Doctor said infant is obese?

[Anonymous]

Pp, this is the OP. I took the infant to the dr. I was in fact there.

Yes I'm in the US.

The parents don't work 24/7 but they hire me as a generally full time nanny. I do the doctor visits, the grocery shops, the play dates for older kids and the household management.

[Anonymous]

Is the baby breast fed or bottle fed?

My breast fed baby was a regular butterball when we only breast fed.

Once we switched to food he normalized and now holds steady just below 50%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP is probably some ignorant nanny that's been doing las dos with the baby. 2 months and 16 lbs is insane. That baby is in trouble.

And you sound extremely educated and classy

[Anonymous]

I wrote the post below.

OP,

I would ask the mother or father to make some time to talk to the doctor in person or on the phone about this weight issue - they have to be on board with dropping 2 feedings, and they have to hear it from the horse's mouth. BTW, this medical advice is eminently sound and reasonable! Please don't listen to PPs without medical training who do not realize this child is beyond heavy. Do not drop the first or last feedings, obviously. If the baby has trouble transitioning after one week, call the doctor back, but the first few days he might be fussy at around that dropped feeding.

With that kind of 24h job, you are in loco parentis! No judgement on these parents, though. To each his own.

Good luck.

Anonymous wrote:
OP,

1. 16lbs for a 2 month old is off the chart (>99%) whatever the height, and cause for serious concern. What did the doctor recommend to the parents, and is the child being followed by a nutritionist or has he been evaluated by other specialists?

2. you need to get your medical terms correct: Obesity means an adult/teen BMI greater than 30. Overweight means an adult/teen BMI between 25 and 29.9. BMI in very young children is not an effective tool to diagnose health issues, and "obese" and "overweight" are not used by doctors to describe infants. HOWEVER this child is far too heavy - there may be an underlying metabolic disease, or he may simply be eating too much.


PS: do not divulge you're a nanny on this site unless talking specifically about your relationship with your employers or your career, because many people will automatically think less of you, and also tell you to MYOB - sad, I know, given you're taking care of this child!

[Anonymous]

PP again - another milder option is to stabilize the amount of milk given and not increase it until the weight goes down a bit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I would ask the mother or father to make some time to talk to the doctor in person or on the phone about this weight issue - they have to be on board with dropping 2 feedings, and they have to hear it from the horse's mouth. BTW, this medical advice is eminently sound and reasonable! Please don't listen to PPs without medical training who do not realize this child is beyond heavy. Do not drop the first or last feedings, obviously. If the baby has trouble transitioning after one week, call the doctor back, but the first few days he might be fussy at around that dropped feeding.

What's the source of your medical expertise?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pp, this is the OP. I took the infant to the dr. I was in fact there.

Yes I'm in the US.

The parents don't work 24/7 but they hire me as a generally full time nanny. I do the doctor visits, the grocery shops, the play dates for older kids and the household management.

I call bullshit. OP, some of what you said on this topic are probably true and some of it is pure internet lies. First of all, the doctor never said the word "obese" but it is in your title.

[Anonymous]

I stated at 15:39 that the doctor did say that the baby is obese. Yes the word "obese" came out of his mouth. I am planning to discuss with MB what the course of action will be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pp, this is the OP. I took the infant to the dr. I was in fact there.

Yes I'm in the US.

The parents don't work 24/7 but they hire me as a generally full time nanny. I do the doctor visits, the grocery shops, the play dates for older kids and the household management.

I call bullshit. OP, some of what you said on this topic are probably true and some of it is pure internet lies. First of all, the doctor never said the word "obese" but it is in your title.

Why is anything you quoted cause for suspicion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish more parents would follow the advice of their doctors. Just look around and see all of the obese kids. Their Nancy's probably felt the same way.

There is an epidemic of infant obesity due to parents disregarding the advice of their doctors?

Childhood obesity, yes. Where have you been? Read much?

But childhood is different from infant obesity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually think it is encouraging that doctors are saying something to young babies. I read when I was pregnant (only a few years ago) that doctors would not categorize children as obese until the age of 2. I get that because before that age, getting weight on kids is important, especially if they are on the small size, and because some people will go too far and put health toddlers on diets because of their own weigh obsessions. All that said, during the last few years that I have been among babies and toddlers, I have seen some really chunky toddlers and babies. As on pp said, some of these little kids are actually unable to move very much because of the rolls and rolls and rolls upon rolls. So, I think some balanced and measured input from doctors is very good.

Also, I think the whole "percentile" thing can be misunderstood by people who don't really understand it. For example, a 90% kid in height is good--yay, your kid is tall. 90% in weight--maybe not so good after the birth. Yay--big baby. Not so yay when your kid is bigger than 90 of other kids in a country with obesity. As kids get older and older, that is even more troubling.

So, OP/Nanny, is the baby very long in addition to being 15 lbs? Because if the kids is very long and was very big at birth, maybe the doctor's concerns are misplaced. If the baby is a very petite baby in terms of length, then yes, that is a superchunko kid.

You yourself clearly don't understand the percentile charts. IF a kid is 95% in height s/he will likely be a higher weight percentile because of the additional height. There is no correlation to any weight issues in sonething like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually think it is encouraging that doctors are saying something to young babies. I read when I was pregnant (only a few years ago) that doctors would not categorize children as obese until the age of 2. I get that because before that age, getting weight on kids is important, especially if they are on the small size, and because some people will go too far and put health toddlers on diets because of their own weigh obsessions. All that said, during the last few years that I have been among babies and toddlers, I have seen some really chunky toddlers and babies. As on pp said, some of these little kids are actually unable to move very much because of the rolls and rolls and rolls upon rolls. So, I think some balanced and measured input from doctors is very good.

Also, I think the whole "percentile" thing can be misunderstood by people who don't really understand it. For example, a 90% kid in height is good--yay, your kid is tall. 90% in weight--maybe not so good after the birth. Yay--big baby. Not so yay when your kid is bigger than 90 of other kids in a country with obesity. As kids get older and older, that is even more troubling.

So, OP/Nanny, is the baby very long in addition to being 15 lbs? Because if the kids is very long and was very big at birth, maybe the doctor's concerns are misplaced. If the baby is a very petite baby in terms of length, then yes, that is a superchunko kid.

You yourself clearly don't understand the percentile charts. IF a kid is 95% in height s/he will likely be a higher weight percentile because of the additional height. There is no correlation to any weight issues in sonething like that.

No "likely" about it, PPs. You need both percentiles to make an informed decision, of course! There are plenty of tall very skinny children, and short very fat ones, hence the concern.

[Anonymous]

Why is this even up for discussion?! Breast fed babies typically look like the Michelin Man until they start to move around on their own. The growing brains and bodies absolutely need the high fat and sugar diet that is breast milk. Delaying feeding times for a 2 month old is completely ridiculous. Why the hell would anyone want to wait until a baby is starving and hysterical to offer food?!

The ped is off his rocker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

No "likely" about it, PPs. You need both percentiles to make an informed decision, of course! There are plenty of tall very skinny children, and short very fat ones, hence the concern.

People who are 6 feet tall typically weigh more than people who are 5 feet tall, do you agree?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here.

I will try to address all points brought up.

-I am a 24 hr nanny. The parents rarely ask or know what is going on. The mom comes home very late but still pumps enough milk at home and during the day and she leaves it in the fridge.
- the doctor said as soon as he came in the room, "Larla is quite overweight. Just about obese. What's has she been eating?"
I told him that the baby is breast milk fed but with a bottle. The doctor just continued saying how the baby is much too overweight and we shod consider removing 2 feedings per day so that she will thin out.
- I know my opinion is invalid but I feel that once babies have a growth spurt and start moving more, they thin out naturally.

You took the kid to the ped? Mom can't even do that ?