My daughter is 16 weeks old and weighs nearly 17 pounds already! When she was born she weighed just 6 pound 10 oz. My first 2 children had low birth weights and grew slowly so this is a new situation for me. My baby is breast fed she feeds every 2 hours day during the day and every 3 hours during the night. She is a happy, and healthy baby but i'm concerned about her weight gain and want to know if it is normal or if something else may be wrong like a growth disorder or am i over feeding her?
2006-09-01 02:18:04 · 26 answers · asked by brownsuga 4 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
I am not sure how long she is but she has out grown most of her 3 to 6 months old size clothes and wearing 6 to 9 month size clothes already!
2006-09-01 05:39:56 · update #1
Breast-fed babies are often bigger than bottle-fed babies when they're under a year old. At 6 months old, my son was 20 lbs. already!
On this page you can see growth charts for breast-fed babies:
http://www.kellymom.com/babyconcerns/growth/growthcharts.html
Click on the chart for girls, and you'll see that 17 lbs. is well within the normal range for a 4-month-old.
Congratulations on having a happy, healthy baby!
2006-09-01 02:27:26 · answer #1 · answered by Super Flippy 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
She is a little big for a four month old, but I've heard of larger. Make sure your own diet is good (not fatty) because what you eat passes to the baby. I think most doctors say double the birth size by four months plus or minus a couple pounds is normal. There's probably nothing wrong. Some babies are just bigger. If you said she was about twenty-five pounds or more, I'd say ask the doctor about abnormalities. Right now a doctor will be too polite to say much of anything.
I had a couple babies who were about sixteen pounds at this age. Their birth weight was over 8 pounds. The last two were smaller, though one's birth weight was highest of all mine (8 pounds, 13 ounces), and the other the lowest (7 pounds.) The one is very short and the other is growing tall...both can be reasons why a baby's weight is higher than other babies. Could be yours will have an extreme height, short or tall.
You think baby is eating right, so don't worry, is what I'm trying to get at. Just watch your own diet and you'll rest well.
2006-09-01 09:29:20 · answer #2 · answered by *babydoll* 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The excellent part about your baby is that she is breast fed, breast fed baby's wont feed more than they need to and every time they have milk get a drink first too. Your baby sounds fine, healthy and happy. My 1st child was over 10lbs when he was born and also very long. so he went straight into 3 to 6 month clothes. but i have to say that is is now almost 12 and only about an inch shorter than me, very healthy and not an ounce of fat on him. Kids change all the time, and love to have us worrying about them from the day they are born. they tend to have growth spurts and the same with weight gain too. Nothing to worry about
2006-09-01 16:47:41 · answer #3 · answered by chockybikky 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No 17 lbs isn't too big for a 16 week old. My kids were 20 lbs easy by then - they were all between 8 - 9 &1/2 at birth. As long as she falls between 5 and 95 percentile on the growth chart she's fine. You can ask her doctor what percentile she is - if you don't want to wait for your next appt. go to google or another search engine and type in - pediatric growth chart - you should find a printable growth chart that you can see what percentile she's in. Basicly what you'll find out is out of a hundred girls her age, where does she fall - if she falls in the 90th percentile that means she weighs more than 90 baby girls her age out of a hundred if she's in the 50th percentile than shes very average. But as long as shes on the chart she should be fine - but definatley voice your concern w/ her dr. at your next appt. and talk to her dr. about the feeding too. Breast feed babies do need to eat more often. Kids are all different though my 6ft. sister and her 6+ft. husband had a son who was off the charts for the first 2 years of his life and there wasn't anything wrong w/ him he just had the genetics to be tall. Good Luck!
2006-09-01 09:50:37 · answer #4 · answered by Chargers Chick 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it could be an issue and needs to be discussed with the doctor, she is above the 95 percentile so she would be considered obese (she can suffer the same health problems as obese adults, heart problem diabetes etc)
its an even bigger issue because she was born in the 25 percentile range (so she is gaining unusually fast) it is very unlikely you are over feeding her if you are exclusively breastfeeding, and I would not recommend cutting out any of her milk (but you dont want to give her anything else for at least three more months, no cereal or jar food just milk)
2006-09-01 10:26:16 · answer #5 · answered by tpuahlekcip 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
is the baby constantly hungry? firstly very well done for breast feeding your baby, the baby normally would or should feed every 4 hours so she may be getting comfort from your breasts rather than food.I f you want try a comforter like a teat that she can suck in between feeds and if you say that she is a happy baby anyway then she should tolerate this well, but iof course she will still need the hugs and extra loving that you are giving her anyway.
2006-09-01 09:24:10 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
sounds exactly like my daughter...she is 6months now. its fine it will level out soonish. you cannot overfeed with breast feeding...you body regulates the richness of the milk...the milk has foremilk in the beginning wich is watery to quench your baby's thirst and after that the hindmilk which is richer will make your baby ful. baby will sometimes continue to suck after had her full but this is called flutter sucking not to take in milk its for comfort.
if your baby is kinda stagnent then you should try to encourage her to move ...put her on her tummy so she can maybe become more active.
dont worry..your baby is beautiful...you are a good mommy.
good luck and peace be unto you and your family
2006-09-03 14:11:05 · answer #7 · answered by nomadneesa 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
she is perfectly normal. my baby at that age was 16 1/2 lb so don't worry. You are definitely not over feeding her and she will even out in a few months time.
Anyway, there is nothing cuter than a chunky baby with lots of lovely rolls!
Don't fret about it, and carry on with the fab boob work x
2006-09-01 09:55:30 · answer #8 · answered by futterbly 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
All babies are different - as I'm sure everyone will tell you! Her weight gain might slow down but if you are concerned then you should speak to your Dr. or Health Visitor.
Congrats on your baby and well done for breastfeeding!
2006-09-01 15:16:59 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
ur not overfeeding her,well maybe a little. But its normal for some babies to gain weight fast and some are slow. As long as u think shes healthy dont worry too much mom. And for me big babies r cute!
2006-09-01 09:30:06 · answer #10 · answered by KAREN 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋