When did your chunky baby slim down? Or did they not?

[Anonymous]

Please don't flame me. For real, y'all, I'm not worried and neither is my pediatrician.

That said, my 18 month old has always been an adorable chunkster. Around 75-80% for height and 95-100% for weight almost since birth. His weight and height growth charts are stable, so I don't think this is him putting on weight in preparation for a growth spurt. He was a rolly baby, and is a healthy, active toddler now who can run, climb, and has been walking since 10 months. He's an average eater - picky, but eats a healthy, if limited menu. No juice or tons of sweet or salty snacks. DH's family are big, tall people, so he definitely has the family history to be heavier.

During the last few visits, my pediatrician has been asking more questions about diet/activity level and hinting that we are going to need to start watching his weight soon. I think she's waiting to see if he'll slim down on his own, but also expected him to already be slimming down by now. If you had a chunky baby, when did s/he start slimming down? If s/he didn't, when did you get "the talk" from the pediatrician?

[Anonymous]

LOL I had one who was 21 lbs at 12 weeks. SO FAT.

He's a solid, muscular but thin kid. Don't fret. As long as my kid was on "his" own growth chart (which was 100%+) the pediatrician was happy. He probably started to lean out around 4 or so.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like he's just a big guy. If his diet is healthy, or at least doesn't include much sugar, then I really wouldn't worry about it. At least not until he's 3 or 4. I mean he is still a baby. Around 2 or 3 they start really doing sustained running around and exercising, plus they often become pickier, and the combination of these things will likely slim him down a bit. He may also just grow into it as he gets older. If he's not eating crappy food, then his weight is presumably where it should be. It's not like he is 100% for weight and 20% for height -- he is fairly tall.

My kid was a bit smaller -- 95% for height, 80% for weight -- and started gradually dropping in both percentiles around 2 years. (He was an enormous baby but walked early, like yours.) He also pretty much stopped drinking milk (of his own accord) around 2 years old; I don't know if that had anything to do with it. At 3.5 he is now about 60% for height and 40% for weight. He still has a bit of toddler belly and chubby thighs but otherwise looks pretty average. Pediatrician has never said anything about his weight.

Also keep in mind that just a couple pounds can make a big difference in percentiles at this age.

[Anonymous]

The chunkier they are as babies, the leaner they seem to be as adolescents and young adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:LOL I had one who was 21 lbs at 12 weeks. SO FAT.

He's a solid, muscular but thin kid. Don't fret. As long as my kid was on "his" own growth chart (which was 100%+) the pediatrician was happy. He probably started to lean out around 4 or so.

I quickly read this and thought it said 12 months and thought, huh, mine weren't that much smaller. And then reread. Ha! So cute and chubby!

[Anonymous]

My kids were huge -- 9 and 10 lbs at birth. But both of us parents are tall and slim so we didn't worry about it. My kids were in the 90th+ percentiles for both height and weight until about 3 or 4 and then the weight percentiles steadily dropped. My kids are maybe 50th - 75th percentile weight now? At 10 and 14, I don't focus on it much. Mostly because they really slimmed down. We honestly try to get them to gain weight now (e.g. they still drink whole milk), although they eat healthy diets for the most part. We are trying to get them to bulk up again for the teen growth spurts (to no avail). If your kids are healthy eaters & you're not feeding them junk there's not much you can do. Also, as an aside, through my work I focus on childhood obesity and in my opinion, few believe that children should lose weight - it's more a drive to maintain weight/BMI so kids will grow up and out of weight issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please don't flame me. For real, y'all, I'm not worried and neither is my pediatrician.

That said, my 18 month old has always been an adorable chunkster. Around 75-80% for height and 95-100% for weight almost since birth. His weight and height growth charts are stable, so I don't think this is him putting on weight in preparation for a growth spurt. He was a rolly baby, and is a healthy, active toddler now who can run, climb, and has been walking since 10 months. He's an average eater - picky, but eats a healthy, if limited menu. No juice or tons of sweet or salty snacks. DH's family are big, tall people, so he definitely has the family history to be heavier.

During the last few visits, my pediatrician has been asking more questions about diet/activity level and hinting that we are going to need to start watching his weight soon. I think she's waiting to see if he'll slim down on his own, but also expected him to already be slimming down by now. If you had a chunky baby, when did s/he start slimming down? If s/he didn't, when did you get "the talk" from the pediatrician?

What's his weight now, OP?

[Anonymous]

Right there with you with a super chunky 17 month old DD. Haven't had her 18 month appointment yet, but I'd wager she is around 32 lbs by now. She was 18 lbs at 4 months and 27 lbs at a year. Always way off the height chart too. At her 15 month, her weight jumped to 30 lbs and was proportionally more than her height and I could tell the pediatrician was a bit concerned but didn't say anything directly...

DD just started really walking and I can already tell she is losing some of her rolls. I think she will just always be pretty tall and will eventually thin out. DH is very tall.

I think most chunky babies start to really thin out around 3 or 4. I've seen it with just about every friend baby!

[Anonymous]

Our new 2 year old DD is at 99% for weight and height.

She seriously throws down whatever is in front of her. With fervor. It's crazy. I always thought, and the ped agreed, that if they're eating healthy food, then the kid can self-regulate the intake. But when they're on the second cup of broccoli after taking down an adult sized portion of chicken and brown rice, I really start to doubt myself.

I'm only 5'8", but DH is 6'7" so I guess time will tell. DD definitely hasn't reached the slim down stage yet.

[Anonymous]

I think you need a new pediatrician. Assuming you are providing reasonably healthy food, there's nothing wrong with your son. Some people are just going to be bigger. Restricting food is going to backfire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please don't flame me. For real, y'all, I'm not worried and neither is my pediatrician.

That said, my 18 month old has always been an adorable chunkster. Around 75-80% for height and 95-100% for weight almost since birth. His weight and height growth charts are stable, so I don't think this is him putting on weight in preparation for a growth spurt. He was a rolly baby, and is a healthy, active toddler now who can run, climb, and has been walking since 10 months. He's an average eater - picky, but eats a healthy, if limited menu. No juice or tons of sweet or salty snacks. DH's family are big, tall people, so he definitely has the family history to be heavier.

During the last few visits, my pediatrician has been asking more questions about diet/activity level and hinting that we are going to need to start watching his weight soon. I think she's waiting to see if he'll slim down on his own, but also expected him to already be slimming down by now. If you had a chunky baby, when did s/he start slimming down? If s/he didn't, when did you get "the talk" from the pediatrician?

What's his weight now, OP?

OP here - 29 pounds at the 18 month check. Height was at the 77th percentile and weight was at the 96th percentile, which is how it usually is (about a 20 point spread between the two).

It sounds like most bigger babies hold onto the baby weight until 3 or 4. Makes sense and is good to keep in mind, thanks all! This pediatrician is VERY relaxed, so I don't think she'll start pushing food restrictions or anything like that. I was average height and skinny as a kid, and DH was tall and a little chubby. That's about how we are as adults, so I wouldn't be surprised if DS is taking after DH instead of me. As long as he's healthy, whatever shape he ends up is good with me!

[Anonymous]

Mine started thinning out around 20 months, i think. He'd always been active but that's when he got really into running everywhere, jumping around etc. He also reached that point where he's so active he doesn't want to spend the time to sit down and eat, so we try to force a few bites/sit for 5-10 min but if he's not hungry, we don't force feed him. He eats plenty during the day.

He's 2 and a half now and I think he's gained maybe a pound since then. He's not really moved much on the growth curve.

[Anonymous]

At about 3 years old, our chunky son who was always extremely active got tall and thinned out. As a baby/toddler, he was in the 95th for weight and 70th for height. Now at 7, he's in the 75th for weight and off the charts for height.

If your chunky baby is very active and muscular (you can tell), then he will probably thin out. If he is sedentary, then he will probably stay chunky.