Too little?

Hello,

I have a 16 month old daughter who is going down in her growth chart percentiles.  She was 20lbs 4oz at her 15 month check, 5th percentile.  That was a drop from 10th percentile at her one year check-up.  She was sick with an ear infection and dropped down to 19lbs 11oz.  Three weeks later she was only at 19lbs 13oz.  The doctor said she should have been back over twenty pounds.  She has to go back to the doctor next month for another weight check.

Does anyone out there have small kids?  Is my pediatrition just cautious or should I be worried?  I am trying to wean.  Could that be the real cuprit?  I would appreciate any ideas.

Did your child's doctor express any concern the last time he saw your child?

It sounds like your daughter lost the weight due to a sickness.  That is common among children. 

Also, some children grow (weight and height) at different stages and rates.  My son will grow 1.5"-3" in one week and then not have a growth spurt for a few months and then grow rapidly at once again.  He is technically underweight but I have discussed this extensively with his doctor and he is not concerned because both my husband and I were underweight as children and teens. 

I do monitor my son's eating to make sure that he is eating enough as he could go all day without eating because he is too active to realize he is hungry. 

Growing children need as many calories as an adult does.  Obviously, you are not going to count her calories day in and day out like you may for you.  But try to offer her more high calorie snacks and meals if you feel like she isn't eating enough.

http://www.kidsnutrition.org/bodycomp/bmiz2.h tml

Hi wend75,

My daughter had the same problem, only she's much younger than yours. But my daughter lost about 3lbs when she was 3 months old, and had to have two weight checks in which she couldn't gain some of the weight back. My doctor did advise that if my daughter couldn't get back up to the percentile that she was supposed to be, then there would be some testing to find an underlying problem. But they didn't seem very concerned since I was an extremely skinny child.

Because of my income, I have to rely on WIC, and even though I've asked them numerous times to switch the formula they provide me, they will not. So my daughter has to deal with Similac. But when I can afford it, I try to buy a can of Enfamil and give her that intermittently so it's not enough to make her overly upset if she can't have it all the time, and it seems to be just enough to give her digestive system a healthy boost so she can absorb all the nutrients from the Similac (which is what my doctor suspects is part of the problem). Also, I've discovered that allowing my daughter to snack as often as SHE wants between meals helped A LOT. I'm sure you would want to start monitoring how often she eats when she gets to a certain age, but for now, I would tempt her with food whenever, and whereever. If you happen to be at the mall with her and she starts staring at a snack stand, encourage her to try something from there (not just anything, of course). And show her how excited you really are every time she eats, which can encourage her even more to keep eating, so that she can have the nutrients and calories that she needs for the day. Hopefully, your daughter will gain the weight back soon.

~akitty62

Hi wend75, I'm not a dr. but it doesn't seem like you child is abnormally small or anything...I mean my daughter is 2 and she's only 24 pounds and her dr. says that she is doing great and is as healthy as can be.  My friend's son is 6 months younger than my daughter and he's over 30 pounds!  Each child is different and some put on weight more than others.  I agree with undertherainbow that it sounds like your daughter's weight loss is probably related to being sick.  I would definitely talk with your doctor and find out if there are underlying concerns that the dr. may have about your child's weight or if he/she is just being cautious.  Sometimes dr.'s can make comments about things that aren't really an area of concern but just an observation, but as parents we can get worried over those comments so sometimes you need to clarify with the dr. if it's really something to be concerned about or if they were just making an "innocent" comment.  I hope things turn out for the best for  you and your little one!

My son is 15 months and 23 lbs. Not too far from your daughter but I think that's a huge difference in the percentiles--he is 35th percentile. I don't think it takes a whole lot to change that department. He has also maintained pretty much the same weight for several months now--He used to be 75th percentile! I blame it on learning to walk and getting taller. He is thinning out and looking more like a toddler.

I've also met a 2 year old girl that weighed less than my son! (when he MUCH younger--under 11 months!!) She was very tiny for her age.

The truth of it is that kids don't like to eat when they feel bad! And ear infections can take a long time to heal--my son had a couple in a short period of time due to flu season. There's not much you can do about it when they just flat out refuse to eat! You can't force it down. My advice is to offer her food frequently--especially if she is not eating well at meal times. Try stuff that you know she loves and don't push the stuff she refuses--this sometimes actually causes my son to stop eating! Once we gave him some tortilla, which he despises, and he began assuming that everything we offered was the same (despite the fact that he knows what all the food looks like now).

Doctors are just cautious and that's good. When my son was born, we had huge difficulty breastfeeding. He ended up dropping more weight than is usual and when he gained, it wasn't quite "fast" enough for the doctor's approval. We had to go for a weigh-in several times. I know it's hard not to worry but she will bounce back soon--she already is gaining, even if it's not much yet, so don't worry.