My baby is skinny. She is not scary, Lindsey Lohan skinny or anything, but she isn’t what you expect a 4 month old to look like. When making introductions to friends and family, her size is usually one of the first three things that come up. Normally it is a polite comment: Oh, she is a little peanut! Look at those little legs! She is so mini!
At first my wife and I were a little sensitive about it. But so far, everything is developing just fine. She is on the growth chart, she is just near the bottom. She is growing in length normally, gaining weight, and hitting all of her developmental milestones. She is just skinny.
So I don’t know why it bothered me so much when this past weekend a woman held a door for us as we wheeled our stroller into a store and then turned to her husband and said, in shocked tone, “Wow, that is a skinny baby!” I didn’t hear her say it, but my wife, who was trailing behind, said that the woman didn’t try to lower her voice or whisper.
Yes, I know my daughter is skinny. An 11-12 pound (she hasn’t been weighed in about two months so this is a guess) four-month-old is not the chubby, rolly-polly baby we are used to seeing. I know this. That being said, I don’t think it is the place of a perfect stranger to make a comment about it behind my back. If I had an overweight child walking behind me, would the woman have said, “Wow, that kid is overweight.” What if I had an ugly dog, would she have made a comment? For some reason people may think that because the baby can’t understand you, anything you say is fine. But I can hear you! I wanted to seek the woman out and walk behind her making comments on her appearance. “Nice mom jeans. Wow, letting yourself go there a little, huh? Time for another jelly donut.” But I am better than that. I decided to bash her on the internet instead.
Later in the day my wife and I were eating an ice cream cone and a woman came over to see the contents of our car seat. She oohed and awwed, and told us how cute and then said, “what a beautiful little petite baby.” I smiled and thanked her. I know she was thinking, “wow, that is a skinny baby.” But she held back. Baby’s come in all shapes and sizes, some are plump, some not. Some have rolls, some have a single roll. I’m sure my daughter is going to turn out to be an average sized adult. She is just taking a different route there.
I hate it too. Sadie has always been "skinny" and the comments are frustrating. They seem to imply that there is something wrong or unhealthy about being smaller. Perhaps our daughters are just going to be cute petite people! Don't let it bother you! If the biggest thing you have to worry about is a lack of rolls, I'd say you guys are doing pretty good. Olive looks great!
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