I think babies look chubbier as long as they are being breast fed.
A child is usually weaned by 12-18 months. This coincides with the spurt in vertical growth and often gives the visual effect of the baby thinning. She also stops gaining weight at the same pace as before (upto 12 months ranges between 1kg to 0.5 kg a month, post that it is about 0.25 kg a month)
I have observed it in almost all the babies in my building and there are many of them.
And note I highlighted look chubbier - because weight wise there is no cause of concern and they may even be above the average.
What do the other moms out there think?
This post is credited to a casual comment by Kid in the previous post.
21 comments:
I agree with your observation that the vertical growth spurt with a tapering weight gain causes a lean look.
But I am not sure weaning has much to do it. Breast Milk is great for building immunity but is not very high in fat content and I am sure you noticed the watery consistency. Ananya is almost a year old and is still breastfeeding, but she has never been chubby. And now she is growing taller(off the growth charts!)but not putting on so much weight. The increased activity levels I think also contribute to a faster metabolism. So now my tall and lanky breastfed hyperactive baby looks emaciated when her clothes are off.
I am eager to read other comments.
On a different note, Anushka looks delightful, she hasn't changed much lookswise has she? Did you get "mundan" done at some point in time?
i hve heard that breast feeding precipitates more motion . formula fed babies have their motion regularised to once or twice and hence they tend to gain weight faster..
you are right abt the vertical growth making them look slimmer
good to hear your comments
breast feeding is exercise for the baby's cheeks- hence they look cherubic and chubby at leats on the face- my theory
anush was born bald - so never needed to do mundan- i find mundans hard to handle- rather barbaric in fact- though many people find it cute
it is only now that she is growing some hair and it is so curly it looks really short
anush is also like ananya- she is rather tall - almost 3 feet at 18 months
Here is my bit. At birth J weighed 3.5kg. J was breastfed exclusively for 4 months and she was really chubby then. She gained 1/1.2 kg every month. After I re-joined work, she gained only .5kg with all the solid food. As sm said, it also is because of the increased activities. J's other cousins who were exclusively breast fed till 6-8 months are all very chubby and an other cousin who couldn't be fed for even 4 months is very lean and has never put on much weight.
I am not sure about weaning, I am yet to.
same as sunita. abi weighed 3.25 kg at birth and steadily gained weight till 6 months when she was exclusively breast fed. Once I started going to office, she had solid foods between 9 and 6 and breastmilk after that. but she didn't gain much weight and started looking very skinny from 8 months. Though one can say after 6 months, they start moving and burn calories, I have seen that other kids which were breastfed fully for 12 months look more chubbier. So I blindly think ;) it was all because of less breast-feed :(
hmm.. my experience doesn't cofnorm to breast-fed and chubbiness.. There could be am sure, but I honestly couldn't care less on chubbiness. Sure it's cute, but am like an enraged bull when anyone says anything about kids chubbiness or otherwise :))
oh, at 18 months, they are a lot more active, so even if the intake's the same, the metabolism is up on the rise.
My experience doesn't mesh with the connection between breast-feeding and chubbiness either. But then, I think the difference lies in the babies and not in the method. All babies are different. My daughter was exclusively formula-fed because I didn't lactate. She was chubby. Then my niece was exclusively breast-fed for almost 6 months, and she was chubby too. They were still at different weights though - my daughter was heavier and I think there might have been two contributing factors - bone density and body frame. Even now, she is so skinny you could count her ribs but she is still above 90th percentile of weight for her height (the percentile would be higher if we considered it against her age and not height). I have also seen many breast-fed babies of friends who look skinny (even though at healthy weight) in face AND in body. But I think i have seen a relation between low (yet healthy) weight and early walking. Any thoughts?
In response to gettingtherenow: I've heard many people tell me that since Ananya was low(yet healthy) weight, she would walk early. Not so. She attained most of her milestones towards the higher end of the range (after giving us minor heartattacks- she's almost one now and will probably walk after her birthday. My sis in law's daughter, formula fed and and much heavier (weight) walked at 9 months. The weight probably makes it difficult for babies to pull their weight, but tell that to the determined babies as well as lazy ones.
SM: I think some babies figure out the more they delay walking, the more they get to ride in their parents' arms or in the stroller. Smart, huh? :D
oh man... I was only kidding! anyways thanks for enlightening me on this subject :)
kid
i know- hence i said credited to you not provoked by you-
u asked for it though!!
gettintherenow- very smart indeed
anush has been above avg age and above avg weight all along
she did most things early but teethed really late
My experience, A was breast fed for 5 mths and exclusively on formula after that. He was chubby till he was 15 months and then it stopped, the chubbiness, the gaining weight etc. Now at 3 1/2 you wouldn't know he is the same baby-tall, lanky and yes you can count those ribs. But why the post ? I mean i know "the chubby factor" receives lot of importance from us Indian moms like it is a reflection of good parenting, but...
gettingtherenow: TOTALLY (shakes her head in exasperation!) My brother always comments on my bulging biceps...
my two bits of gyan before i head off to the hospital...not an expert... just putting together some stuff i read.
beastmilk is not high in fat... in fact studies show that formula fed babies are fatter. breastfed babies have fewer motions - almost once in 4-5 days while formula fed babies pass a motion at least once a day. the reason being, breastmilk is custom made for babies and is completely assimilated into the body and so it takes 3-4 days before there is enough gathered up to pass a motion.. and most mothers think the baby is constipated - not to worry.. they are fine as long as they dont look like they are in pain. formula milk on the other hand is man made and a lot of it has to be excreted. it also has agents that fatten the baby up.
i do think babies are chubby as long as they are exclusively on milk ( either formula or breastmilk)mainly because they start to get mobile at the same time as you wean.. either sitting, crawling or walking... and so they end up working off all the weight!!
my son was breasfed almost exclusively with no solids till 8 months.. and i weaned at a year. and he was only slightly chubby till abt 6 months because then he crawled.. and then walked by 10 months... i thought it was all the activity.. but then someone pointed out that the OA and I are both thin... sooooo.... :o)
Sonny has always been right on the 50 percentile on his weight - but still looked chubby. Even when he dropped to the 25 percentile he looked chubby - but now he runs around all day - and suddenly even we get the feeling that he's becoming lanky - the chubby cheeks still stay as they were :)
I breast fed by little one until 6 months exclusively and she has never been that chubby.Likewise there was another friend of mine who exclusively formula fed her baby and he does look way more chubbier.I agree with others,breast milk is not high in fat as such though packed with all other goodies.Also the growth is very rapid in the first year and slows down in the second year.Hence they continue to grow and gain weight but not as rapidly as the first year.Their appetite also decreases and ofcourse they are little busy bodies now with huge loads of activities.Hence I guess all kids do get the leaner look in the second year.
orchid- it just seemed like an interesting subject and sure it turned out that way going by the comments
sts- kiddo takes after u in the cheeks dept - wonder about the cheeky dept though.... time will tell
mad momma- thanks for taking the time and dont we know how slim u r!!
well summarised fuzzy
My two bits - I think it has something to do with heredity and environment too. My baby was born chubby - 3.75 kgs and was breastfed exclusively for 6 months and I still breastfeed her at 21 months. But after 4 months, her weight gain slowed down and at 7-9 months, she didn't gain at all. We did all the tests and it was normal. My take is that I and my husband were small babies - I am still small n size...and nature was brining baby back to her normal weight. After weaning, it depends on how well ur able to get your kid to eat. And of course, a loving environment is suppsoed to make babies gain weight better.
miniyamma- my point was looking chubby or lean and weight need not go hand in hand. my kiddo no longer looks chubby but is above avg weigth !
once babies learn to stand up and walk we get a full view and that makes them look lean breast fed or otherwise
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