please advice and share your experiences too

Hi! As a warning to all moms and from personal experience, I would like to say that please don't take the words of doctors and nurses at the government clinics seriously! People may disagree, but I have always been given wrong advice there about breastfeeding, teething and starting solids. My baby is what you may call constitutionally small and I'm always made to worry about his statistics when I go there for his vaccinations, based on their formula-fed charts. After being scared at his six month check up, I went to his paed who told me everything was fine based on my baby's birth weight. More recently, when I went for the 12 month appointment, I told them he was breastfed and instead of being encouraging, they said I should get him assessed because I'm "thin"!!

I had to check ds records to show you that you are not alone! Ds was 10.1kg at 6 months EBF nd on demand. A lot of people commented how chubby he was, including dr advising to cut night feeds. Ignored all the comments. 13 kg at 12 months, as soon he started walking all the chubbiness disappeared. Let him be healthy nd chubby as long as you can. Once he starts walking, starting solids or if they get bit sick they lose all the weight quickly. Personally I love co sleeping as it doesnt require waking up completely and have a good sleep with a fed baby. I stopped night feedings when he turned 1, dh gave him water, after few days he didnt care to wake up for water and slept through the night. You are doing a great job and very lucky to have a good supply if milk with a baby love to drink! My other 2 didnt bfeed often (however i tried) and average weight.

I'm in such a hurry to answer your post, I haven't actually read those below. My advice if I can put it in the most opinionated way I can ( and I do normally try to avoid being opinionated) is GET ANOTHER DOCTOR. It is absolutely not possible for an EBF baby to be obese. If you're on facebook try Breastfeeding Q & E Dubai UAE or UAE natural family living network for some advice from other mums, but really, truely, you have done the best thing for your baby to date. It's now your decision on things like whether to stop night feeds/feed on demand etc. But rest assured, your baby is a healthy, robust, lucky lucky baby.

Hi angel joy, as everyone said before do not worry! as long as he is EBF he CAN NOT be obese. I think we all had our fair share of "compliments" or right out rude comments from certain health "professionals" My little guy is/ was on the heavier side and I never blinked an eye when they commented on is weight/ look. I know it runs in the family (both my Dad and and husband were and are big, tall guys) However it is worth considering having the little guy get as much exercise as possible. Mine loved swimming and his Jumperoo was awesome both for to keeping him entertained and it also keep him moving. :-) Sleeping was a BIG issue for us too but as the ones before me said:It will get better! I promise! I gradually reduced night feeds once he started solids at 6 month and by 8 month it was a 30-50ml "last resort" BM from bottle only! but all this gradually, not all at once. Teething/ illness can upset it all. I did notice though that soon he realized it was just me or DH and no food He went back to sleep after a bit of susshhing, back rubbing, etc. He will sleep through one day and than you can start getting ready for more teething and terrible twos. Now that cheered you up, isn't it? :-D

Awww bless, sorry to hear you're having a hard time, Angel Joy. I agree with everything else the others have said below and just wanted to add that you should take what the government clinic nurses say with a pinch of salt sometimes. After having been to the Safa clinic for immunisations for the past year or so with the second I can honestly say that I only go there due to the fact the immunisations are free. The nurses there are rude, condescending and have no tact or bedside manner. If it weren't for the fact that I go there with my second they would have sent me into a panicked frenzy on more than one occasion. DS2 was a 4kg baby at birth with a long (oval) head. For the first 6 months of his life he was always off the chart for height, weight and head circumference. He was EBF as well and growing well but they told me outright that he was fat. They also told me he had a big head and that was cause for concern but never went into detail why. They insisted I see their doctor but could never get an appointment or it would always be cancelled. On follow up appointments they would berate me for not bringing him to the doctor and then finally told me that maybe having a big head was hereditary in our family as mine looked big too! After consultation with another doctor to put my mind at ease as Google made me worry a little, it turned out to be nothing. These growth charts they measure our babies by are just averages. They are a way to tell if our baby is growing averagely and that's all. Don't put too much weight on them as things like ethnicity etc are not always taken into account. Also, if he's EBF then feeding him water at night in a bottle may be quite difficult for you. I know neither of mine took a bottle at all so all the advice I had about feeding them water in the middle of the night fell on deaf ears. I only started to give them water out of cups after I started solids. As for the sleeping, hang in there, it will get better. I can't advise on how or when as I've had my fair share of problems in this area, but it does get better!

"Normal" does not just depend on his weight. It should be measured on a group of factors, such as: what was his birth weight, length and head circumference and what they are now. Has his growth been consistent? What is the stature of the baby's parents? It is really irresponsible and insensitive of the dr to have just drawn this conclusion without a proper evaluation. agree entirely (and with everything else KC) said, what was his birth weight, has he always been big, how tall is he....? He is at the top of the chart for weight, but that in itself doesn't make him obese, changing your diet won't make a difference and he will probably slim down once he is moving. One thing yo could try in respect to cutting down the night feedings is to only offer one side and to gradulally limit how long he feeds for each time. In conjunction with trying to put him down awake. <em>edited by kiwispiers on 14/10/2012</em>

"Normal" does not just depend on his weight. It should be measured on a group of factors, such as: what was his birth weight, length and head circumference and what they are now. Has his growth been consistent? What is the stature of the baby's parents? It is really irresponsible and insensitive of the dr to have just drawn this conclusion without a proper evaluation. Many babies go through a chunky phase, but it all evens out eventually. Especially starting solids, he may well lose a bit of weight. You should not be restricting his breast feeds. If he is this unsettled, clearly he is still hungry. A 6 month old baby should not be on a diet, especially since his only source of food is breast milk - just what nature intended! Obviously do not allow him to comfort feed, but you certainly should feed him if he is hungry. As for water, at his age, he should only be having sips of water - like up to 30 ml, not bottles in place of breast milk. There is plenty of water in breast milk already. Drinking too much water is also bad for a baby, it interferes with absorption of nutrients from milk, makes the baby feel full but uncomfortable. As for your husband, telling you to aggressively control your diet is just really ridiculous! His intentions may be good, but what you eat is not really going to affect the quality of your milk, maybe the the acidity or gas producing foods will affect it on that level, but not the calorie value. Continue as you were, breast feeding on demand, start solids and take it from there. If you are really concerned, consult another pediatrician. Calm down, he won't be chubby forever, once he is eating solids and moving around - crawling and walking, he will burn it all off! Honestly, a happy, content, chubby baby is a far better option than a slim, cranky baby that feels deprived.

Did the doctor or nurse tell you this?

Get a second opinion , and maybe take him to a nutritionist for assessment

In your place I would go to another doctor and get a second opinion.

My advice to you would be to change your doctor. A child cannot be declared clinically obese on nothing but breat milk. You son is big, so what? lots of kids go through a "fat" stage between 6 months and 1 year. <em>edited by derien on 14/10/2012</em>