Question for Moms of taller/heavier babies.....
Do any of you moms of heavier/taller babies get tired of people telling them how "big" their baby is? There are so many special things about my son...can't you say "Look at those big blue eyes!" or "What a great smile!" instead of "Ten months? Wow -- he's a giant!". Just sticking him with such an unflattering label seems so hurtful. As someone who spent my teenage years with a weight problem that led to an eating disorder, I really hate how much stock society puts on size. I'm thin now, but I still carry a lot of emotional scars from being heavy and I don't want that for my children.
Anyone else besides me tired of dealing with this?
Michele
Mommy to Gavin, 12/4/03
RE: Question for Moms of taller/heavier babies.....
Nolan fits the bill. He is mostly tall for his age & not so much chubby any longer. It didn't really bug me though, not sure why. I do think it's funny how people imply though that boys should be big & husky & girls should be petite flowers. I weighed 9.8 to Nolan's 9.2. :)
The part that really bugs me is when people assume he is older, he is the size of a 2 yo & they think he should be doing this or that. I have to remind/inform people he is only 15 mos old!
Christy, mommy to Nolan 7/22/03
http://lilypie.com/baby2/030722/1/7/2/-7/.png
RE: Question for Moms of taller/heavier babies.....
Okay, maybe I'm weird, but I'm acutally a bit sad that DS has moved from being off the charts (99th %ile and above) to being around the 50th. I loved knowing I grew such a big, healthy, handsome baby! It may be just one of the things about him, and certainly has nothing to do with his value as a person, but I loved people's response when they learned I had such a big baby! So, like I said, maybe I'm weird!
RE: Question for Moms of taller/heavier babies.....
schuyler was a super chunky baby, and i got a lot of "what are you feeding him?" or "oh, you poor underfed baby! ha ha" or yelling to a friend, "you have got to come see the size of this 2 month old!"
now that he is 19 months, he is very tall (off the chart) and skinny (75th percentile) so they just think he is older than he is. folks don't really get it that he is tall for his age just from looking at him. so people ask him his name all the time. and i answer because he can't say his own name (sky-ler is still pretty hard! it isn't a quick sound like "jon") then i get this look like, "um, i was asking him" or "why don't you let HIM answer" or even, "poor 2 year old doesn't know his own name..."
a teenager asked me recently "he doesn't talk yet?" like it was weird. so i told her he was only 18 months old, so while he could talk and say more than 50 words, she just might not understand the words. then she said, "ooooooooh! he is only one!!!"
RE: Question for Moms of taller/heavier babies.....
No, I am sad, too! Brig is really thinning out and I miss his chunky baby days! I don't remember (hindsight is 20/20 of course) minding when people noticed his size- because at least they were noticing him! I was so proud that he was such a healthy size- especially since dh and I are fairly small people. People use to say to me, "Your husband must be a big guy!" Little did they know he's only about 5'10" and fit!
RE: Question for Moms of taller/heavier babies.....
I just wanted to say that I LOVE chunky babies, and if I were to comment on your son's size, I would intend it to be complimentary! Like the previous poster said, I was sad when DS thinned out.
As for the ruder comments, well, people are going to say clueless things no matter what. I'm alternately told that my son is small for his age and large for his age. I personally think fielding rude comments when I was pregant was preparation for dealing with comments about my children.
I wouldn't necessarily take the comments about his size as criticism, or as a social preoccupation with thinness. Babies are wonderful, somewhat mysterious beings in tiny little packages, and I think the miraculous fact that we all start out so small inspires people to comment on size.
I would encourage you to enjoy your son's chubby babyness while you can -- they grow up so quickly!
Bethany
It's a Boy!
William Eric
6/03
RE: Question for Moms of taller/heavier babies.....
I've been at both ends in the past two years. At 9 months, Colin was in the 10th percentile for weight and 90th for height. At 2 years, he is now in the 80th for weight and off the charts for height! I often hear from people who think that he is three or older, and therefore should be doing three year old things. But honestly, I don't mind. I just smile and say, nope he's only two - just a big guy like his daddy (who is quite tall). I've found that people don't mean anything by it, and when I respond sweetly, they will often stop and talk about other things about Colin. It's like once they get past his size and understand his age, they will take a couple of minutes to catch a glimpse of who he really is. Size is so easy to comment on too because it is so readily apparent (you can see it at a glance or from a distance), whereas seeing pretty eyes or a sweet smile requires being at the right angle at the right moment.
Of course, Colin's size may be more readily apparent because I am only 5'4", and he's already 3' 3"! Anyone want to take a bet on when he'll pass me up in height??
RE: Question for Moms of taller/heavier babies.....
I don't mind it too much-- though you're right, it's almost always the first people notice about my DS. And right now he's in desperate need of a haircut, so the second thing they notice is his 'adorable baby curls' which sometimes makes me feel like they're saying, 'OK, Mom, get this boy a haircut already!' I do like having him on the bigger end though-- for instance it eases my mind when more of dinner ends up in the dog's mouth than the kid's mouth on occasion :)
My mom finally looked my stats up, and I was a chubby infant, but leaned out by the time I was 3, was always a bean pole then, and people always commented on my size. Still do. I think no matter what size (height or weight) you are, if you're different from that 50% in either direction people are going to notice. Hopefully their comments, should they make any, are kind.
RE: Question for Moms of taller/heavier babies.....
DD has always been at the top, and the only thing that bugged me is people that were *concerned* about her size (I think it was truly because she is a girl, and in some people's minds girls shouldn't be so big). Other than that, I was kinda proud that just breastmilk grew such a big baby ;-) You could always tell people, "Yep, there's more to love!"
Try not to worry about it, sometimes I think people are saying it as a compliment, or they are just trying to start a conversation.
Lisa
RE: Question for Moms of taller/heavier babies.....
Well, I try to take stuff like that with a grain of salt and figure they mean well, and want to say something about my darling kid. LOL.
It gets annoying though, I will say I have people saying it to me often and my Ds is NOT big for his age (anymore...I had a chunk until he started crawling). I never know what to say back to them. I usually just smile or something...that seems more polite than, "Actually he's not, but that's not a very nice thing to say anyhow."
I think it is just a double-standard, that because we have boys they think it's a compliment. I doubt anyone would EVER say that about a girl.