My opinion is also that there are no overweight babies. Benjamin looks perfectly healthy to me and he is eating healthy so unless you are sneaking chocolate milk shakes and french fries into his diet he is just fine.
As for sleep suggestions, I have to say that as long as you are happy nursing him to sleep and co-sleeping then I really don't think the sleep issue is going to be fixed. That is totally your perogative and does not make doing it any other way a better way, just a different way. No babies that I have known which fall into those categories have been great sleepers. Sophie was BF and slept through the night and napped well but I did not co-sleep, I did not rock her to sleep, I did not nurse her to sleep, and I did not wear her while she napped. I was very strict on those issues because I knew I had to go back to work when she was 12 weeks old and, frankly, I liked me sleep and I felt that she needed her sleep, too and was not willing to mess with that. Again, my perogative and choice due to my own personal priorities. So yes, it is possible to have a BF baby nap well and STTN - but that is very rare if they are relying on the boob for constant comfort as well.
Good luck whatever you decide! Benjamin is beautiful!
My Blog: SIREN.ORG!
He's definitely not overweight! I can't help with the bf either, sorry.
As for the sleep issue, I second the pacifier thing. Abraham never liked his pacifier and at 5 months he started using it to go to sleep (it replaced the bottle). I'm reading a sleeping book right now (Good Night, Sleep Tight) because my kid is a terrible sleeper at night, so I can't help out much there either.
My Blog: SIREN.ORG!