my son was skinny skinny, my daughter is average height and slightly over average in weight.
but her belly sticks out.
is this normal? my husband is all worried and i'm worried he's gonna make too much of an issue of it but didn't know if i should be concerned.
thanks
Most 3 year olds still have some "baby fat" and it's perfectly normal. You only need to worry if she is abnormally overweight.
"Toddler Belly" is normal and common.
It usually disappears by about age 5.
If your pediatrician is not concerned, then I would not be either. My 3-year old has a bit of a belly and I think it is cute since she doesn't have much of a butt!
My my ex and I had bellies until age five. Daughter almost five still has one. Love It!!! Weight problems don't run in either one of our families.
my daughter just turned 3 and still has baby fat, little soft arms that have chunky wrists (so cute!) and a little belly and little boobies. Both my daughters were like this and my oldest is like a rail now, although a healthy one.
All four of my kids were skinny with bellies. The boys lost their bellies around three the girls were closer to six. All four of them are sticks now even as two of them are adults.
My daughter is 4, average weight, above average height, and still has a little bit of a belly. It does look more pronounced if she's eaten a big meal. It is starting to get less apparent as she gets older.
MOST toddlers do until sometime between ages 3 & 4. The reason is that there isn't enough space under their ribcage for their organs, so their organs poke out. As they get taller and their ribcage expands, their organs move upward, and the toddler-belly goes away. (And their walk/gait also changes at this age. When their organs are in their bellies, they have the toddler-walk. When the organs move upward they're able to walk/run 'normally')
It's possible she could have worms or kwashiorkor (a nutritional illness that comes from a low protein diet...when you see those skinny little kids with giant bellies in 3rd world countries, you're usually looking at BOTH worms AND kwashiorkor) but both are easily tested for and fixed. Worms are 2 pills, and kwashiorkor is fixed by adding protein.
Both my kids had those little "budda-bellies" at that age. It's normal. We used to rub them for luck ;)
My grandson is tall and slender, going on 6, and his round belly has almost disappeared, with lots of good, strong muscle in evidence. My daughter had a toddler belly until she was well over 4, but I don't recall exactly how old she was when hers was completely gone.
My super skinny 4.5 year old still has a belly but it is slightly getting smaller.
My 3 year old is skinny and she has a little belly. I love it. All the three year olds in her class at school also have the 'baby belly'. Its pretty normal.
Oh dear, my daughter will be 8 next week and SHE has a belly!! My older daughter is a bean pole. My husband was concerned about the younger one until I mentioned that I looked EXACTLY like her at that age (and I think I turned out just fine - 5'8", 135 pounds) She'll be fine. Just keep her active and encourage healthy eating!
