FertilityZone

Hi all,

My 14 month old is a heavy girl and has been in the 98th percentile for weight for about 8 months. She has lost a bit of the baby chub now that she is mobile (has only been crawling/cruising for a few months) and is now in the 91st percentile. However, over the past few weeks it seems she has put on a load of weight.

I am worried that I am overfeeding her. Should I even be worried about this at this age?

I found this website: Little People's Plates which is wonderful but it did say I was putting too much high fat/sugar in her diet. These come from cheese, yoghurt, butter, jam, diluted juice/squash.

In regards to portion sizes, this has recently increased because she is using more energy and is more hungry. A dinner portion might be 4-5 heaped tablespoons. Lunch is a sandwich (ham and cheese), breakfast is one slice of toast and a small box of raisins. Snacks throughout the day are 1 piece of cheese, one pot of yoghurt, 1 clementine and if still hungry one banana.

How does this sound? What can I be doing better? I know dieting/low-fat is not a good idea and she really doesn't look terribly overweight but how can I help her to slim down more? She is constantly on the move, so physical activity is plentiful... am I just being silly and worrying over nothing?

Thank you both for your comments. DH and I were both very chubby babies ourselves but were slender by age 4-5. As mums it is just so easy to find fault in what you are doing.

My LO is good at drinking 9oz of milk in the morning and 9oz at night. I believe recommended milk at this age is 12-18oz, so I am happy with that. I am paranoid with making sure she has enough calcium, so snacks each day are not only fruit but cheese, fromage frais and yoghurt. To cut the fat (and sugar) content down, I could stop giving these as treats every day couldn't I? Just give them ocassionally - what do you think?

Hi Flic - I know there is nothing wrong with it per say. But I give it every day, multiple portions, even though calcium intake is good via milk. I am just worried that it is creating a high fat diet?

Flic - you sound like we are both on the same wavelength with food. I don't really care how much she eats of her meal, just as long as she tries it - be that three mouthfuls or 10. As for icecream, Lily has had it twice in her life and chocolate - she has tried it and doesn't like it.

PP - thanks for the message. Why are we so ready to point fault at ourselves huh?