Underweight?

emy730 · October 2014

DD is underweight and shows very little interest in eating. She has been checked by her pediatrician and a GI doctor and is very happy. We have tried a higher concentrated formula for more calories, and she just eats less. We have tried feeding her more often, and she just refuses to take her bottle.

She is a very active and social little girl. She is constantly aware of what's going on around her and very interested in people. She is constantly smiling, cooing and giggling and she is a good sleeper (for now, knock on wood).

She does have reflux, but with Zantac it is very under control.

We are trying rice cereal at the suggestion of the GI to both get her more calories and to try to move off the Zantac. She hates it and just spits it out and cries until we stop.

Does anyone else have this problem? Or have any STM had this issue with other children? How did you get them to gain weight?

TIA!

mcvgal · October 2014

Is she losing weight or just on the smaller side? I would just keep trying your doctor's recommendations, but maybe she is just small. DS1 was always a little on the smaller side but he stayed on the same growth curve so his doctor was not worried. Now at almost 3 years old he looks "skinny" because he's taller but at a healthy weight.

glitterclaws · October 2014

@emy730 - remind me - do you have a premie?

I unfortunately have no advice, other than to say we are twins. Micah has reflux, is on zantac, doesn't eat as much as we want him to (avg 22.5oz/day), is in the 3rd percentile for weight and zero percentile for height.

Is your dr concerned? We go for weight checks to make sure we don't fall off the bottom of the chart. It makes me feel better that we are going for the monitoring. Maybe if you don't do that, you can ask?

jnnfrrose6 · October 2014

Is she underweight and your doctor is concerned, or is she just on the lower end of the percentiles and you're concerned? DD is around the 10% mark on weight, but our doctor isn't concerned because she eats when she's hungry, and is only a "happy spitter" as he puts it. Some kids are just smaller. There's got to be some to balance out the curve.

Katieryan13 · October 2014

Caroline is in the 1% for weight but the doctor wasn't concerned at her 2 month checkup because she was on her own growth curve.

I do worry about it though, because I have a scale and she hasn't even gained a pound in one month since her last appointment.

emy730 · October 2014

Sorry, I should have included more information.

She was born 5 days early, so not a premie.

The doctor is concerned because she's consistently going down on the curve. At the last appointment, a weight check, she was in the 1st percentile. We saw a GI specialist and he wasn't terribly concerned, but did say that he need to actively try to get her to eat more each day.

She is very long and in the 75th percentile for length. Her diapers are normal in consistency and amount.

Since birth, she has only gained 3 pounds.

AKB090609 · October 2014

DD1 was born at the 60th for weight and the 90th for height, at two she is finally 20lbs. She has always been extremely social and active.

Every appointment she was falling further and further off the curve for weight, but she was growing and meeting milestones. I stopped looking at the charts and just did what I could to make sure she was getting high quality calories once we started solids. We bf until nearly 18months, but she was never very interested in nursing unless it was when she was hungry.

I guess what I'm saying is try not to panic, feed her when she is hungry and start looking for high calorie foods for when you start solids. If she is gaining (even if it isn't much) you are doing okay. The only time my doctor was concerned was the appointment she gained 4oz in 3months.

She was born at 7lbs 11oz and only weighed 10lbs at 4 months.

emy730 · October 2014

AKB090609 said:
DD1 was born at the 60th for weight and the 90th for height, at two she is finally 20lbs. She has always been extremely social and active.

Every appointment she was falling further and further off the curve for weight, but she was growing and meeting milestones. I stopped looking at the charts and just did what I could to make sure she was getting high quality calories once we started solids. We bf until nearly 18months, but she was never very interested in nursing unless it was when she was hungry.

I guess what I'm saying is try not to panic, feed her when she is hungry and start looking for high calorie foods for when you start solids. If she is gaining (even if it isn't much) you are doing okay. The only time my doctor was concerned was the appointment she gained 4oz in 3months.

She was born at 7lbs 11oz and only weighed 10lbs at 4 months.

Thank you so much for your comment. Cora was 7 lbs 7 oz at birth and now at 3.5 months, she weighs 10 lbs. 8 oz. She is gaining, just slowly.

We have a other weight check on Tuesday, so hopefully they are happy with her gains.

[Deleted User] · October 2014

Hang in there mama! We are a slow gainer here too. DD was 6lbs 14oz at birth and was down to 6 lbs 4 oz at her first weight check appointment 3 weeks after birth. She's just over 3 months now and just hit 10 lbs this week.

Jillybean100 · October 2014

Our experience was very similar to @AKB090609. DD was 8 lbs 3 oz. at birth which is in the 75th percentile. After that she gained weight, but slowly so she dropped percentiles for weight for a long time. DD had pretty bad reflux and also a cow's milk protein allergy. She was just not very interested in breastmilk or in formula so she only really took in the bare minimum and we weren't able to get any extra breastmilk or formula in her. However, when we started solids (at 6 months) we focused on high calorie foods like avocados and roasted veggies (butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, etc.) since we could put healthy oils on them to roast. She really took to solids which I think helped her weight stabilize on her own growth curve. She's still small, but healthy. We're now going through something similar with DS who is also tiny. At his 4 month appointment this week he was in the 3rd percentile for weight and 0 percentile for height. Like your DD he is happy and developmentally on track and is gaining, but just slowly. I know it's hard not to worry about these little peanuts, but I agree that as long as she's gaining things will be OK. Hang in there! It sounds like you're doing a great job!

ghostof5letters · October 2014

My nephew was below the growth charts. He was 15lbs at 12months. They lived in SC (we're in NJ) at the time of his birth so I have no knowledge of his early months. I know that at his 12 month appointment they put him on an 1800 calorie diet which included lots of shakes and high fat food.

Hilee18 · November 2014

Maybe a second GI opinion? I'm not saying there's anything wrong if there was a drop, but now she's holding steady. But it may be nice to have reassurance. Some babies just aren't meant to be big and/or grow slowly.

My son isn't on the growth charts, but he was born at 2 lbs 15 oz severely growth restricted, so we didn't expect him to be on them, he's getting really close to 1% though.

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