Did I do something wrong?

Hello! My girls are almost 4 months (on the 17th) and one is a lot larger than the other. ANyways, everyone keeps saying "wow what a chunky kid" or "she's going to be throwing the shotput in school". Those comments make me crazy. I think she is adorable. How many ounces did you feed them at 4 months old? And how much did your kids weigh then?

THanks,
Jen

 

QUOTE(stanley @ Jul 16 2007, 01:51 PM) [snapback]332974[/snapback]
Hello! My girls are almost 4 months (on the 17th) and one is a lot larger than the other. ANyways, everyone keeps saying "wow what a chunky kid" or "she's going to be throwing the shotput in school". Those comments make me crazy. I think she is adorable. How many ounces did you feed them at 4 months old? And how much did your kids weigh then?

THanks,
Jen


I'm not sure I get the connection between your topic title and content. But yes, I'd be pretty annoyed if people were constantly commenting on the size of my children. Especially in the case of a discrepancy. At four months old, they were probably drinking about 25-30 ounces a day (soy formula). I don't remember what they weighed since I'm not home where my records are.

I certainly wouldn't worry about it at this point. I can say with mine that they are meeting somewhere in the middle already. Jade's still shorter, but she's slimming down as she progresses into full preschoolerdom. She was a pretty chunky baby.

 

Both my girls are "chuncky" and why not! Plus they are only in the 50% for weight anyway. It is healthy for babies to be a little pudgy. It drives me nuts when people comment on their weight like that as well, but I just keep reminding myself that my one friend (who looks like a supermodel now) was a HUGE baby. I didn't even believe it was her when I first saw the pictures. I particularly hate when people say "Oh....you can tell they aren't going hungry." Well, of course not! You think when you finally get rid of that huge twin belly that people will stop making rediculous comments, but they don't.

At 4 months, my girls weighted about 13 lbs and I believe only drank about 16 oz of milk a day (I could be totally wrong about this number, because the last 10 months as been a blur). Even though they are "chunky" they haven't ever been really good eaters.

 

DS2 is about 22lbs now at 10 months. He was big when he was born, so I got lots of "chunky" comments and stuff like that. At four months, he was already on solids (he was ready, and eating the maximum amount of formula his ped would allow) and still taking 8oz of formula three times a day. I'm thinking he was around 17lbs? It's slowed down quite a bit, but he can still put away the food/bottles when he's hungry.

Personally, if your daughter is hungry and their ped isn't worried, then I wouldn't either. Our ped told us that he was in proportion for his size and she didn't see anything to indicate that he was eating more than he should.

 

My main point to this post is that I feel as though I may have over fed her for awhile. The ped always said that what I was doing was ok. But after hearing from other poeple, my dd was definitely getting more ounces than others.

Jen

 

Im sure they are fine... People just say dumb things!

 

QUOTE(stanley @ Jul 16 2007, 06:15 PM) [snapback]333018[/snapback]
My main point to this post is that I feel as though I may have over fed her for awhile. The ped always said that what I was doing was ok. But after hearing from other poeple, my dd was definitely getting more ounces than others.

Jen


Jen -

First - I am a ped. dietitian. If you were over feeding she would either be screaming after each feed or throwing it back up! Each baby is different - even twins. All of my kids have taken different amounts! We have one twin that is taller and thinner and one twin that is short and chubby. The thinner one eats more than the chubby one! Let your baby tell you if she is getting too much. If she is hungry - feed her. When she is done than she is done - no matter how many ounces she has!

I get comments on both sides. One person will say, "Man they are both so big and cubby," then the next person will say, "They are both so tiny for eight months!"

Angel

 

My kids are all chubby ... my oldest has always been 95% for everything and the twins are also way above average. They like to eat, always want more, what can I do? I watch my oldest's diet carefully, but she's a good healthy eater and gets plenty of exercise. She definitely doesn't look fast, her bmi is within the range too.

They've all spit up, but it resolved overtime. My twin boy is still on reflux meds since he has been spitting up blood a few times. He's much better now.

 

I can give you my twins now ... they aren't four months yet. My son eats 32-40oz a day and my daughter eats 20-25oz a day. He is WAY bigger than her. At 2 months she was 9.13 and he was 12.8. I'm sure his is over 15 lbs now ... but we don't get weighed again until the 4 month appt.

Try and take heart ... no one is trying to hurt anyones feelings by taking about chubby or fat babies. Really, what is cuter than a big chub of a baby? It just makes me laugh when people say how different my kids are in size ... i always say my son is practicing to be a linebacker and my daughter is "watching her weight" ... it's a joke ... I'm sure no one really thinks you are starving or overfeeding your children ... and if they are being serious, tell them that you are doing just fine, and so are your kids.

good luck!

 

I have always fed my kids as much as they wanted as long as it wasn't coming back up. I don't think that you can overfeed a baby. All my babies have been chunky.

 

People are just annoying. It's human nature to notice differences, and people can't keep their mouths shut (they don't even realize how what they say could affect the mom). I hear it all the time with my babies "that one's bigger, huh?" It's all dumb 'cause one was bigger and now the other is, and they were the same weight exactly at birth. But even if your kids are exactly the same size and identical in almost every way, somebody's going to find a way to say something insensitive. It's the law!

BTW, my grandmother commented "that one's the prettier" about one of my girls. HUH??!!!! They're both gorgeous! And my grandmother has Alzheimer's, so she kept repeating the same offensive comment over and over and over again.

 

My girls eat about 30oz a day and we just went to the doctor today and M weighs 12lb 13oz and A weighs 12lbs 6oz. This is 25th percentile for their chronological age and 50th for their adjusted. Every comments that they thought they would be smaller since they were small at birth (gave birth at 34 weeks). I think they are perfect.

Just ignore people's comments. I think sometimes people just don't think before they speak. -Leighann

 

People develop verbal diarrhea when they see twins. :bad: Try not to let other people bother you, YOU are th mom and you see them everyday. Who cares if you have a chunky baby? Not I!

 

:hug99: I know it gets to you - but these people have no idea what they are talking about. Just feed what it takes to satisfy them at this point. Our daughters were 1.1 apart at birth and now they are almost 3 lbs apart but we have always feed them basically the same (in the beginning mostly BF on demand, but when they got bottles they were always the same amount) now they are down to 1 nusring session a day, and get the exact same amount of ounces. I honestly never thought about giving different amounts until a similar post here about a month ago. Granted Hannah (the bigger baby) may have got more BM when she nursed, but both always seemed happy with the bottles they got.

Remember too - they only look "small" and "large" because there is a twin sitting there to compare them to. If either was a singleton they wouldn't think so much about her size. Mine at 4 months: Hannah 13 lb 9 oz (50%) 25 1/2 " (75%)...Natalie 11 lb 4 oz (30%) 22 3/4" (8 %) EVERYONE would comment on Hannah being chunky and an "eater " and how Natalie was such a little thing- but if you look at the % Natalie was the chunk (weight at 30% height only at 8%) and Hannah was the skinny minny (75% length only 50% height)............Of course, they were both perfect!!! :winking0009:

 

Mine were 14 lbs and 13 lbs. 9 oz. at 2 months! We'll see how they fare at 4 months. They were in the 90-95%, in length also. They are just big boys! They really don't look "chunky" though, just solid and big. My 1 year old is the same, but DS #1 was always below average. Interesting how it plays out. The twins are nursing 4-5 times a day, so not sure how much they are getting. I get a lot of comments too, but don't let them bother me at all. They are happy and healthy!

 

I always get comments that mine are too small! You can't win.

They were 12-3 and 12-6 at their 4 month appt. They eat approx 30 oz a day (Three 5 oz bottles plus 3 breastfeeds).

 

My grandsons are four & 1/2 months old. They each weigh 13 pounds are in the 25th percentile. They weigh within an ounce of each other, yet people always comment on one as "being a chunky monkey". Still others comment on how small they are for four months old - so we get both types of comments. They are within 1/2 inch in height and again one ounce different in weight. For some reason one appears to be larger than his brother, yet for four months old being in the 25th percentile they are smaller than the majority of babies their age - regardless the comments come. I agree with a pp. When you are out with twins, everyone is full of comments - both good and bad. We don't get many of the double trouble comments, we typically hear the "oh how cute", and double blessing comments. We are constantly questioned as to "two boys"? Are they "real" twins, as opposed to fake I would assume so we typically respond they are "spontaneous" and we get loads of stares. We're not sure whether they are asking us if they are ID or IVF or what so we just go with the flow. The boys eat every three hours during the day and sleep the night through. They are in bed at 7:30 p.m. and get up at about 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. respectively (one really loves to sleep at night). The earlier riser will take three good naps during a day and the late riser will nap once for maybe 30 minutes. They demand at least 6 but peferrably 7 ounces per feeding during the day so they typically get between 28 and 32 ounces of formula and they eat baby food (cereal/fruits and veggies) twice each day. They were 18 1/2 and 18 3/4 inches at birth (6 weeks premature) and weighed just over 5 pounds each. They were in special care nursery for 12 days due to lung issues so each lost a significant amount of weight and came home at less than birth weight. We're proud of their weight gain. They are 24 inches and 24 1/2 inches now. To me they look like your typical four month old - how others percieve them is irrelevant as far as we are concerned. If your babies are healthy, happy, and growing you are doing everything right in my book. Babies are individuals. Charts and averages are just a guideline. You know your babies. I think ours are growing and are healthy. It's a very rare occasion when someone's comment ruffles me enough to respond. We just smile and whatever the comment we tell them the boys are the light of our life.