Worried About My Daughter's Weight

She's tooo young to be worried about her weight. If her pediatrician says she's fine-let it be. She's a baby enjoy her cute rolls!

Hi, my youngest had the same issues, in fact it got worse before it got better. She dropped completely off the weight chart at about 15 months (height was 50%, head was 75%!), and has slowly crept back on the chart since then. Can you look back at yourself as a baby, or others in your family history who were small? I definitely can, for myself and my family. My sis was 12 lbs. at 2 years old, have a cousin who was 35 lbs. at 5 years. My doc recommended lots of sippie cups of Pediasure and whole milk at 12 months, cheese & butter on everything, ice cream. Also, we went on a strictly scheduled eating pattern to make her hungry enough for meals and make her belly full. We had to do this with my 1st, too. You know how grazing all day is great for dieting? Same thing for babies. It was so hard making her wait to eat, but it worked and took only a few months to get her appetite going. BTW, my 3rd began screaming at naps and at night, which turned out to be ear infections so now she has tubes. The only real hint on the ear infections besides crying when lying down was losing her balance and falling over. Now she's very healthy. Good luck to you, hopefully she'll be happy and active and be blessed with a high metabolism for life.

My little sister was a tiny baby (around 5 lbs and full term) and as she was growing, it seemed that the number of months she was, was the same number of pounds she was. So at 8 months old, she was 8 pounds, at 9 months, she was 9 pounds... etc... She's a sophmore at Ball State right now and is around 5 feet tall and weighs around 100 pounds, maybe! LOL! (wears a size 0-1)

I wouldn't worry, it sounds like you've just got yourself a little peanut. I'd be leary of putting that little thing through so many tests as well. It can be so traumatic for little ones.

Whatever you decide, I wish you the best of luck!

Don't panic. Get all of the tests done to be sure, but then just get her to eat as much as she wants. My daughter was fine at birth and then dropped to the 2nd percentile. No reason, she just didn't/wouldn't eat much. Ask to see a nutritionist. She can help you find ways to add calories. We added extra powder to formula, canola oil to food, snuck in an extra bottle, etc. I will say that when she got a cold and didn't want to eat, she slipped down a bit in weight, which was frustrating, but we were back on the gaining path shortly.

My daughter is still little. At her 12 month check up in May she was 17.2 pounds, but I am convinced that she has a bulging tummy and her thighs are getting thick, finally!

Okay M., deep calming breaths! I know that you must be very worried but there isn't a specific issue to be worried about yet. Thyroid issues are not that big of a deal. I have a thyroid problem and take a pill every day. That's it. The other issues, I'm just not sure. I can tell you that Riley Hospital is wonderful and if there is a problem with your little one, they will find it. Try not to panic to much until you know what is going on. God will get you through. If you need to chat or anything, please drop me a line. I've been through some pretty scary times myself. Best of luck to you, Shannon G.

I am not sure what to say. My daughter, Emma has dwarfism and at 6 almost 7 years old she only weighs 30.6 pounds & is 34 inches tall. I would have her checked for dwarfism just to rule it out. There are over 200 different forms of dwarfism so you never know. Love her, small or not is the best advice I can give. God bless.

C.,

My daughter is also 8 months old and at her appointment this week she weighed 12 pounds, 7 ounces. She was born two weeks early at 4 pounds, 13 ounces. My doctor has always shown some concern but I also always hear that it may be normal for her since neither my husband or I are that big. We also have a niece who was always small. My doctor has suggested adding melted butter to my daughter's food but I just have a hard time accepting that adding butter to her food is a good thing. She said she should be getting 700 calories a day so I'm going to take a look at what I'm feeding her and about how many calories she's getting a day and see how I might be able to adjust that. I did read that avocados are high in calories and you just scoop the meat out of the skin and mash it up for baby. You can even freeze it for later. I believe sweet potatoes are also high in calories but my daughter seems to be allergic to those. I'm surprised they have you running so many tests. My doctor said my daughter's rate of growth is okay but that if she falls any further away from the chart by her next appointment, she'll order blood tests. If so, I'm not sure that my husband and I will agree to do them. I just don't think anything's wrong. She's thriving and her day care comments on how early she's doing many things. As far as sleep, my daughter usually takes two short naps in the morning, a longer afternoon nap and a short evening nap and sleeps about 10 hours a night. So, she must not be up more than a couple hours at a time either!! I think you just need to follow your intuition and be conscious of what you feed your child. Try to incorporate higher calorie foods every day. She sounds like she's just fine!

Drop the cereal, it's just carbs that fill her up and has little-to-no nutritive value. Go with high-calorie and high-fat things like sweet potatoes, avacado, bananas, etc...don't bother with jarred foods, they are over-pureed and have too much added water. Just buy a sweet potato, steam or bake it (or if you have a preasure cooker, it's the fastest way to cook them) and mass it up for her.
Good Luck:)

I have known a lot of kids who didn't eat well as small children and they have turned out quite well. My two boys eat very differently their entire lives. I have found that they will eat when they are ready and hungry. As to the walking, each child is different, some take off real early and others wait until after a year. Now days, kids don't get the opportunity to climb like they did when my kids were little. (They are now 40 and 44.) They each spent time in a playpen and they learned to climb up and walk around. I didn't worry about them hitting a table or such. They also learned to play with their toys and remained very happy for many hours entertaining themselves with their toys. When they got tired, they would just lay down and go to sleep. I was there and played them too so they weren't just in there by themselves. But when I was trying to clean house or was trying to do something like making their cloths, they were in a playpen and never objected to being placed in there.

Karen

I loved what someone told me once - if the baby is happy, alert and eating they are probably fine! You didn't say how much your dd weighed at birth. I've read in some websites that as long as babies are NOT losing weight there's no immediate concern. Regarding the failure to thrive comments from people, it seems like your baby is eating and growing in height just now putting on the lbs. And, your doctor knows she is not malnourished - which is good :-) It doesn't seem like she is delayed developmentally if she is in the early stages of crawling/moving around the floor!!! If this were me, and you may have already, I would probably first start with blood tests which will be able to tell you a lot-and rule out a lot; before putting her through unnecessary tests. Hopefully you will find out everything is fine and you just have a petite little girl! Keep us posted!

I have four daughters and two of them have been very slow to grow as babies...same tests you were describing were run on them...everything was fine. I nursed all four girls and the twins had the same amount and kinds of food once they started solids. Coincidentially, both of the girls are allergic to dairy products. The oldest is now 15yrs and completely normal size, the youngest is 9 1/2 yrs and is still a little smaller than her twin sister, but on the growth charts. Our pediatrician said as long as they continue to grow at a consistant rate, it doesn't matter if they are on the growth charts. Good luck!

I went thru the same things with my 2 daughter's and their weight- I nursed them and they never gained much weight until they hit about 18 months. My last one- who is almost 2 years old always slept- and I always got comments like "do you really have a baby"!!! My little one is just now 24 pounds at almost 24 months. i wouldn't be real concerned if your child is doing everything developmentally on target. My 6 year old when she was a baby was also tested for everything you can imagine becasue of not gaining weight- and all of her tests came out fine. We know have a 2 month old little girl- she will probably be the same way. I hope hearing my story helps. Some babies just don't gain weight according to those weight charts.

C., my son was failure to thrive at 13 months, and we ended up going through the whole battery of tests like you are, kept food diaries for review by the nutritionist, etc. In the end they just felt it was due to my son picking up on the stress at home, as I was going through my divorce at the time.

If your daughter tests out fine don't worry. Like our developmental doctor said, he rarely was seeing kids for underweight anymore...most were off the charts in an epidemic of overweight or obese babies & children. If they're going to be off the charts, be glad it's underweight...

they've adjusted the charts to accommodate for obese children. i wouldn't worry as long as she's growing. she could be allergic to something though, you might try cutting out dairy or try raw milk.

As long as all tests come back ok and she is healthy I wouldn't worry too much. Some babies just gain weight more slowly than others. My kids were gaining weight just fine and then out of nowhere they would stop gaining weight for quite a long time and at times they actually lost weight and they ate good. She will probably hit a growth spurt at some point and gain the weight that she needs to. In the meantime just keep doing what the doctors want you to do.
D.

I am 31 and have been married for almost 12 yrs. My husband and I have 3 boys ages 10,7 and 4.

I wouldn't worry too much. My friend's daughter was always below the chart for weight and she is now a healthy and darling 4 yo.

My own daughter is 6 mo and 30th for weight, 80 for height. And gets cranky if she is awake longer than 2 hours. She sleeps 10-11 hours at night and takes 3 solid naps a day.

My niece, Kensley went through this. My Mom said she was diagnosed with "failure to thrive" b/c she was so TINY..... still is... she's 10 now and looks like a 6 or 7 YO.. Turned out she was just a small girl,, thats all. I know she was tested for any/every thing pretaining to no weight gain,, but negative in the end for everything..The Dr.'s even had a nutritionist come at intervals through the day to monitor her eating habits,,, still nothing.. She had a decent appetite, but my sister was so worried,, like you,, that she just didn't know what else to do. The Dr said she was healthy and was growing length wise,, I'll keep you all in my prayers.. I'm sure it's something similar to my niece..
Try not to worry too much,, ok?
A.
HAD to edit,, BTW.. the "failure to thrive" turned out to be a mis-diagnosis.

I think it's a good thing to make sure there isn't an underlying condition... but it may very well be that what is happening is normal for your little one. Just watch her for any other unusual symptoms as she gets older and let the doctor know if you're concerned. A possible thyroid problem was the first thing that came to my mind, and if that's the case, it's easily correctable. I'm sure they've checked her for anemia, too, right?

while its okay to worry, if your doctor is not worried, try not to, continue with what youare doing adn hope it gets better. As long as she is on the chart all is well. One of my kids fell off hte chart, I had to quite my job to try and get herback to health ( she had thrush, failure to thrive and seperation anxiety) now that was a worry when your kiddo is going backwards.... she is eatting, sheis happy and she is on the charts. Enjoy her love her because kids THRIVE whent hey feel loved not when around stress ( easier said then done I know) and I bet everything is going tobe okay

I know what you are going through and just take a deep breath. My 4 1/2 year old daughter has been small since birth. Emily will be 5 at the end of August and weighs 32 pounds. At one year she weighed 15 pounds, at 2 she weighed a whopping 18 pounds, and 3 she was 24 pounds, at 4 she was 29 1/2 pounds. Being a nurse I have always imagined the worse, especially since my first daughter, Gracelyn, passed away at 15 days old in 2001 due to heart problems. I have taken Emily to several Dr.s and she is perfectly healthy. I always thought she had a heart problem because I know that kids with heart trouble have a hard time gaining weight. There is absolutey nohing wrong with her. All the doctor's have said is as long as she is growing and gaining on her own curve she is fine. It seemed like it took forever to get her up to the 3rd percentile. I think even now she is only at the 5th. My daughter is very active too and I try to get her to eat something every 2-3 hours. Can you believe the doctor's tole me I feed her too healthy? She just really loves fruits and yogurts, etc...Her dad and his family are on the petite side and me and my family is on the larger side so I just think she gets her high metabolism from them. She doesn't have any thyroid problems or lung problems. I hope everything goes ok for your daughter. Riley's is the best place ever. They took care of us with Gracelyn, you are in great hands. Please let me know how things go, I will keep your family in my prayers.

Hi C.,
I am in the same boat almost. My daughter is 10 months and weighs almost 15 pounds. She is off the charts on weight, but fine with hight and head circumference. She meets milestones, so the doctor has her on vitamins and monthly weight checks so far. The only thing she has been tested for is anemia. I am surprised your doctor is making your daughter go through so many tests when she is still on the chart. The chart is different degrees of NORMAL. I am glad you wrote, though - reading the responses to your question has encouraged me as well!

Why are you putting her through all those tests? Some doctor tell you to? Doctors only LOOK for things to be wrong until they actually FIND something wrong so that you can be in DEBT until she's 18 yrs old. Too many children now a days are on ritalin because they are too hyper and get into trouble at school or home...too many children hyped up on this drug and that drug why? The only ppl that benefit from this are the ppl in the Medical Profession FYI... Doctor's don't know EVERYTHING!!! (unless of course his name is Dr. House and has his own TV show) Relax, I'm sure she's fine. My daughter, now 17 yrs old, didn't weigh 12 lbs until she was a year old. She's healthy and absolutely GORGEOUS! She went through her *chubby* stage at about 10 yrs of age and now she's 5'5" and 115 lbs drop dead gorgeous. Not all babies have to be *chubby* they all grow differently :) She's eating and active and sleeping and the joy of your life I'm sure. Relax, have fun with her. They grow up too fast not to.

I just had my son's 18 month checkup. He just finally hit 20 lbs. and is still under 5% on the growth chart. Our doctor said he is healthy and meeting all his developmental milestones, and as long as he is always gaining weight even though it may only be very little, we are ok. I do however take him in for weight checks any time he is not eating well. This is for my own comfort, not because we were told we had to do it. But any little sickness, or even teething in which he was not eating well had me concerned. We used pediasure only during an ear infection. Sounds like she is healthy and you and the doctor need to relax a little.

My daughter was extra thin for her height also. We were always off the chart (on the low end) for her weight until about 18 months. She is now in the 10% for weight (she is 3) She has always been in the 50% for height. Just a tall skinny one. Always ate every 2 hours and nursed for 40 min at a time. Would sleep a little while and then ready to eat again. Things really turned around for us when we were able to supplement with solids. By 9 months she could feed herself and still snacks frequently. If your doctor says she is fine, she probably is. It never hurts to be on the safe side, but it just may be her version of "normal". When my son came along he was the same build and falls in the same places on the chart. He is now (at 16 months) finally at the 20% for weight and 60% for height.

Well, I went through the same thing with my daughter and I am going through it with my son! Except my son is a little bit worse.
At my daughters nine month check-up her weight was 14lbs 9 oz. She was not even on the chart on weight but like 90% on height!! That is when they started having me come in every week to give her a weight check!! It was a pain. I gave her lot of mashed potatoes with butter and other things mixed in. She was breast fed and would absolutely not take formula!! So at about 11 months finally switched her to whole milk and she took that just fine and started gaining weight. She is 3 1/2 now and weights almost 40 lbs. She is tall for her age and skinny.
My son on the other hand is a different story. At 4 months he was 14lbs. 4oz. or something like that but then at his 6 month check up he was 13lbs. 10oz. so he actually lost weight!! He was exclusively breast fed then but was starting to loose interest and we had just started him on cereal which really has no fat in it!! So, I started him on formula which he ate like he was starving!! He took to formula really well and started to gain weight slowly. He has had many blood tests and they still want him to have more (which I think is a crock, kind of!). He even saw a nutritionist and occupational therapist and all that and they basically just told me to feed him more calories!! He eats like every 2-3 hours too and takes a long nap in the afternoon and a short one in the evening.
He is one years old today and I have yet to take him for his check up so I have no idea what he weighs now.
I wish I had words of wisdom for you but all I can say is every baby is different and I think they follow those charts a little too closely. My husband and myself were not very big babies so it can be hereditary too.
As long as she is happy and healthy you should be just fine!!