7 month old- overweight and always hungry?

[alexis255]

My DS is 7 months old and weighs 10.5kgs. He is tall but I think he's a bit overweight. The problem is he always seems to be hungry, no matter how much I feed him.

Current routine:

6.00 Wake
7.00 Feed: Porridge + breastmilk
8.00-9.00 Nap
10.00 Breastfeed
11.00-12.00 Nap
1.00 Breastfeed + fruit puree + piece of finger food (fruit/biscuit)
2.00-3.00 Nap
4.00 Breastfeed + veg puree + piece of finger food (fruit/biscuit)
5.00 Bedtime routine: Story/Bath/4-5oz Bottle
6.00/6.30 Bed

He feeds about 3 times in the night atm. Previously was sleeping through but when the teething got bad and we moved house, he started waking in the night and won't go back to sleep unless fed. I've tried water but it just seems to make him angry and more awake.

Just wanted to see what other people think of his meals atm. Is there anything you think I should change?

Thanks x

[rubyslippers]

None of that sounds exessive

Babies can be very chunky / remember they're static - sitting up or laying down and not yet crawling or moving

Would be very disinclined to label a 7 month old as overweight

[alexis255]

Thanks. Yeah, I wasn't worried about his weight until loads of people started pointing it out and our gp asked if I was over feeding him.

He just always seems to be hungry. He has a little tantrum when he finishes his puree or if he sees someone elsee eating. Guess I'll just keep introducing more solids/finger foods.

[Haribolover]

Can you give good which fills him up more than veg like proteins which might help the night wakings?

[alexis255]

That's a good idea. I'll see if I can find something for him to have. Thanks.

[Mabelface]

Try him with chicken and fish. More filling and less sugar.

[smokeandfluff]

Can you ask your hv to check his weight and length? Weight by itself doesn't tell you very much.

Agree with giving him meat/fish/chicken/eggs/beans. Veg or fruit puree probably isn't very filling for him, and that may be why he is angry when its finished.

[5madthings]

Bmilk should be the main source of his calories at the moment.

At 7mths he is getting used to food and it's about tastes and textures and flavours not filling him up.

Offer food an hour after a bfeed is recommended so he is hungry but not starving.

What percentile is he on for weight/Length?
Also is He crawling yet? Babies often get quite chunky and then once they start to crawl and then walk they slim down.

He is mainly bfed so I wouldn't think he would be overweight.

[ilovepowerhoop]

sounds like he needs more protein and carbs as fruit/veg puree is not very calorific. What about pasta, potatoes, bread, rice, etc and chicken, fish, cheese, etc.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

None of this sounds excessive to me either, is there something that makes you think he is overweight and hungry?

Until he's one solids are more about trying new tastes and textures, it should be his milk that is filling him up. It's also advised to offer solids roughly an hour after his feed so would something like this work for you?

6am wake and bf
7am breakfast - porridge fingers, a banana, blueberry pancakes, smooth nut butter on toast or scrambled egg etc.
9am bf
11am bf and nap
1pm bf
3pm bf
4pm tea, spag Bol, savoury muffin, sandwich with some raw veg, sardines on toast or fish pie etc.

5pm your bedtime routine.

The reason I've only put in 2 meals is that this is what the nhs recommend at this age, although obviously you can offer 3 if you choose.

This might sound like a lot more bfs than you were intending at this age but hopefully he will start to fill up in the day and reduce his night feeds

Can't do links atm but will try to link to some good weaning info later. In the meantime have a look at the Mn weaning info, it's very good

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Ah just seen that its other people's comments making you think he is overweight. Just ignore, ignore and ignore some more . Agree on getting him weighed and measured, hopefully that should be enough to put your mind at rest

As for the hunger, giving solids an hour after his bf and offering more protein should sort that

Here are some of the links I promised:
Kellymom
NHS
MN weaning information
MN weaning talk
Askmoxie

Eggy bread is another great one for filling them up

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Sorry just seen my post and seem to have -bombed you!

[BertieBotts]

What centile is he on? He sounds well within the range of normal to me. Some babies are just chunky.

Agree with giving him more protein-full meals as well. Not completely only protein but more of a mix. Like you'd serve a meal with protein and veg, not just one or the other.

[PumpkinPie2013]

My ds is a similar weight (was born 91st centile) and is very long.

I've never thought he's overweight and the HV is happy with his weight.

I don't think his food intake sounds excessive but you could start introducing some different things?

My ds has recently started nursery (he's 8 months ) so a typical day looks like this (he's FF though)

6.30am wake and 8 oz milk

8.15am porridge or weetabix

11.30am lunch - varies but yesterday was fish in creamy cheese sauce with new potatoes which he loved. Followed by fruit or yogurt.

He used to drink more milk after lunch but has recently dropped that feed.

3/3.30pm tea - usually veg bake at nursery maybe scrambled egg and beans or veg at home. No pudding.

4 pm 8 oz milk

6.30pm another 8 oz then bed.

So generally around 24 oz of milk a day plus food (he doesn't feed during the night).

I thought he ate a lot and mentioned it to my HV but she said it was fine.

[Biscuitless]

I agree with other posters not to worry at this stage and just ignore any comments, it is way too early to worry re weight especially given he is mainly having breast milk and tiny bit of healthy solids.

For what it is worth (anecdotal I know) my DS1 weighed 12.6kg on the day he turned 7 months old. I know this because we were admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties and they weighed him to determine what dose of steroids to give. Neither they nor any other gp or HV made any comment on his weight other than to congratulate me on BF him. He was on 99.6th centile for length, and about 1.5kg above the 99.6th centile for weight. He looked like a sumo wrestler.

I looked on here and many MNs said their child slimmed down when they started moving. That happened for us too - weight peaked at 13.1kg at 9 months, was still the same at 18 months.

[MrsSpencerReid]

My ds is the same age, weighs about the same and eats more!!! Yes he is chunky and in 12-18m clothes but I wouldn't describe him as overweight, just heavy to carry at this age I didn't think they would overeat so as long as you're not force feeding him ignore the people who offer unhelpful comments!!

[alexis255]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your messages. Sorry it's taken me a while to respond- we moved house on the weekend and have only just got internet set up now.

I will try him with chicken, fish, egg and pasta. I tried some of them as finger foods a while ago but he hated the texture and refused to eat them so think I need to try puree and make it gradually lumpier.

I haven't seen my health visitor in about 4 months, so I will try to organise for her to check his weight/height. I used our scales and I think he's around 98th percentile for both (he's always been a big boy).

He's only really started showing an interest in crawling over the past few days. I'm sure when he starts moving around he will slim down.

Thanks for the example routines/meal plans and links - I'll have a look through them now.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

If you reckon he's on the 98th for both then he's not overweight, just beautifully in proportion

[BocaDeTrucha]

My ds was the same. Around the 98th percentile for weight and 75th for height. But everyone who sees him says he's so fat!!! Around 8 months he was the same and ate anything I put infront of him, would really easily eat a whole stairs with fruit for breakfast for example. But it seems to have calmed down now and is eating less. He likes finger food more but that way doesn't eat as much. Don't worry, he'll slim down and I agree, 7 month old babies are never over weight!!!! Better bigger than too little, I say!

[BocaDeTrucha]

Haha... I mean a whole weetabix for breakfast.... He doesn't eat stairs although would probably give it a try!!!

[alexis255]

haha :) I think my DS would also try to eat the stairs if given half a chance

[ThirteenMeetings]

My baby was absolutely spherical at that age - she looked like she had been blown up with a bicycle pump and had three chins! Then she started crawling, dropped a couple of centiles despite still being a greedy little piglet, and at 1yo has grown longer but no wider and is now entirely average width (based on clothes sizes) for her age. Based on my personal experience only, that all sounds normal to me. :)