[ADVICE] MCHN says to feed my 12 month old less ... ?

At DS2's 12 month health check today, we learned that he is literally (and significantly) off the chart for weight (13.02kg) and high for head circumference (95pc) and length (75pc). Not enormously surprising, given that DS2 takes after DH who is a 6"2 slab of handsome beefcake Icould just eat up (DS1 on the other hand takes after me, and is average height, average weight, and a delightful brunet chatterbox!!)

He's not walking yet but is cruising and standing for very short periods, and is otherwise doing fine with development (some words, problem solving, responding, etc).

The MCHN seemed cautious about his weight. She basically said we needed to be aware of how heavy he is, and we should be careful.

She said while they don't monitor BMI for people under 2 years old, maybe we should feed him more fruit, less milk and less food in general.

We pointed out that we feed him bang on the recommended dairy milk intake daily, and she said that there's calcium in other things, so we could drop it off a bit. :confused:

We came away a bit baffled. He eats two serves of fruit a day, and if we were to offer more fruit, what would it be instead of? Less veggies? Meat? Grains? We don't give him biscuits or cake or lollies or chips... he basically has weetbix with fruit for brekky, a sandwich for lunch, meat and veggies for dinner with fruit and sometimes natural yoghurt for dessert, and 4 bottles over the course of the day,plus water. Snacks are a range of rusks, fruit and veggie sticks.

Now, don't get me wrong - DS2 gets fed quite a lot - but he's a BLS bub and so a significant amount ends up on the floor, on the chair, in his hair, down his shirt (down my shirt, in y ears, in my hair ... you get the picture ...) and he would eat no more than DS1 did at that age, and he was generally between 30-70pc depending on growth spurts.

And DS1 mellowed out on the eating front around 18 months, and now eats a sensible amount for his age. During that teething and growthspurt-y time, he was ravenous though.

So yeah ... not sure what to do with that advice ... We might pull back from offering seconds of food at meals, and see what happens. He might be eating seconds because he likes food, rather than actually being hungry. But other than that ... not sure ...

Anyone here in the school of "been there, done that"?

What are the bottles?? EBM? Formula?? cows milk??

Well calcium doesn't make you fat so I'm going to assume she doesn't really know what she's on about, and assumes you're feeding him crap. As soon as I read he isn't walking yet, well bingo. Once he's running around he'll likely lose some of that lovely baby fat. I hate charts and all of that, there has to be healthy kids on all levels of the chart for it to even exist, and even off the charts there are healthy kids. Humans aren't one size fits all. I wouldn't be worried at all. Also, the suggestion of less everything more fruit is a bit silly, seeing that consuming too much fruit can be just as bad. Eh, I think DS2 is fine personally, I'd take what the MCHN said with a grain of (delicious) salt.

I have been told to "keep an eye on it" about DD's weight several times - now she is over 2 based on BMI but also prior to that - she is just heavy. My opinion is they are overely concerned about weight at too young an age, and not concerned enough about what they are eating. As you know they tend to stop eating so much at 18 months so I think before that is good idea to let them eat as much as they want.

I do wonder sometimes if they can eat because they just like food because I am like that and will eat and eat and eat and level of hunger is irrelevant - but I am lucky in that I don't tend to put on weight - but that doesn't mean am healthy.

Whenever I was given the "keep an eye on it advice" I just tended to have a recheck on what we were doing, decide it was ok and keep doing it.

(DD has a 99 pc head, and heads actually weigh a lot, personally I would do what you are currently doing)

13kg at 12 months isn't that big. All of mine were about 11 or 12 kgs at that age. I would just ignore it & carry on as normal. I mean the fact your DH is the size is says enough for me.

He sounds like he's just a solid boy....? I suspect he'll slim down once he's running around like a crazy thing.

I would say if you know he's eating healthy then don't bother changing anything.

My ds is 90% for height and has been mostly that all along. He was quite chubby on just bm. But as he moved more the weight gain decreased dramatically. I think he was still putting on 300-500g month at 12m. But then at his 18m, after walking/running, he only put on 500g over 6 months making him 50% for weight.

I think after he was 15-16m he was on 2 bf and 2 bottles cows milk a day. Now he's on 2-3 bottles cows milk a day.

In the end you know your child better than they do.

If he's higher than average in head circ. and height too, I would say his weight fits his growth of the rest of him. Honestly, I would take what she says with a grain of salt. If he was that weight, but average height and head circ, then I might possibly be a tiny bit concerned, but otherwise, I think it sounds like you have a healthy and happy little man (or not so little!) on your hands.
There has to be someone on the bigger and smaller ends of these scales. Sounds like yours in on the bigger end of normal.

Feeb - cow's milk, with a bit of formula and EBM here and there, as we use the last of it.

Thanks, girls :)

It's good to have some reassurance !

DD at 8mo was nearly at the tip of the chart for weight, height & head circumference. At 12mo, the weight fell in the percentile because of her walking around etc. if it wasn't because of that I reckon she would be the same weight as your ds2. And she's fully BF & BLS. So i personally don't think it's an issue.

Smile, nod & walk away.

If you look at his height/weight, he's not above normal. If he was 50%ile for height & 95%ile for weight maybe you'd wonder about his diet, but if he's eating all the right things its not going to solve HER weight issues.

Shrug it off & hope you don't see that one again. As soon as he gets mobile he'll lose baby chub anyway :)

I would feed him more. Chubby babies are delightful!! LOL.

Seriously though. It sounds like he is in proportion. He is on the higher end of the scale for everything. Some babies have to be to make an 'average'. Sounds perfectly normal and gorgeous to me. As you said, it's all healthy food, so I would just keep doing what you're doing.

I find the idea of putting a 12 month old on a diet somewhat disturbing.

If his diet is healthy, not full of crap (and it sounds great!), then I would keep doing what your doing. I agree with PP's that when he starts walking he will change shape a little. You're his mum and you know him best - do you think his weight is a problem?

Based on your MCHN's theory, I should reduce BFs to my 6mo as he's light years off the charts for his weight (and length)!!! My little fella is closer to the size of a 12-14 month old. He's just an all round big boy who gets one small meal a day and is otherwise fully BFd. OK, so we're not talking about a BFd bub, but my point stands that some bubs are - quite normally - larger than others. As has been mentioned, if your DS is having healthy meals and isn't eating non-stop from sun-up to sun-down I wouldn't be at all concerned by what the MCHN said.

I wouldn't worry especially as he isn't walking yet. I found the kids really drop weight when they start running around as they are burning more energy and tend to eat less. I would just go with what you are doing and check him again at 2 to see if there is any change.

He isn't walking yet so most likely will settle down when he does. Just keep feeding him a healthy balanced diet. I would suggest stopping the formula and just offering EBM and cows milk. But only 1 or 2 cups of cows milk a day plus some cheese or yougurt to make up calcium needs.

See how he is going at 18 months, most likely weight will sit better on chart.

The formula is finished now, there's a tiny bit of EBM left in the freezer, and it's otherwise just cow's milk now :)

I think you're all right about the walking factor.

Thanks :)

Hang on just a sec peanutter...

... 12 months old? Already? What the WHAT??

I'm sorry, wasn't he just born?

Time = Flying

(Hope you are well xx)