I joined loads of mum groups in FB. I love it. I learn a lot from fellow mums. And I could say that these groups really helped me on this whole motherhood thingy.
I’ve been meaning to do a blog post about something I noticed from these mum groups for quite some time but I really don’t know how and where to start. Here’s the thing, almost everyday I would read a mum post something about her baby’s weight. The bottom line is, they always ALWAYS aim for a heavy-weight baby!
Mum1: My X-month old LO is ONLY X-kgs. Gusto ko sana mas bumigat pa sya.
Mum2: Grabe! Parang kulang ang milk ko sa baby ko. Kasi wala syang weight gain after X-week.
Mum3: I want my baby to be fat and chubby. What vitamins would you recommend?
Mum4: Anong weight ng babies nyo mummies? Akin kasi XX-kgs at X-months.
Ganyan! I would always, always tell them to check out the chart for the normal weight range and not worry about the scale too much. Actually, I used to be one of those mums who worry about her baby’s weight gain. Skye was a tiny baby. She only weighs 2.5kgs at birth. So when Mila saw her tiny apo, she would always tell me to feed the baby. She even recommended a formula brand once so the baby could gain weight faster. But upon seeing my “dragon” face on the mere mention of formula, she gave up and let me mother my child.
Okay. I do understand these mums. I just mentioned that I used to be one of them right? And it really stressed me out every time I’d go to the pedia and notice a very small weight gain. But then I also noticed that my pedia don’t even care about the weight. As in ni hindi nga ata binabasa. Even her secretary, don’t really care. Most of the time, I need to remind her to weigh my baby. As in. For them, it’s just another number. Slowly, and after reading and researching, I realized that I am so wrong.
Here are some of my realizations:
(1) A baby weight is NEVER an indicator or measure of how healthy the baby is. Yes. Not all fat babies are healthy. Just like not all slim babies are sakitin.
(2) There are so many factors to consider before going cray cray on your baby’s weight. Like the parents genes – baka naman lahi kayo ng payatin tapos naghahangad ka ng matabang baby. Like the baby’s birth weight. Or maybe, your child is simply on the leaner side.
(3) We all know that most fat is unhealthy (okay, not ALL huh). Right? Why do you think a lot of people are going to the gym everyday? Spending money to lose weight. Why do you think there are loads of health food delivery stores in IG? We have to understand that stuffing our baby with sugar so s/he’d gain weight is plain wrong.
(4) It’ll be so hard to force a child to lose weight. I have a neighbor here with a baby girl, when her baby’s around 1yr old I saw the baby eating chocolates. So I told her to not give her baby sweets but she said “okay lang yan Ate. Kaya ang taba nyan at ang cute eh. Takaw sa chocolates.” And she’s all smiles and very proud. But now that her daughter is 7yrs old and is obese, I would usually hear her say “pwede ba tigilan mo kakalamon ng chocolate. Kaya baboy ka na eh”. See? Kita nyo san ang mali? If only she trained her child early on to not eat and eat and eat just because you find a fat baby cute. And then you would force her to lose weight eventually naman pala. Kawawang bata.
(5) Comparing your child’s weight to others is just plain wrong, and well sorry for the term, stupid. I would usually see posts similar to Mum4 on my FB timeline. And then the other mums would post their baby’s weight and age with matching picture pa. Well, yes ang cute ng mga babies pero hello? What will happen is you saw a 2month old baby weighing 9kgs? Maiinggit? You’d wish your baby is that heavy? You’ll judge the mum because her baby is overweight? Ano? Please take note that every child is unique. Your baby may be on the leaner side. Maybe she’s small. And so what? As long as she’s happy and thriving and hitting milestones, then it should be fine. Why do you need to stress yourself out by comparing your child to others?
(6) Your baby’s weight gain is not a contest. Allow your child to take her sweet time in gaining weight. Skye was on the lower bracket of the normal weight gain until she’s around 2months. Then she was on the middle or upper bracket of the normal weight for her age. Then at 9months her weight gain slowed down. In all those instances, I never heard my pedia say she’s bothered. She only looked at me and Tatay after measuring Skye’s height one pedia visit and then recommended a vitamin. Hahaha! Skye was kinda small for her age daw but upon seeing me and Tatay, tumawa nalang sya. Sabay hirit ng, mag iiba pa naman yan. Pwede pa yan tumangkad, patulugin lang sa tanghali. Hahaha! Ganun din sa weight. Maliit ang baby ko and she’s not super fat.
We all should aim for a healthy baby. Not fat babies please. And let’s stop the mentality that fat babies are better. Bow.
xoxo,
Reigne
Musings
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