Had some 'interesting' advice from my HV today at clinic. . .

[DonnaBallona]

So, at clinic today, my HV recommended to me that I add double cream to ALL of Brooke's meals and give her 3+ yoghurts a day to help "fatten her up"

My daughter is 12lb 12oz at 9 months I know, I realise she is below the 0.4th centile for weight and height-BUT she was also just 2lb at birth and finds it hard to put on weight! She has 3 varied meals a day, plus milk-although usually only around 12/13 oz a day and is soooo happy and healthy.

Honestly-as if im going to start giving her double cream at every meal.

 

[saraendepity]

o my god i cannot believe she said this!!! why not just tell you to feed her lard???? so long as she is happy and having wet and dirty nappies and following her ownl litle growth curve whats the problem???

wories me the 'advice' they give out !

 

[funkym]

I Know how you feel hun, I've got to take Kian to a dietician at the hospital tomorrow as he is nealry 8 months old and only weighs 16lbs xxx

 

[Faerie]

I too find that shocking advice! Sofia wasn't anywhere near as small as Brooke obviously, 2.3kg at birth, dropped to 1.8kg... and she's never been tracked on any scale! My paeditrician just follows how she's doing, rather than how she's doing compared to other babies.

Anyway, isn't there always a risk of "fattening" up prem babies that they always feel like they need extra weight and end up being overweight?

 

[Hevz]

I had advice like this with Abi...she's always been below the last line on the chart. We were referred to paediatricians and we saw 3 diggerent ones over the next year and all of them advised strongly against doing this. It's quite common to be advised to add double cream and butter to baby's food just to deliberately fatten them up but long term this is very unhealthy as it won't be naturally occuring fat that they'll built up it will be deliberately overfeeding type fat which can cause health probs.


Obviously the choice is yours but we never planned on doing it anyway and luckily the paediatricians advice was just what we wanted to hear.

Abi is of slight build but is strong as an ox....she's just designed to be tiny. Feeding her up would just make her fatter not grow any bigger



Look into it further, google and get second opinion....there's lots of conflicting evidence but it will give you a more informed choice. You can always sneak an extra snack into her diet like a yogurt as the HV said but deliberately adding fat to food isn't a good idea in my opinion


Good luck babe xxxxxxx

 

[embojet]

Get her eating Big Macs too!

 

[Faerie]

Get her eating Big Macs too!

Only if they're pureed with double cream, obviously..

 

[ChloesMummy]

I Know how you feel hun, I've got to take Kian to a dietician at the hospital tomorrow as he is nealry 8 months old and only weighs 16lbs xxx

Charlotte only weighs 15lbs and is 8mth, I have been worried about her weight but my HV said not to as she is gaining (slowly) and looks healthy not a 'skint rabbit' (her words)

Just goes to show how different the 'advice' can be, its worrying. x

 

[DonnaBallona]

^^ PMSL embojet-perhaps I shall tell them next week I took their advice and gave her a big mac meal-with a side of double cream

Hevz-thanks for your long post. I do NOT intend to fatten my daughter up-im happy with the way she is-she IS putting on weight after all, just very slowly she generally puts on 3 or 4oz a week. The Peadiatricians are concerned about her weight but they're happy she's gaining if nothing else. Her Daddy and I are both tall and slim so she was never going to be big anyways

Im a bit miffed that this is what they're telling mummies of small babies though-imagine if I took her word and started doing it?!!!

I wouldnt mind if they had checked her bloomin' red book and NOTICED she's on lactose free milk, for a reason!!! xx

 

[embojet]

Honestly they have no idea . I overheard someone with a 'big' baby at my clinic getting told to give him salads and lots of water.

 

[DonnaBallona]

Imagine the nappies after that lot. . . *heave*

 

[Serene123]

Oh my God! Mine told me to give Caitlyn chocolate! I do give her chocolate sometimes but I was so shocked they suggested it!

It's ridiculous. Caitlyn was 6lb 15oz at birth and is on the 0.4th percentile for height and 2nd for weight. There's nothing wrong with having tiny babies x

 

[Jkelmum]

I was told this with katie who ended up tubefed in hospital for awhile ...i was told i had to give her fatty food and let her eat what she wants ....so now at 10 yrs old shes still a skiny mite and also the most fussy eater you have ever met ...Ive learnt a gain is a gain xxx

Lily at the moment is only gaining 1~3oz when i take her and they keep telling me to up her solids ...when i up them her milk goes down so to me she doesnt need them uping cos her milk is more important xx

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

At least you're sensible enough to realise that was stupid advice. Some people will do anything their HV recommends!

 

[Faerie]

It's not really fair though, and there are going to be a lot of people who do believe it, because they won't think to question the "authority". Mums have enough to worry about without having to worry if their HV is talking out of a hole...

 

[polo_princess]

Remember to fry all of her food and get it nice and greasy before you puree it down

Its silly, as long as they are gaining and not losing whats the problem, be it 1oz or 1lb, like others have said some children are just of a small build

 

[Babyshambelle]

Do you know what, the more I read on forums like this/hear from friends/experience myself of health visitors it just shocks and disgusts me the way that a lot of them are allowed to carry on practicing with their current level of 'expertise'.

Obviously I'm not generalising and I do accpet that there are probably just as many excellent health visitors out there that don't get the praise they deserve. However, I find it absolubtly crazy that they are fully trained nurses who have then gone on to do an extra qualification in health visiting.....yet they STILL give out this nonsense advice. How long will mothers have to put up with the system being this way, and these gems of 'advice' being given out before something changes??

I am fully aware that health visitors exist in their current form for a reason, and whilst it would be amazing to have specialist paediatric doctors doing the job, economically it wouldn't be viable, nor practical.

I really wonder how much 'refresher' training they recieve, and if they do, how much of it they actually take onboard?? Considering that the official advice for things like weaning/breastfeeding etc etc is changing so rapidly, and their advice seems to be quite often VERY outdated and unsafe (this thread is just one example of that).

Sorry for the rant, but i'm totally sick and tired of it now, I had a really awful night the night before last with Olivia and her bad sleeping at the moment and went to clinic to get her weighed...and when the HV asked "is everything OK?" I just smiled and said yes, even though my head was killing through tiredness, I'd had about 3 hours broken sleep, I could have thrown her out of the window at 6am etc etc...just so I didn't have to hear the fatal words "ready for weaning" and "baby rice" when infact the words she should be using are "growth spurt" and "teething".

Sorry for hijacking this thread, I just hate the fact that I'd rather ask advice from a bloody internet forum than the people who's job it is to help me! It makes me want to write a letter.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

babyshambelle I'm totally with you, as you probably know...
Refresher training, if not already given, really needs to happen.
I am so often shocked at the advice girls on here have been given by their HVs.
You just have to do your own research. I'm endlessly grateful to the girls on here who have encouraged me to do this, when I previously 'bought' loads of myths that my HV was still perpetuating

 

[princess_bump]

wow! what a hv i don't no much about premmie's and weight gain, but i do think mum know's best! and fat is just terrible for us all! sure babies need good sources of everything, but cream in every meal! wow!!
i have to agree with Babyshambelle - our hv was a bloody nightmare with maddi for the first few months, for the complete opposite with your Brooke - maddi was 9lb 3.5oz at birth and put on weight quickly at first, infact i was told if continued and was weaned early, she'd develop bowel cancer! needless to say i did lay into her big time! and now maddi is fine, very tall and slim, and wasn't weaned till 6.5months, not that it matters!
i do think that it is thing we have places to chat like here, otherwise us mums might not no that others receive terrible advice from their hv's!!
brooke sounds like shes doing great honey, which is obviously a credit to you and your OH x

 

[sublime_ivy]

yeah and while your at it why not give her a big dose of sugar. pfff what silly and dangerous advice.