Skinny Minnies

Ok, I really hope I don't offend anyone with this...but just have to get this off my chest. I feel like everyone (not just here, but in general) is obsessed with babies being "big". It seems like there's such a focus on them being chubby and "good weights" rather than simply all-around healthy and active. I know this is just my own insecurity because my boys are pretty skinny (tall, but thin). There's not a roll to be found on these fellows, but they seem to eat plenty and are incredibly active and hitting all their milestones.

I just feel like people are always comparing, and then they look kind of shocked and alarmed when I tell them how much the boys weigh. Honestly, I think it's pretty healthy even though on the thin side (16.5 lbs at 7mo). One mom in babies r-us actually had the nerve to say about her singleton who was the same age, "wow, he's SO much bigger than them" :angry: .

Does anyone else feel this way? Why are we so obsessed with babies being big and heavy? (Please, no offense to the chubby bubbies out there, I think they're adorable too). Where's the luv for the skinny minnies though?

 

I know what you mean I have one small one (tall and thin) and the other is short stumpy and rolly..lol..... everyone tells us she is the favorite... you know... bigger more food.. haha for them....

We truely have Arnold Shwartzasomething and Danny Divito..... on the movie twins lol

 

All 3 of kids are talk and skinny. I am always getting comments about all of them. I've been told a few times that they are "too small". My DS hit every milestone (except walking) way before the books say he should have. All 3 kids are very active. DS was 17.5 pounds at 12 months but he was healthier than my nephew that is 2 weeks old and at a "healthy weight". Their pedi has never been worried about their weights because they eat well and are very healthy.
My DH is 5'10" and only weighs 125-135, 135 lbs is the most he has EVER weighed. Growing up the most I every weighed was 105 lbs and then I had kids and I weigh A LOT more than that now. My kids are going to be skinny. I've accepted that fact. I just wish other people would accept the fact that not everyone (including babies) needs to be chubby to be healthy or cute.

Oh, and I should add...My children eat a TON. They eat more than my neices and nephews that are A LOT heavier than them. So it all has to do with body types not how much food they eat.

Anyway, I pretty much just wanted to say that I agree with what you said.

 

I totally sympathize with you. Both my girls are thin (thinner than yours, actually), but they're also tall. People say stupid comments to me whenever we're out, and they ask how old they are. I get the impression that they think I'm starving them. I try to blow them off, but it is hard. My girls are also meeting all their milestones and eating well (actually, they really are little piggies when it comes to nursing and eating solids, especially my smaller child), so if our pedis aren't worried, then we shouldn't be either.

I also want to add that when we took our daughters in for their 9 mo check-up in May, the pedi was a little concerned that they were in a lower percentile for weight for their actual--not adjusted--age (they were fine for their adjusted). He urged us to supplement with a little formula and fatten up their solids with butter and other things. I was torn about giving them formula, as they had been strictly breastfed for so long, so I contacted an LC. She told me that the weight charts that many (not all, but a lot) doctors use are way outdated. They're from the 50s and based on formula-fed babies. Nowadays, it's considered better to see healthy, lean babies. Just something to think about.

By the way, the girls are now doing fine weight-wise; the doctor attributed it to a growth spurt--they just keep getting longer and longer.

 

I agree, my ID girls are also pretty skinny minnies.. they are 9 mos old now, and not sure how much they weigh since we haven't seen
our pedi since they were 6 mos (weighing in then at 15 and 16 pounds, which was about 25th-50th percentile) she said she wasn't worried
about their weight.. so I guess we shouldn't be either...

But yes, we get stopped and asked, how old they are, and then we get lots of comments like.. oh they are so small.. and tiny.. blah..blah.. blah..
I just ignore it, but then I admit, at the end of the day, I think about it and it begins to get on my nerves..

My girls are little piggies too, eat solids well, drink their formula, water and juice too...but I guess that's their body make-up.. they're still cute to me!

 

Nicole and Danielle were the same way. They were just so skinny. They were less than your boys. They were 18 1/2-19 lbs at 12 months. They didn't hit over 20 lbs until 2 years old when they were 21 lbs. They have always eatten so much food and just didn't gain weight but their older sister is the same way and it runs in their family to be very tall and skinny. They were slightly behind in milestones but hit them all and are excelling now at 3 years old. They were just too tall and skinny to do as much as they needed to do. But everyone always said how skinny they were like it was horrible. Granted I always love the baby fat and chubby rolls on babys because it is oh so cute but it doesn't mean they are cuter than the skinny minnies!

 

I don't know why that is. my first child was the Chubby baby and I mean CHUBBY. everyone used to tell us how big he was like it was a bag thing. Now the twins are not. they started out pretty big but due to reflux they are about 17 pounds at 7 months. we get stopped all the time and everyone guesses their age. they always guess like 4 months or so. then when i correct them, they always say WOW they are small.

i guess we just think that chunky babies are healthy babies, which is weird because we don't think that chunky adults are healthy. odd!

 

Whatever it is, people make comments. I have one chubby one and one skinny one, and I've heard it all.

 

I actually have one of each.

Megan is my skinny minnie, she is sort of tall and thin and Haley is my exact opposite she is tall and weighs about 2.5lbs more than Megan. Haley still has all her rolls to and look rather chubby but they both eat the exact same thing and I don't over feed them. I admit I am obese and I hope to God Haley doesn't inherit that from me.

I get asked a lot if there is something wrong with Megan or if she is younger because she is smaller when in actuality she is the older twin.

Not sure if any of this made sense.

 

I'm sorry sorry you feel this way. I know here there is a lot of discussion about weights of babies because it's just something that is a major issue during the first year. I don't think there is ANYTHING wrong with skinny babies. Everyone's body and psysique is different. I have a friend of mine who wears a size 0 and I can't tell you how sick she gets of people making comments like "my gosh, do you eat?" or just assuming that she has an eating disorder and that she is anorexic or something. The fact is, she is just naturally a very skinny, small boned girl and I'm always telling people, "trust me she eats!!" I think it's the same with babies. I don't think people always have the meanest of intentions when they make comments like "wow, my b/g is so much bigger." I have made that comment before but it wasn't with cruel intentions. If anything, I get more concerned (or used to) that my dd was so much bigger. Of course, when they are older, then the chubby thing isn't so cute anymore and you have to switch over to the other spectrum and defend your baby's chubbiness while everyone will look at your skinny minnies and say "wow, what healthy kids." kwim?? You just can't win

 

I know how you feel! My girls are tiny too and people act like they are being starved or something. Trust me, they eat!!

It's so sad because in 5 or 10 years there would be comments if they are too big! You can't win!

 

I get a lot of comments about my boys' weight as well. People say, "Wow, they're BIG for 4 months." I don't know whether they mean it as a compliment or a negative but I just pretend it's a compliment. I always say, "Thank you! We're so in love with them."
It seems to me that, just like with grown ups, there's a HUGE range with babies - some are small and some are big! Genetics must be a huge factor. I'm 6 feet tall and my husband is 6 foot 3. I'd be surprised if we had small babies.
Anyway, I just wanted to say that people always feel inclined to make some kind of comment, whether your babies are big or small, or even right in the middle. I think all babies are perfect in their own way - especially twins!
I used to find the same thing when I was pregnant. Every woman I met had to make some kind of comment on my weight gain: "Oh, you're not big enough to be carrying twins - are you worried the babies will be too small to be healthy?" or "Oh, you're going to be SO HUGE by the time the babies are born, good luck." Well, I gained 38 pounds and my babies were both born over 6 lbs so obviously that was perfect for me. I have a friend who gained more and her babies were born PERFECT, but smaller. It's all about our bodies and what they feel like doing! There's only so much control we have.

 

I have one skinny minnie...the BOY... and one rolly-polly...the GIRL!! They are totally different. I used to worry that she was so much bigger than he is, but now I think it is so cute.

I think everyone here just wants to support each other - we cheer for other mommies about everything, not just weights. We all need the cheers and this is a great place to get those much needed cheers about being a mom...the hardest job on Earth!!!

:hug99: to you!!

jen

 

Once they're running, people won't expect them to be chubby anymore. Then it shifts and people look at the parents of the chubby kids and think they must be overfeeding them a bunch of junk. The judgement never ends.

I have two that are sticking to the 3rd-5th percentiles for weight but they're 50th for height and a whopping 75th-90th for head circumference. They're like little stick figures. When they were under 1, I would get all upset at the comments because I felt like people were accusing me of underfeeding them. I actually had a woman outright tell me that it was because I was breastfeeding and they have to "share the milk". <_< Funny, because now that they're eating all kinds of high calorie table foods, they're still skinny! They have met every milestone early and they're happy and healthy so I'm not concerned and neither is their doctor.

 

I get the other end of the spectrum because my babies are chunky (all of my kids were when they were little). I hear things like, "They are huge - especailly for twins." We are in the 16 pound range at seven months as well - but my girls are pretty short.

I am a dietitian and what I tell my parents (and myself) is that as long as they are growning consistantly it doesn't matter where they fall. Consistancy is the important thing. If you had a cubby baby and they became thin I would worry - if you had a tall/thin baby that became cubby I would worry. Tall thin babies are normal and healthy - as are short chubby babies. As long as they are eating right and doing what they need to to - then they are fine!

 

I have a chubby one and and a skinny minnie too. She is healthy and active but on the smaller side. People always say "Oh I love him...he's so cute and chubby". I kind of sit back and think ...my daughter is cute too! It's a little aggravating at times.

 

I have a skinny Minnie and an "average" sized baby. It annoys me when people compare and I usually make a childhood obesity joke and that usually shuts them up!

 

ok girls how do you think I feel - my DD at 13.5 mos is 17 lbs and 29 inches - she's smaller than some of your 6 mo old "skinny minnies"... I was having anxiety attacks over her weight before the pedi told me yesterday to just leave it alone - she eats, drinks plenty of milk but can still wear 3-6 mo bottoms, 6-9 mo tops and I may never be able to turn her carseat around!

 

QUOTE(AmynTony @ Jun 22 2007, 10:03 AM) [snapback]302943[/snapback]
ok girls how do you think I feel - my DD at 13.5 mos is 17 lbs and 29 inches - she's smaller than some of your 6 mo old "skinny minnies"... I was having anxiety attacks over her weight before the pedi told me yesterday to just leave it alone - she eats, drinks plenty of milk but can still wear 3-6 mo bottoms, 6-9 mo tops and I may never be able to turn her carseat around!



I hear you . Our girls are 10 mo. and just now started to weigh 14 lbs. We've been steadily sticking to the 2-5% for just about everything height/weight ... Do we have to wait until 30 lbs. to turn the seats around?! :/ Our kids will be entering kinder by then :/

 

Thanks so much ladies! I really appreciate the perspective, and I'm so happy to have a supportive place to get stuff like this off my chest. Just one of those things that I kept telling myself didn't bother me, but I guess we're all insecure in some way or another about our babies' health and the way others perceive and react to them.

Anyway, thanks a ton! I really DO feel better about this and don't think I'll be obsessing about it anymore. (I'll find other things to obsess about... )

 

Glad you're feeling better. The comments never end! My boys are "skinny" and short and don't look like twins. The size thing was really nerve wracking as first-time (short) parents. Nurses doing measurements look at us like "duh...what were you expecting, giants?". But family and strangers always seemed to point out how "small" they were, even though they were 38 weeks with no NICU.

But hooray for our Pedi! She has always been great at reassuring us that they are healthy. One of mine is not even on the charts. She uses computer software to show us how he keeps chugging along so we don't get distracted by those percentiles. She pronounced them as being "spectacular" on the last visit. We are so grateful for their health, no matter what they look like.

The older they get, the more comments we get. But we are also having more fun with it. For example, our tiny one is fantastic at soccer. So at the playground, other parents/grandparents are always amazed at what "that baby" can do. "Wow, he must be a genius to do that at what - 13 months?" I always answer, "oh yes - his soccer coach said he's very advanced." or "I know, isn't it amazing? He watches ESPN all the time." I try not to be mean but it is fun to see their faces! LOL! I hope to teach my kids to use humor in their lives too.

Wishing the best of health to your "little" ones.