Moms of Underweight Kiddos...
amykins1283
member
How tall is your child, how much do they weigh, and what percentile are they? Also, what has your pediatrician told you about your child's weight?
I took DS to the pediatrician today and he was diagnosed with strep. They weighed him and he was 29 lbs even which is up from his 4 year well check in April where he was roughly 28.6 lbs or something like that (I don't really remember what came after the decimal). At the time he was classified as being in the "less than 10th%" category for BMI. Our pediatrician just kind of shrugged and said that "someone has to be on the bottom" and left it at that.
We were upstairs just now and I decided to check his height on our growth chart in the nursery and he measures in at 38 inches. Apparently weighing only 29 lbs at 38 inches tall puts him in the 3rd% for BMI which according to everything I've read means he is underweight. He is about 50th% for height and 15th% for weight. I'm a little confused about whether to go with BMI or actual weight. I do know that BMI is actually pretty accurate for kids simply because kids usually don't have tons of muscle mass that can throw off the calculation like some adults. It seems like his weight gain has been slowing over time but he is still growing well.
So, now I feel like a dope for not bringing up his weight with the pediatrician while I was at the office. I was just happy he had gained since his last appointment in April and didn't think much more of it since I just wanted to get the strep taken care of. I have to take DS2 for his 4 month well-check on July 8th which isn't too far off so we will be back but I was kind of wondering what I should do in the mean time.
The deal is that the kid just doesn't eat much of anything, except ice cream. Even his favorites. He just won't eat a large amount in one sitting. Obviously I can't give him ice cream all the time. He drinks whole milk but he also is not a big drinker, either, and just doesn't seem to get thirsty. Now that he has strep he isn't eating anything at all hardly and he always loses weight when he's sick because he won't eat for at least 3 or 4 days. I did get some Pediasure to help him with his calorie intake while he is sick.
tl;dr-Is your child underweight? What has your pediatrician said about it? How can I get my child to eat? Should I just stop being a worry wart?
Re: Moms of Underweight Kiddos...
My daughter has always been on the low end of the charts. For a long time, my pedi dismissed it and said that since dh and I were thin she was going to be thin, someone has to be on the bottom of he charts, blah blah blah. At her last appointment she hasn't gained an ounce in 6 months and grew two inches so she gave me the weight lecture. It's also imperative that she gets ample calories/protein so her body absorbs the prescription medication she's on.
She told us to track calories and make sure she was getting at least 1200 along with lots of protein. She's on both pediasure and toddler formula along with smoothies. We saw a feeding therapist through early intervention that was really helpful with expanding what dd would eat but currently she has no appetite from her meds so it doesn't really matter. I'm not sure how you'd find a feeding therapist not through ei or if insurance would even cover, but it might be worth a call to your local children's hospital to inquire.
Well, P is 35 inches & almost 24 pounds. That puts her at 25th percentile for height and below 5th percentile for weight. She eats a ton, but just burns it off by always running around.
I'm not worried about it, the pedi isn't worried about it. She's always followed her own curve. The pedi is right that someone has to be on the bottom.
If you're worried, then talk to your pedi. It sounds like you kind of already did & the pedi wasn't concerned though. If you're worried about actual caloric intake, that's different & maybe revisiting that in particular would be good to talk about.
He does seem to have issues with texture. Meat is a no-go except for fish sticks sometimes. He hates chicken (even nuggets), steak, pork, etc. He has eaten a quarter of a fast food hamburger a couple of times but I refuse to feed him that on a regular basis. And he doesn't even eat enough for it to really make a difference. Veggies are a no-go also, even in pouches. He loves fruit, cheese, bread, pretzels, chips, pizza, quesadillas, but hates rice, mashed potatoes, grits, etc. He of course is a big fan of ice cream, cake, and cookies but those aren't going to be a regular part of his diet, either. Getting him to drink enough is a struggle. He doesn't even snack all that much compared to other kids we are around.
Hmmmmmm....
This is kind of where I am at. He's obviously growing in height and he has energy most of the time and runs around like a nut like most three year-olds. He's super verbal and smart. It just seems like his height is quickly surpassing his weight gain.
I'll probably bring it up again in July when DS2 has his well-check.
Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter
"><a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker"><img border="0" src="http://tickers.myfitnesspal.com/ticker/show/825/1820/8251820.png" /></a><p style="text-align:center;width:420px;"><small>Created by MyFitnessPal - Free <a href="http://www.myfitnesspal.com">Calorie Counter</a></small></p>My brother and I were both pretty underweight as kids (wish I had that problem as an adult) and on the small side so the dr had my mom put us both on Carnation Instant Breakfast and the way my mom got us to drink it was to combine it with milk and ice cream to make a milkshake for us every day for breakfast.
Thought this might be helpful since you mentioned one of the few things your DS likes is ice cream.
I have no tips for getting yours to eat more than ice cream, but I do make a dairy free avocado ice cream that put a few pounds on DS.
Her size and slow growth were a HUGE source of worry for me up until her 2nd birthday or so. I had one pedi blame it on my being a working mom needless to say he made me cry but her other doctors have been great. For us it meant monthly weight checks for a couple of years, sneaking high calorie foods into her diet, one round of blood tests, and supplementing her milk with Carnation Instant Breakfast.
When she was still following her curve at 2 years I quit worrying about. Someone has to be at the low end of the chart, and DH and I are both small people.
ETA: stupid mobile. She is less than third percentile, since the mobile site hates characters.
B's a peanut. When he was born he was in the 70-80th percentiles. At 4 months he had a drop down to average. Then around 10 months old he started a series of never-ending ear infections til we finally got tubes. During that time he dropped down to the 10th percentile and even dipped down to the 5th.
We haven't had an ear infection in over a year (knocks on all the wood within sight) but his appetite/weight never came back up. My pedi isn't concerned because he's generally happy, hitting milestones, and seems to be maintaining this new small curve. It bothered me enough that she agreed to schedule a 2.5 month weight check (she normally just does the 2 yr visit and then the 3 yr visit). At 2.5 years, he weighed 24.8 lbs without a diaper and was 34 inches tall.
We tried supplementing with pediasure and carnation instant breakfast, but that just made him drop his milk intake so we discontinued those efforts.
My son sounds a lot like your son, he's pretty picky - likes fruit best of all, but overall just isn't that into eating. I've finally decided that I'll continue to offer him mostly healthy food and as long as he's not losing weight, I'll try to keep my stress about it internal.
BFP #2 5/27/12. EDD 2/1/13. m/c and D&C 6/21/12.
Reese actually just hit a huge growth spurt--she is still small, but not as small. She gained about 3 pounds since January. However from November to January, she only gained about 6 ounces.
She does eat, however she just runs and burns it all off. She definitely is smaller though compared to other kids. Her pedi isn't concerned--she has always been in the 20th-25th percentile for weight; height is 50%
This all started when she was 1. When she mastered walking and running. Its all a metabolism thing. Before crawling she was 50th percentile. Before walking 30th. Once she was walking 10th.
They basically wanted her to drink more milk. I didn't know it mattered at age 1... she drank lots of water and drank only 1 glass of milk a day. Pedi wanted her on Carnation Instant Breakfast since she stopped being interested in breakfast. And that seemed to do it. They wanted me to add butter and fattening stuff to her food. I did not agree with that so I didn't. I kept with the milk and instant breakfast and she has stayed in the 10th percentile. They are happy with that as am I.
You can't worry too much. What I did was look at it from a common sense point of view. Did DH and I have super fast metabolism as kids? Yes. Is LO really active? Yes. Is LO happy and healthy? Yes.
Oh and not sure if it matters, but LO has always been in 90th percentile for height.
DD is also a picky eater and I'm 100 percent certain that it has to do with texture. She's getting better at trying new foods and she has a much more extensive approved food list than she did a year ago. Just the other night we had a cheesy chicken and pasta dish for dinner. I set the DD's bowl down in front of her and she said, "This is what's for dinner? Ok, I'll deal with it." I was very proud of her, it's a major step forward for us.