My almost 18mo dd is about 17.5lbs and 30.5". I constantly hear "what a peanut" or "she's so petite".
Here's the thing. Regarding her height, both parents are on the lower end of average (I'm 5'4" and dad swears he's 5'6"
). And as a mama once told me about her rather robust newborn, "two great danes aren't going to make a chihuahua." Well, the inverse holds true also - my husband and I are not going to make large babies. Liv was only 6lb14oz at birth (almost 2 weeks late) and 21.5".
Regarding her weight, she is far too active to be a chunky kid. She had a few rolls as a baby (and was higher on the charts - maybe 20% iirc), but as soon as she became mobile her weight gain came to a standstill! She's only gained about 3lbs since she started walking before 9mo and that has been a challenge. Because she will. not. sit. still. She is constantly on the go and constantly hungry. She will graze all day long with a few actual sit-down meals thrown in and I am very deliberate in what I feed her (because we are vegan) to insure she is getting enough fat and calories. And she still nurses all. the. time. She's healthy, just skinny.
The few times we've been to the doctor (we don't do wbv either), they've commented on her size but not in a negative way. Because they look at dh & me, see how active she is, and that she is hitting milestones (early, for the most part - not to brag, just to explain).
Someone has to be at either end of that chart in order to determine the "average". I'm ok with it being my kid. It makes it much easier to carry her when the need arises.
