Am I overfeeding my baby?

LegacyUser

Hey,

Im worried I might be over feeding my little boy. He has gone very chubby, he has a huge belly and I know all babies go through a chubby stage but I just want to make sure that im not making it worse than it should be.

In the morning, he would have readybrek or 1 weetabix with a 5 ounce bottle. At lunch, he would have scrambled egg and another 5 ounce bottle, then at dinner, he would have a good porion of stew with potatoes and veg and another 5 ounce bottle and then before he goes to bed, he would get an 8 ounce bottle.

Im trying to replace the third bottle with just juice to try get him down to 3 bottles a day but sometimes its not enough for him and he'd be in bad form for the day. Throughout the day, he might get finger foods such as a banana, pineapple or a yogurt.

He is nearly 9 months old and he's not really showing any signs of crawling and cant sit up on his own yet and im worried it might be because of his weight? Am i right or just being stupid?

Thanks

Nevyn

I would suggest you get in touch with your local health nurse and get him weighed and talk to them about his diet, make a list of all he eats in a day and get her to review it.

Cat Melodeon

I'm not a nutritionist or health worker, so I'm not giving you any advice, but the amounts you are feeding your child look fairly age appropriate to me (as mum to a 12-month-old). They do get a bit chubby once they get enthusiastic about solids and that little period between starting solids and starting crawling can see them chub up a bit. My PHN recommends the Anabel Karmel books - they have recipes and age-appropriate weekly meal charts. Make sure your baby gets loads of time to roll about the floor too - the more practise they get the more likely they are to get moving.

gowayouttadat

Seems similar to what my little guy would have eaten at that age, although he would have taken less bottle he probably would have had a snack or so thrown in instead of the bottle. He was never a big bottle man! They do get a bit chubby before they start moving properly. My guy is 12 months and definitely has a bit of a belly in the last few weeks. I've read that it changes when they start walking and moving around more.

mohawk

My son is nearly 13 months and was getting quite chubby at that age too. He is losing all the weight he put on at that age because he is crawling and starting to walk. Once they are moving they need way more energy and dont have much time for eating. I would day my son eats less now then he did when he was nine months old.

At the end of tha day if he is hungry then you have no choice but to feed him.

Grawns

The simplest thing to do is to weigh him and then consult the weight charts for infants. If he's very high up the chart above 70 percentile for his age you should think about talking to the PHN or your doctor.

http://www.babycenter.com/baby-child-growth-percentile-calculator

alibride

my fella was 9 mths before he sat unaided, and was chubby enough, all kids are different, he sounds like he is getting the normal amount for a child that age.
all babies bellys bulge i was told its cause they have a big liver at at that age??? mmmmm dunno who told me that but anyway they said its normal for kids to have protruding bellies!!
if he's happy i wouldnt worry too much

angelfire9

Grawns wrote: »

The simplest thing to do is to weigh him and then consult the weight charts for infants. If he's very high up the chart above 70 percentile for his age you should think about talking to the PHN or your doctor.

http://www.babycenter.com/baby-child-growth-percentile-calculator

I remember the PHN was absolutely horrible to me telling me my daughter was overweight at her 12 month check up because her weight was above the 75% percentile for her age they totally disregarded the fact that she was the height of an 18 month old and now at aged 9 she is the height of an 11 year old

From 0-12 months every time we saw the PHN she commented on the babies weight but never took her height into consideration! Both hubby and I are over 6ft tall so mini-me was bound to be exceptionally tall but the PHN we had NEVER took that into consideration

I'd much rather have a slightly chubby child than a scrawny one any day
Mini-me got tonsillitis her first 2 winters and was off her food for days every time with temps >100 deg C taking nothing but water and Calpol/Nurofen so the extra pounds dropped off a bit but as she was chubby it never a worry for me

If you feel your child is healthy go with your gut!

ellee

I agree with the others, would just add that I don't think the juice is a good idea, full of sugar and why give him the taste for it just yet? I'm sure when he starts moving he'll slim right down. It certainly doesn't sound like you're overfeeding him to be honest.

Plus, my son didn't crawl until he was 13m. He only started sitting around the age your child is now. And he was never a chubby baby (though he's always had teh protruding belly). He's beginning to make moves towards walking but only in the last week or so. He was 14 months last week.