My 2-month-old son double birth weight

[TexasErin]

I took my son for his 2 month check-up yesterday and his pediatrician gave me the impression that he is gaining too much too fast. His birth weight was 6 lbs 13 oz and now he is 13 lbs 10 oz. He is strictly breast fed and neither myself nor my husband are overweight. He is 24 inches long.
Has anyone else had babies that did this? Should I be concerned that I am overfeeding him? One of his family nicknames is Gaston because he is such a big strapping boy.

 

[lulugirl]

Personally I wouldn't worry at all! My DD doubled her birth weight at about 3 months. As a baby she was always a "chunky monkey", her thighs had sooooo many rolls! I never really worried about it, babies eat as much, or as little as they need to! As soon as DD started walking she thinned out considerably. Now at 3 yrs, she is still at a healthy weight!
Enjoy your healthy baby boy!

 

[Jenn Lynn]

Do not be worried! This is totally normal. Most Doctors go by a chart that is for bottle fed babies.
I take it you are feeding on demand? The baby knows when he needs to eat. Do not be worried and follow your instincts!
My DD was exclusively BF for the first 9 months of her life. She also doubled body weight.

Congratualtions and enjoy these baby days. Soon he will be running all over!

 

[Kermit]

I agree with the others. If your pediatrician really thinks it's an issue, I'd consider at least getting a second opinion and possibly changing doctors. Most doctors believe that breastfed babies will grow and gain weight in the way that's appropriate for their own bodies. The world would be boring if everyone were average.

He'll probably start to trim down a lot when he's old enough to start crawling and getting around. He won't gain weight like that forever.

 

[cinlee3]

I wouldn't worry about it all. Since he is strictly breastfed you know he is getting exactly the nutrition he needs. Be happy that you have a healthy child and don't concentrate on how much he weighs.

I sometimes think don't realize how much anxiety their comments can cause for new moms. You are doing a great job Mom, keep it up.

Just wanted to add my DS weighed 8 lbs 10 oz at birth and by 2 months was 15 lbs. He was a chubby baby but now can hardly keep the weight on at 17. My other DS was 7 lbs 4 oz and did not gain weight at 2 months he wasn't even 8 lbs. He was scrawny and I had one Dr. even yell at me and make me cry because he wasn't gaining (needed to be 10 lbs to have surgery for a cleft palate). He is now a very big boy at 12.

 

[Pooh93]

Sounds like a healthy boy to me!!!

 

[KathleenC]

You can't overfeed a breast fed baby.
My son weighed 6 lbs. 6oz. at birth and weighed a bit over 14 lbs. at his 2 month check up and a little over 20 at 5 months-on just breast milk. He was not long either.
I was a little concerned about it, but my pediatrician was not at all. He was a little amazed about it, though. His weight gain slowed considerably after 6 months although he was still a very chubby baby. After starting to walk after a year, he just looked like a normal toddler.
He's grown up now and has no weight problems.


We called him Moose.

 

[gravymom]

Erin,

It sounds like your milk agrees with your baby. My almost 14 mo. old weighed 22 1/2 pounds at 1 yr. She still is on the breast (she won't eat solids) and my doctor feels she is doing great. She is quite a chunky monkey - doesn't have wrists - just fat rolls. Sounds to me like you have a healthy baby on your hands. Don't worry about the weight. My 4 year old (5 in March) weighs 50 lbs. and is 46" tall and she is solid but not fat. I would consider trying another pediatrician if you are not in synch with this one (not necessarily look for one that tells you what you want to hear, but one that fits your needs a little better.) Good luck and keep the breast feeding up. It is the best thing you can do for your child.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Another mother whose DS grew fast. He was born at 7lbs.0oz., almost 13 lbs at 2 months, 16lbs.4oz. at 4 months. And purely breast fed. But you know what happened when he learned to walk, or I should say "run"? He ran it all off, never had a weight problem. As the pediatrician kept telling me-when he was young he was taking in stores so he could burn it off. So good luck! At least I didn't have a weight problem chasing him all the time!

 

[poohandwendy]

LOL, don't worry...my eldest DD tripled her birth weight (6 lbs 1 oz)at 3 months (18 lbs)! She was exclusively breastfed also. She never tasted anything with preservatives or sugar until a year. At a year she weighed 33 lbs. She certainly was a roli-poly! (our nickname for her was 'Piglet'- we stopped calling her that when she started school, we figured her friends may not understand our humor)
She was very healthy and had her first 'sick' visit to the doctors at 4 yrs old. The only thing was she was a late walker...13 months, I think she had a hard time balancing all of that weight, LOL. She 'thinned out' when she was about 5. She will be 16 next month and is 5'7' and 125 lbs...
(my children (3) have always been in the 95 percentile range with height, but she was the one who tipped the scales, the other 2 were more in the 50-75% range when they were babies)

My 3 yo niece is very tiny (short) and weighs about 30 lbs, go figure ...

 

[Ranatra]

I agree with the others. Nothing to worry about.
My son doubled his birth weight at 6 weeks and weighed in at 18 lbs.!! He was strictly breasfed. My pediatrician used to refer to him as a linebacker!
He's 23 now, and is 6'5" !

 

[becka]

WOW!!! Now I understand why everyone keeps telling me how little DS is. He is a little over 16 lbs. now and he is 7 1/2 months old. He is a little on the small side (in the 20-25% range) but compared to these other kids he is positively tiny. Of course he started out at 5 lbs. 6 oz.

I am sure that you have nothing to worry about. All babies have their individual schedules for these kinds of things. It is just one more thing for us moms to worry about because we obviously don't have enough to worry about .

LOL P&W...we also call our DS "Piglet" on occassion but for a different reason!

 

[Serena]

Like everyone else said, you have nothing to worry about.