Can a baby be 'fat'?

[Jenko]

I am asking this for a friend. Her DS is 5 months old and weighs 9kg. Now, he is a big boy, but her mum has come straight out and said to her that he is fat and that she would be going to the doctor to see if something should be done to slim him down. Her theory is 'fat baby - will turn into fat adult' :confused:

My friend is quite upset about her mums comments. I really don't think you can call a baby fat, they are all different. Besides he is a beautiful healthy boy!

My question is: Is there anyone out there that has or has had a bubs of similar size. Maybe I can put her mind at ease a bit. :)

Thanks

[drewid]

Hi there :)

My son was 9kgs at 6 months and was by no means fat. He was a happy healthy chubby bubby. Now, at 12 months, he is nowhere near as chubby...he is growing upwards not outwards and losing that baby flubber.

Its quite normal for some bubs to be chubber than others and 9kgs is not exactly off the scales!

[Caitlin's Mum]

My bub is 7 months and 10.5 kgs and he is a gorgeous chubby bubby. My Dr said is is doing nicely so tell your friend not to worry. They all thin out when they start to crawl and walk.....and run.....:D

[maddysmama]

Hi

My sisters bub was 8kg at 3 months...He is now 3 and by no means fat, and her ped was always happy with his progress. He is now a very tall, lean healthy little boy. I don't think she should be worried...bubs come in all different sizes and I think chubba bubbas are so cute:)

[mim]

I can't remember his exact weight, but my DS at 6 months was huge! We called him Michelin Man. The health nurse was actually talking about diets :rolleyes: . He started crawling at 7 1/2 months and soon started growing into it. By about 12 months he had grown into it, and at 4 he is a completely normal weight. Please tell your friend that her son is completely normal! :hugs:

mim xx

[the_queen]

I think babies are supposed to "chub up" quite a bit, before they start crawling.

[Kaileysmum]

My bub is 5mths and she is 8kg. She is not fat at all, she is solid but not chubby or anything!!! It all depend on what a baby weighed at birth. Every baby will weigh different, as at birth they are born with a different weight.
My BIL's baby is 9mths and weighs only 1kg more than by bub, but she was only 6pound when he was born and my bub was 8lbs2ozs.
Also saying a fat baby means a fat adult is quite wrong, my brother was a big baby and he is sooooo skinny, and I was a little baby and Im not a small girl. The weight of a baby doesnt determine there adult body size.


I really dont think your friend should be worried at all, maybe her mum just had small babys. Also a doctor would never let you oor give you advise on slimming down a 5mth old baby! I cant believe her mum said that!!! HOW MEAN!!!

[LittleBoysRock]

DS was 8 Kgs at 6 months. What I was told by the CHN was that babies usually double their birth weight by 6 months and triple it by 12 months.

Owen was 4.4kg's born so he almost doubled his birth weight by 6 months.

[Jenko]

Thanks for your replies ladies.

He was of average weight, 3.4kg at birth, born at 37.5 weeks. He gained an average of 400g each week in the first weeks. He is just a big beautiful boy. Her mum has made these kind of comments since he was born, and i think she is really starting to doubt herself iykwim.

I have told her not too worry, that he is perfect. This might help reinforce it! :D

Thanks again

[Tea Lady]

My Dh and BIL were both HUGE as bubs, and are now skinny as anything. If anything, I'd say it works the other way around (ie fat baby= skinny adult) from my indepth research (not!!).

[rockabye]

Tell your friend not to worry. I'm with all the other replies so far.

I have a friend whos little man has always been about 2-3 kilo's heavier than my boy but he was 9 pount 9 born and is at least 1-2 inches taller that my DS. It depends on a lot of things. Once he starts crawling and walking all the baby blubber just falls off.

He may just be due for a growth spurt.

I've always said that it is healthier to have a baby with a bit more weight cause if they get sick they've got that bit extra. My DS weight was just average and when he got sick he lost 1kg in 4 days (ritovirus) and he only weighed 10kg before he got sick, he looked so bad until he put the weight back on.

I hope this will put your friends mind at ease.

[Rahmi'sMum]

My bub weighed 3.2 kg at birth and at his 2 mth immunisations last week weighed 6kg. He's breastfed, so I figure it's pretty impossible to be doing the wrong thing diet wise!!! He just likes his food, and is a happy healthy baby.

Her mum doesn't sound very cluey.... actually, reminds me of my MIL.

[Mamaduke]

Your friend should tell her mum not to be so bl**dy ridiculous!
Coming from a mum of a low birth weight premmie (4wks prem...4lb 1oz) I would have given anything to have a chubby bubby...we were looking at every way possible to put weight on Jesse just in case he got sick and was off his food for a few days...it would be wonderful if 'having a fat baby' was my only concern then!
I was over the moon when we had Lucas (8lb 9oz) and he was constantly putting on weight...at 8mths he was almost 11kg (74cm height) and I was ecstatic that I had a beautiful healthy chubba bubba...
I would have given anything for Jesse to have weighed that much at 5 months...she should tell her mother to get a life!
I hope she knocks off this sort of talk before the child gets older and can understand...what a pathetic grandmother!
Fat baby....fat adult pfffft!

[~angel~]

I had a "chubby bubby"
I love them,they are so adorable!!
once rolling, crawling, climbing and walking come into play, they seem to slim down!!:hugs:

[MissSparkle]

I don't believe a baby can be labelled as "fat". However when i was at tresillian a baby came in who was 5months old and weighed 13.5kg and was put on a "diet" but then again he was being bottle fed whenever he wanted (which was usually every1-2hours!)
I don't think 9kg is fat! Once babies start crawling they lose their chubbiness. My DS was 8kg and 7months and hes only 9.5kg at 12months!

[nemosmum]

Hey Jennasmum,

I was told that you should still be able to see a bubs ribcage even when the baby is a chubby bubby( like mine is lol)

Plus the bub is only 5 months old so I would assume hasnt started solids yet, so I cant see how the bub could possibly be FAT:confused:

Your friend should tell her mum to go jump!!!

[onelasttime]

Hi there,

Tell your friend not to worry. My DS is just on 5mths and he weighs 9.1 kg. He was a big boy at birth, weighing 4.3kg. However, my doctor told me he is overweight and I have to be strict in bottlefeeding him. I need to monitor how much he had to drink & he will see my DS again at 6mths. (Those are the drs. orders & he recommend me to continue seeing my CHN to weigh him).

But I'm not to worried about it. Our family are all slim but we love to eat, so I guess he really loves his milk. And once he starts moving around I think he will lose some weight.

[alicesmum]

my gp said babies cannot be called "fat" or overweight until they are at least 12 months. even then, it is unlikely, unless you are feeding them junk.

i had this same concern, as my DD grew really fast after birth and was always in the 99th percentile for weight. i just figured that it meant she was really healthy and a good eater and i should be thankful.

she is now 18 mo old and still chubby and relatives told me recently she was "overweight" (their girls are skinny), and i asked my GP the other day and he said no way. asked what i was feeding her (all good nourishing food and milk) and he said it was all fine. why people say such things I cannot understand!

:p

[our little treasures]

MY ds is 7mnths tomorrow and weighs over 10kgs now! I would love her to say that to me... My ds is absolutely gorgeous he was just under 10pnd when born, he is very long 72cm so we figure he is going to be a tall boy!!:hugs: all the better to hug..

[justoneplease]

My DS was also heavy (believe me I had to carry him!) He was 9kg by 6 months.. and in the top 3% of baby weight.

Since then he has worked out how to move and at 8 months has not yet reached 10kg, and I have not changed anything.

Please tell your friend that I also had lots of "helpful" people tell me he was "too big" and I was "over-feeding" (though he was only eating less than suggested!).

In the end I have had much joy in telling these people to butt out! Swings and round-abouts what he gains now he doesn't need to later!

Cheers!

[mum24]

Oh, pleeeaaasseee... a baby @ 9 mths & weighs 9kg is no way fat!!!

My little bubba is 2 months on Sat and already weights about 7kg. Goodness, at the rate he's going he's going to by gianormous by 9mths!!! He just loves his booby milk that's for sure:) :) :)

[JodieC]

My DS #1 was a huge bubba and now he looks like a walking stick figure

[rynosmum]

My DS was 9 kgs at 5 months as well, 12 kgs by 12 months and a happy 15-16kgs now at 21 months.

I've lost count of the number of people who looked at him in his first year in shock at his size, or referred to him as the 'big' baby as he was (and still is) also quite tall. But he's not fat and never has been.

I'm surprised your friend's mother would refer to her grandchild in that way - if someone referred to my son as fat or big, my mother would actually correct them by saying, "yes, it's wonderful to see such a big healthy boy isn't it ?" Thanks Mum:hugs:

Just tell you friend that you can't please all of the people, all of the time. But as long as she and her baby are happy, that's all that matters.:D

[jessgray]

my son weighed 8 kg at 6 and half months and he isnt what i would call overweight. he has always been a big bub he was 8 pound 15 when he was born.
once my son becam really active in crawling and now walking his weight gain slowed.

[SassyMummy]

Chanel is 8.5 months old and is about 11kg. She's not fat either - she's chubby. In a cute baby way...not in some obese massive Godzilla child way...

I think a lot of whether your baby is "fat" or not is how big they were when they were born. A bub that was born at 2kg and is 12kg by their 1st birthday has obviously put on a fair bit of weight.

A bub like mine, born at close to 5kg and who is now 11kg at close to 9 months...that's only 6kg...the same as virtually every other baby puts on...