Small Babies

[haleyelianasmom]

My first daughter was 8-1 at birth, 21 inches.  She was quickly up to 10-6 at 1 month, 12-8 at 2 months, 15-6 at 4 months, and 17-3 at 6 months.  She was always top of the charts for the first year-ish, then leveled off slowly and now is maybe 25th percentil

Second daughter had the exact same birth weight and length (8 lbs 1oz, 21 inches), but just now at 5 months has gotten up to 13lbs even.  She used to be a fussy eater so I figured that was it, but recently she has been eating well in my opinion (just breastmilk still) and stil is a very slow gainer.  Her head size and length are fine, though, and developmentally she is doing great (rolling, pushing up, babbling, smiling), she just looks so skinny!

My husband was a huge baby and then later levelled off to be thinner.  According to my mom, I was bottom of the charts, but only after maybe 12-18 months.  Before that time, I was probably average (she said I was 7lbs 8oz at birth and doubled my weight by 6 months, so she said I was probably 15-16lbs at 6 months).  So if neither of us were so small in the first year, not sure where she gets it. 

So at what point should I be worried?  She's been gaining roughly 1 pound a month since birth which I think is a minimum I've heard...  But she's probably 15th percentile now when she was born at 50.

Update:  now at almost 8 months, she's right around 14 lbs, sometimes just under

Edited by haleyelianasmom - 3/27/11 at 8:05pm

[Knitting Mama]

Some babies are just skinny. Do you have a pediatrician, and if so, what has he/she said? My daughter is tiny, but has been that way since birth-- she has been in the 10th percentile for weight since the start, and 25th for height. Generally pediatricians are concerned when the baby falls off of their usual curve, but it could be that you just have a small baby.

[AislinCarys]

Have you plotted her on the WHO charts? And a baby can drop of the curve (or jump up), in the first few months, just finding their own curve. For you it is more important to see how your child is growing now, the last few months are most important. Is she following her curve now?

DD was tiny, and we had a lot of issues, so I learnt a lot about charts and how babies grow. Does your baby seem well? Happy? Pooing & weeing? She seems to be meeting milestones. I wouldn't worry then, as long as baby is growing. And head growth is the most important, BTW.

And your child may be taking after other relatives, not necessarily her parents! Some babies are just skinny.

[PatioGardener]

who chart: 

http://www.who.int/childgrowth/standards/cht_wfa_girls_p_0_2.pdf nak

[akind1]

DS is also a lean guy- perfect on milestones and such - but lean. he has always been 15% for weight and is tall - 85% percentile for height. his granddaddy is tall and lean, so I figure must take after him. I wasn't a chubby baby either.

I love the WHO charts.

[sunflwrmoonbeam]

Provided you're feeding on demand, diaper output is good, and milestones are met I wouldn't worry at all. My daughter was born at 42w3d and in the 98th percentile. She kept that up for about a month, and then started steadily dropping percentiles. At 18 months she's in the 5th for weight, 50th for height, and my ped is not concerned at all. I recently found a picture of myself at 4 months old (I was born 3 weeks early, only 5.5 pounds and formula fed) and my daughter is pretty much my clone, including body size. It certainly appears that she's genetically lean, and that's ok. She certainly eats enough!

[Adaline'sMama]

We visited the ped yesterday and she wasnt concerned at all about my DD's weight, even though she is in the 6th percentile. She is in the 25th for height and the 75th for head size. She was born 6lbs 7 oz and is now 16 lb 5 oz, at 9.5 months old. Ive heard tell of a skinny babies tribe, but I cant find it anywhere.

[octobermom]

 Both my girls were born tiny (6lbs and 5.7lbs) and were and are along the lower end of the charts for about the first year or so. My second is currently around the 14% for weight and 40th for height. Both my girls though are and did catch up my oldest while thin is muscular and tall shes is all torso and legs. The baby seems to be following.

Deanna

[Spring Lily]

My DD isn't even on the charts--never had been. She did hit 20 pounds at 2 years, which I was thrilled about. In our case, the pediatrician is not concerned for 4 reasons:
1. She looks proportional for her height and weight.
2. Her growth curve has been consistent over time
3. Her siblings and parents are on the smaller end of the percentiles & BMI
4. Her appetite is excellent and she tested negative for celiac (we went to an allergist for testing)

Try to look at the bigger picture instead of just focusing on the number of her weight. If any of these points don't sit right or you haven't looked into them, talk to your doctor about it. We had a panel of allergy tests run just in case, because celiac disease is a common cause for low weight gain. So that's something to look into if you haven't yet.

[Knitting Mama]

Man, than sounds familiar! My daughter was 6 lbs 3 oz at birth, and at 9 months is 16 lbs 3 oz. We go to her 9 month appointment next week, but at 6 months she was also 25th for height and 75th for head!

Originally Posted by Adaline'sMama 

We visited the ped yesterday and she wasnt concerned at all about my DD's weight, even though she is in the 6th percentile. She is in the 25th for height and the 75th for head size. She was born 6lbs 7 oz and is now 16 lb 5 oz, at 9.5 months old. Ive heard tell of a skinny babies tribe, but I cant find it anywhere.

[haleyelianasmom]

The weird thing is, she is taller/longer than average and her head measures big (looks tiny to me, but it has been around 75th percentile).  She also has been dropping on the charts a bit each time I think.  The CDC charts.  I think beyond 1 or 2 months, she is pretty consistently just under 15th.  We'll see what happens at her 6 month.  She just looks so skinny and small to me, especially after dd1 who was huge

[haleyelianasmom]

Just an update... She hit 13 lbs at 5 months and now at almost 8 months, she's 14.  She's pretty much off the charts.  But she's SOOOO active.  She started crawling on hands and knees at 6 months and  now is pulling up and standing.  Thoughts?

[Knitting Mama]

As long as she's healthy and her doctor isn't worried, I don't see a problem.

Cecilia is nearly a year, under two weeks away from it, and just cleared 17 lbs. She's still tiny!

[haleyelianasmom]

At this rate, she'll be less than 16 pounds at a year!  She's right at about 3rd %ile!  Which must look especially odd given how much she moves.

I must add that she nurses quite a bit, eats some solids (generally just tiny bits of beans or veggies, mostly just for fun and not a whole lot of it), but we're at 99% breastmilk.  And days like today, she spent a LOT of time nursing.  And she seems happy, sleeps well, has regular poopy/wet diapers, etc.

[Knitting Mama]

Cecilia's the same way. She is not a solids kid. She'll eat anything I give her but only very small quantities. 99% breastfed here too (donor milk in an SNS for the most part).

[haleyelianasmom]

good for you doing the snsand donor milk!

She probably could eat a lot more, but I usually just give little bits at dinner for fun, I figure she doen't really need solids yet and breastmilk is pretty darn nutrient dense.  And she doesn't like being spoon fed much anyways.  I'm not in any rush.  She was very determined to start tasting things and started chewing on apples/veggies at 4 months.  I didn't intend on starting so early, but she seemed SO ready (grabbing food and shoving it in her mouth, holding herself up pretty well, etc.  And it was way too hard to stop her.  She even grabbed my pie and got a little taste at 5 months.  I tried to stop her, but she is just that fast).

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

Some kids are just small, plain and simple. Adults come in all shapes and sizes, and so do children. My DD was small too - she hit 17lbs just about her first birthday. Looking back at her growth chart, she was 12lb13oz at 4 months and 14lb5oz at 6months, so roughly the same size as your DD. She was born at 7lb9oz.

She has remained both thin and short - lower on the charts for weight than for height. She is now 5 and 36lb and 3'6" which is quite low, but not as low as she was at one point. But she's always been very healthy, and her father was always short and light too - genetics at play. Her pediatrician was always looking for problems, but we switched to a GP who is far more circumspect. She's following her growth curve and hasn't fallen off since her infancy, so she is what she is. I wish that slim-fit jeans would stay up, but other than that, it's simply not a problem (and unfairly, easier for girls to be small than boys, socially).

DS decided to be the opposite and is at 90% for height. He's wearing clothes now that she was wearing at 2.5. Genetics are crazy!

All that to say if she's healthy and hitting all milestones, and your doctor isn't worried, it is what it is, basically. She's small. Good things come in small packages!

[tzs]

dd was born full-term but tiny (5.13) and gained rapidly after birth...up to the 50th percentile from 0. however, she has been dropping since then. i don;t know what she was at a year but at 18 months she just cracked 20 pounds. she's still 75% for height and head. 

this is a kid who seriously, sometimes eats more than her father and i and i make sure to either include and/or add fats to anything i can. everything else is on track and the ped isn't the slightest bit concerned, even with the drop in %.

[haleyelianasmom]

That's funny, my older dd was huge as a baby.  She's now about the same size as your dd (about 37 lbs, but maybe 3'8")

[Peony]

My girls have always been skinny. Average to tall for height, but thin. DD1 never ever had anything remotely like baby chub, DD2 had a little from 4m to maybe 10, but not much. DS was my big guy, 8.12 at birth, and almost 20 lbs at 6 months but then that was it. He will be 2 in a couple weeks and weighs 22 lbs, so 2 lbs in 18 months. Very happy, active little guy. I went back and looked at my girl's growth and both were 22 lbs at 2years as well, and they started off 2 lbs less then he did! No one is concerned in the least about DS's growth.