falling off height curve -- moms of boys

2010mommy! · June 2013

hiya, my son turned 4 months old on monday. he has been dropping in height percentiles based on the WHO charts:

21 inches at birth

21 inches at two weeks (70-75th percentile)

22 inches at two months (10th percentile)

23 1/4 inches at four months (2nd percentile)

anyone else in a similar situation? i don't care that he isn't "tall"...but i am worried that he's dropping in percentiles

chimneygrl · June 2013

We have dropped too. We went from 99 percentile to 50.

PandasMama0626 · June 2013

My son is 18 weeks as of friday and we are going through something similar. He was in the 10th percentiles for everything at birth and his 2 month visit. Then at his 4 month he dropped to the 5th percentile in weight only. Hes not the best eater (he only gets in 23-27 ozs a day) and he never eats full "meals". Usually 1-2 ozs every 30 mins to an hour while awake. He gets BM only but we are now having to add a high cal formula supplement to his BM bottles and he is HATING it. I'm not sure what we are going to do if he hasn't put on weight by next week. Hes only 12.5 lbs right now at 18 weeks

Hes super active so hes literally burning everything he is eating. The dr. thinks its a GI problem coupled with a short jaw making it hard for him to get enough but I don't know if I believe the jaw thing. If you can add a high cal supplement to his diet, that may help in the short term, but your little guy may not be eating enough to grow and stay on the curve. Is his doctor concerned?

shoff_1999 · June 2013

DS1 has always been on the small side but the pedi has never been concerned because he has been growing in his own curve. He is 4 now and she "accidentally" mentioned that he is in the 3rd percentile.

pitterpatter129 · June 2013

I think when they are newborns it makes sense. Everyone is really born about the same size it seems, around 20-22" and 7-9lbs, then the tall people grow and the short people don't. My DS1 was born average length and weight, but quickly moved to about the 14% and stayed there. I felt like as long as his height and weight were the same percentile, then he was well proportioned.

poppyc8 · June 2013

My DH was born at the 2nd percentile and he stayed that way until high school. now he is 6 feet 2 inches so sometimes boys just grow at their own pace.

jahjbmr · June 2013

PandasMama0626:
My son is 18 weeks as of friday and we are going through something similar. He was in the 10th percentiles for everything at birth and his 2 month visit. Then at his 4 month he dropped to the 5th percentile in weight only. Hes not the best eater he only gets in 2327 ozs a day and he never eats full "meals". Usually 12 ozs every 30 mins to an hour while awake. He gets BM only but we are now having to add a high cal formula supplement to his BM bottles and he is HATING it. I'm not sure what we are going to do if he hasn't put on weight by next week. Hes only 12.5 lbs right now at 18 weeks : Hes super active so hes literally burning everything he is eating. The dr. thinks its a GI problem coupled with a short jaw making it hard for him to get enough but I don't know if I believe the jaw thing. If you can add a high cal supplement to his diet, that may help in the short term, but your little guy may not be eating enough to grow and stay on the curve. Is his doctor concerned?

How much did your little guy weigh at birth? My LO is only 10lbs 15 oz at 17 weeks and 4 percentile. She was born at 5lbs 15

Also OP, my little girl was 20 inches when born, at 1 week was 18 and 1 month 20?. They decided she was probably not measured right at birth. Maybe the same for your guy?

=Lee=B · June 2013

Height is least accurate to measure. Stretching out squirmy baby is hard to do. At birth he may have been over measured and now is under measured etc. It may not be that drastic an actual change.

BigPoppa22 · June 2013

DS was born 85th percentile height and weight and is now 35th percentile for both at 12 weeks. He was in the NICU the first month and has had some persistent feeding issues. He drinks about 19 ounces every day and will never drink more than 3 oz in one meal. He has been drinking 27 calorie formula to make up for it. Our pedi and GI/nutritional specialists are only concerned with him growing somewhere in the normal range, period. Even if it is the lowest part of the range. Birth percentile often does not accurately reflect where your LO is naturally "supposed to" be. I was a bit freaked out by such a drastic drop, but DW and I are 5'3 and 5'6, so I do not know why I would expect to have an 85th percentile baby, that puts me at 10th percentile among adults! My baby was just born big and fat.

TMWarren85 · July 2013

So I can't give much advice on boys since DS is a giant (height and weight) but my DD was 7-12 and 22" at birth, and 17lbs and 31" at 1; She fell off the growth chart weight wise and climbed above it height wise. FOr the most part our pedi wasn't concerned since she was still hitting all ofer her milestones, he just recommended that we continue to push formula along with solids to keep her calories up since she was such a picky eater (I know this is farther along that where you are now).

Today at 4 she still has yet to cross over 30 lbs and is 41" tall- some babies are just built differently.

Also- there is always a little room for error in the measurements, maybe one of the times the nurse measured him he wasn't completely stretched ut or his head wasn't completely against the top of the measuring chart?

If your pediatrician isn't concerned try not to let it worry you too much, I know that's hard to say (coming from a mom with a DD who was below the 1% in weight for a good majority of her first year).

falling off height curve -- moms of boys

Re: falling off height curve -- moms of boys

Choose Another Board

Search Boards