big baby - dealing with bigger babies

RNeeley1010 wrote: hi there, I am new here. I was just wondering if there is anyone out there with a big baby such as mine. he weighed 10 lbs. 8 oz. and was 22 inches long when he was born. I had gestational diabetes, but the doctor says that the babies usually normalize in size after they are born. mine has not. he is now 4 1/2 months old, and weighs 20 lbs. 10 1/2 oz. and is 26 7/8 inches long. he is in the 97th percentile for length and is off the charts for his weight. I am having troubles with his car seat because he is in a toddler car seat facing forward because of where the straps are, because he is so tall, but yet he is not old enough, according to the laws to face forward. I am trying to make an appointment with the highway patrol to help me with car seat safety, but they haven't returned my call. he is wearing 6-9 month clothing, but not for much longer. my Son's name is Gavin, again he is 4 1/2 months old. he is hitting all of his milestones as he should be, he even rolls over, which the doctor was surprised because of his size. he isn't this rolly polly of a baby, but he does have chubby legs, and huge cheeks. I love him to death! this is my first baby. I was just wondering if there was anyone out there who is dealing with the same things or things even closely related. please write.

reb n

MommyToAshley replied: Hello and Welcome!

Wow, he is a big boy! My daughter was almost 9lbs at birth and I thought she was big. She's stayed in the 95%ile for height and weight, but your son just seems to be a big boy. If he is hitting his milestones, then that is a good sign. What do the doctors have to say? Have they checked for anything that could cause him to be big for his age? Or, could it be genetics?

As for the carseat, can you face the toddler seat backwards? I am not sure how that works with what you were describing with the straps. I'd recommend that you keep trying to reach the highway patrol and get some answers. I think someone had posted a link to a site that had all of the locations for car seat safety checkpoints. I'll see if I can find that post.

Please keep us posted on how you and Gavin are doing!

MommyToAshley replied: Here's the link to the car seat fitting inspection stations. Just put in your zip code and it will list all the places in your area. Maybe you could call one of these stations for advice

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/childps/

Hope that helps

Kaitlin'smom replied: Wow what a big boy, I dont have any advice on that for you since my daughter is on the petite side, but I do have a toddler car seat that is able to be faced backwards, I got it when she was I think 9-10 months old and used it rear facing until she was a little over 1. I hope you can reach them to get answers and maybe can find a seat better suited for him, if they say what you have is not good.

Oh and Welcome looking foward to getting to know you better!

amynicole21 replied: Wow!! He really IS a big boy I highly recommend getting a toddler seat that faces backwards. At this age, even if he is big, his neck muscles are not strong enough to avoid injury like whiplash, but being in a rear-facing seat would help a lot. There is a car seat safety board that has experts in the car seat safety field here: Car Seat Safety Board

Good luck, and welcome to the board!

coasterqueen replied: Hi there. He is a big boy. My Kylie weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces at birth and 21 inches long. While she was not close to your son at birth she has continued to go above and beyond the charts for height and weight so far. She's roughly 36 inches now and wearing 3T and 4T clothes. Everyone that sees her says "wow, you have a BIG kid". Poor Kylie, lol. Hopefully she'll slow down soon, lol. She is just soooOOooo tall for her age it's hard to find clothes and we even had trouble finding a tricycle that fit her.

There are many *convertible* car seats that can be both rear facing and forward facing. We had to get Kylie a convertible car seat fairly early. They hold children up to 40 pounds and I don't remember the heighth but I know Kylie isn't there yet. Her poor legs dangle quite a bit off the seat though. Do you have him in a *booster seat* or a convertible seat. Can you tell me exactly what kind of seat it is? I would be very concerned about a child that young or even my DD's age being in a booster seat.

A&A'smommy replied: Hi and welcome!
He does sound like a chunk but I bet as long as he is hitting his milestones and your only feeding him healthy foods then I'm sure he is fine I believe the other girls gave you some good advice. Are you breastfeeding that should help with the size thing but I'm not sure. Just don't let him get unhealthy kind of weight and I'm sure you wont you sound like a great mother! Good luck with the carseat!

RNeeley1010 replied: hello, thank you all for the support, it's been a little rough over the past couple of days for me for some reason dealing with this, I just really am concerned about his safety when we are out and about. but I have a convertable car seat, and am waiting for 3 different car seat safety people to call me back to set up an appointment. I have a convertable car seat, but my delemna is that he is tall, and therefore he should be using the top notches on the car seat, and the instructions state that the top slots are for forward facing. I have turned the car seat to rear facing, and have dropped the shoulder belts to the bottom slots, but it falls pretty low below his shoulders, it looks very uncomfortable. I am just hoping that the experts will call me back and help me with this one. to answer some other questions, I was breast feeding in the beginning, and then it was just awy too hard, he was wanting to eat every hour, he just didn't seem to be getting full. He eats 6-8 oz. of formula every 3-4 hours. at night he eats some veggies, stage 1, and then 6 oz. of milk. the doctor was a little concerned about his size, and asked that we try and give him more water to try and fill him up with less calories. we have tried that in the past, and I do give him more water because it's so hot, but it doesn't always seem to help deter him from wanting his milk. he is a sweetie pie, and he is so happy, and so laid back. the doctor was also surprised that he was already rolling over, since bigger babies it tends to be harder to do those things. so she was impressed with that. he is pretty active, but he also just really goes with the flow. when I get kodak reloaded onto my computer I will download a picture for you all to see.

again thank you for all the support. I appreciate it.

reb n

amynicole21 replied: I would put the straps in the highest notch and keep him rear facing. I can't think of a reason they would say that the straps were for forward facing only... but I'm no expert. I think your best bet would be to post on this board http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-ppcarseats - there are techs on there who can answer all of your questions.

Good luck!

Kaitlin'smom replied: he is 4 1/2 months right? did your doc say it was okay to give him milk so early? I am a bit concerend about that.

also myt convertable seat has three strap positions, it to says the top is for foward facing only I dont know the reasons for that either butI was wondering if there was a middle position you could try.

Also I would keep calling and get an appointment with some one, its your childs safty at risk, if it were me I would call twice a day until some one helped me and express how much I am concerend for my childs safty.

coasterqueen replied: Let me tell you one thing I learned from car seat techs from the many many times we've taken ours in. The straps are supposed to fall below the shoulder and come up over the shoulder. They should NEVER NEVER be above the shoulder and come down to cross the shoulder. Does that make sense? If not I can take a pic of Kylie in her car seat tonight to show you. It may look uncomfortable but I was told they are NOT safe if it is above because they could wedge out of the straps in a car accident if it hit just right.

I'd be more than happy to take a pic of Kylie tonight to show you.

As far as your child being a big baby.....can you answer a few things for me? Are you and/or your husband big in anyway? Sorry to ask that question, but what I'm trying to get at is if you or you DH is big framed that is more than likely the reason your son is. Doctors are so DENSE and don't think of this, REALLY. I've come across it many many times with breastfeeding mothers I talk to and it's really no different in that respect for a formula fed baby.

IF you and/or your DH is petite framed then were you or DH big babies? This is another factor to weigh here. Our PED said Kylie is pretty big for her age but he sees it all the time and said she'll just be one that will be big for awhile then all of a sudden she'll "string-bean" out. As he called it. While I was very concerned when she was little because everyone else's baby was average or small and mine was considered bigger than normal...I'm not worried now. So try not to worry.

Your PED set off a red flag to me already if he/she is telling you to give your baby milk. Is that what they are doing? Babies NEED formula or breastmilk for the first 12 months of life for *optimal* brain growth and development. Regular milk does not provide the nutrients a child needs for that ideal growth. So IMO I'd be questioning your PED on that one. Makes me a bit suspicious about that and why he is SO concerned about his weight.

((HUGS))

Kaitlin'smom replied:
please do cause now I am thinking Kaitlins straps are in the wrong place......

amynicole21 replied: OK, just did some more research. Apparently, it is ok to have the straps in the top slot rear facing, but you can't use anything BUT the top slots forward facing. The reason is that the top slots are reinforced, and that is VERY important when the seat is forward facing because most collisions are front end, and if the straps are secured only to plastic rather than reinforced they can pull out. Here is a link to the thread I found the info in:

http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/mes...ats&msg=38792.1

Also, I was wrong - Karen was right! The straps should NOT connect to the seat above his shoulder's! They should connect at or below instead.

Kaitlin'smom replied: well okay I am getting my manuel back out tongiht, cause if I remember I could use the middle and top slotts for the FF and the middle and lower for rear facing. I will have to double check myself on that, and I think I do have the straps to high, it just seemed so uncomfortable to her the other way, I just recently moved them but I guess I will have to do some checking on my seat (wish I could remember the brand right now) and see what it says

coasterqueen replied: I will take a picture tonight. I didn't even look at my manual, I talked directly with the car seat tech at the Secretary of State. I'm not sure how many slots Kylie's seat has on them but I know we have her forward facing and hers was at the top slot and the tech told me it was very very unsafe, so we went down to the next slot.

coasterqueen replied: After reading that link Amy, I'm not confident in my tech's answer SIGH, I guess I need to research it further. Maybe I need to make an appointment with ours and see what she says. It's so hard to get in there though I have to take off work to do it.

This is ALL confusing me, lol.

Jamison'smama replied: Yikes--all of that makes me concerned--if only the top slot is reinforced and the top slot is above the shoulders what do we do?

RNeeley1010 replied: well thanks for all the advice. I am doing what I can. no my doctor didn't suggest milk, I am giving him formula. and no we aren't big in our family. but I guess I was more looking for someone in the same position I am, who is coming across the same frustrations and dilemna's I am with a bigger than average baby. I will be calling the CHP officers again, I know one is out of town, and the other I need to call again. thank you again, but I'm not sure if this is what I was looking for.

reb n

coasterqueen replied: Good luck! Sorry you didn't find what you were looking for.

amynicole21 replied:
Sorry, I think your thread got hijacked and spun out of control! Thanks for posting, though - you brought up a really good topic and got us all to take measures to make sure our own babies are safer