Skinny Babies Tribe

[Adaline'sMama]

I've seen people mention this in multiple different threads, but I searched and went back a long way and I couldnt find a tribe for moms (or dads) with skinny babies. So, Ive started a new one.

DD was born 6 lbs 7 oz. She weighed in at 14 lbs at her 6 month checkup and 16 lbs at her 9 month checkup, putting her in the 6th percentile for weight. She measured at 28 inches. She is in the 25% for height and the 75% for head size. Her ped is not at all concerned about her weight, and neither are we. However, we deal with family members, friends, and people at the grocery store who are always inquiring about why she is "sooo tiny."

She has just grown out of her 6 month clothes, but isnt really big enough for her 9-12 month clothes. We've pretty much been dressing her in onsies and knit tights. Pants are hard to buy. I think if she didnt wear cloth diapers, they'd fall right off.

Im interested in hearing from others who have "skinny" or "tiny" babes. What does your ped say? Are your family members supportive? Do people often think you shouldnt be letting your babe do something because they greatly underestimate his/her age? Im looking forward to hearing from you all!

[ElliesMomma]

nm

Edited by ElliesMomma - 5/28/11 at 11:45pm

[SAHDS]

I'll join (loved the old thread), even though mine aren't babies anymore (far from it, sadly),  DD was born at 7, 14 and petered off fairly quickly.  She was 18 lbs. at 1 year (people would do double and triple takes when she walked around public places), 23 lbs. at 2 years and slowed down even more after that.  At 9 years old, she tipped the scales at 44 lbs.  She recently had a growth spurt (wow!) and is now a 69 lb 11.5 y/o (and 4'8").  DS was 9,13 (11 days overdue and I was on a higher calorie/fat diet) at birth then almost completely stopped growing.  He is now a 54 lb. 10 y/o (4' 4").  While my ped. watched both closely, the only one we semi-worried about was DS.  We had him on a high-fat diet for a while (a few times) but he's continuing on his curve and that's all we care about (my ped. is AWESOME). 

Yes, we got a TON of crap from people, especially when it came to DS.  While DD was "SO TINY!", "adorable", "sooooooo cute", we found the exact opposite with DS.  In our society boys should be BIG and burly, women tiny and petite (UGH) so we heard about it all the time, and people (evenclueless family members) would NOT take his feelings into regard either.  I would wonder, constantly, if they thought he was deaf.  Did they not understand that he could HEAR their words and that it might just affect him negatively?  Apparently not.  People are still beyond shocked when I tell them he's 10 (some will ask me "How old is he?", which I find ridiculously odd - he CAN talk, he's a 4th grader),

Good luck, ladies!

[droolgoddess]

my fourth(out of 5) ia a little girl, was born weighing 6.10.  fairly average.  now, at 3 and a half, she weighs 25 lbs.  still barely even on that stupid percentile scale.  at 9 months old she was wearing her newborn clothes and was diagnosed as failure to thrive.  let me tell ya, that hurts the mommy-pride and causes all sorts of anxiety.  we heard all the typical reactions from all sides-friends, family and complete strangers.  she started talking early on and seeing the shocked look on people's faces when she could walk and talk but looked like she shouldn't be able to do either one, it sort of cracked me up.  my only real concern was that if she happened to get sick(which she really never did and i completely attribute that to no vaccines) i was afraid that she wouldn't want to eat or nurse and she really couldn't afford to lose any weight at all.  she pretty much had no baby fat...a breastfeeding conundrum as all of my other kids were like moose babies!  she had to see a whole team of specialists and i had to write down every little thing she ate for about a month.  once it was made known that she didn't have any underlying issues, they sent me on my merry way...but recommended frequent ped visits for weight checks. sounded like too much to me so i found a baby scale at the local thrift store and weighed her myself periodically to make sure that there WAS an increase in weight, albeit a small one.  what i learned...there has to be someone on the small end(and the large end) of the percentile scale for there to BE a scale.  as long as there were no underlying health issues, then i wasn't going to let it bother me.  so now she's 3 and a half, 25 lbs...and her younger sister is 17 months and 22 lbs.  they can wear the same clothes so...sweet!!

[marinak1977]

Can I join? DS was born 6 lbs 11 oz and was staying around 25th percentile for weight for a while until he found crawling. He since plumeted to 1st percentile. My ped was concerned and attempted to scare me into changing his feeding routine (no need to go into details). However, DS is active, exploring, and meeting milestones well, and I think he just found his growth curve. He is in 11th percentile for height. At 1 year he was 18 lbs 13 Oz.
We're working on encouraging solids and breastfeeding on demand but I worry about DS when he's in daycare. We're going in for a weight recheck in march. I hope he gains steadily even if he stays in the 1st percentile.
We definitely get surprised look when I say DS is 1. It doesn't help that he doesn't have much hair or many teeth yet, so he looks very babyish. It doesn't bother me, I love my squishy just the way he is and since he's small I can carry him around easier.

[chely7425]

I have a skinny baby!!  My first 2 were 8 and 8.5 at birth and both were 22 pounds by 5 months, which I remember because that is when they outgrew their infant seat!  My 3rd is now 4 months and 11 pounds.  Still in 0-3 month clothes with some growing room.  It is... definitely a change!

[Terrilein]

I can't really join since my dd is almost 10 yrs old now, but she was a skinny baby, too. She was perfectly average in weight and length when she was born and although she regained her birthweight and then some when she left the hospital, she didn't really seem to gain much at all. She was always in the bottom 3% for weight. BUT she was also always in the top 95-97% for height. Her proportions just made her look even skinnier than she was. Acquaintances from ex-dp's friends kept making remarks about how skinny she was, how she looked underfed. Those moms were bottle feeding and I was being made to feel inadequate although I knew I had more than enough milk for an army - I had an oversupply that I was milking by pumping between nursing sessions to create a stash for going back to work. But still those remarks made me nervous that our ped would tell me to supplement. However, our ped was very relaxed and pro-breastfeeding. He took one look at her father and me and said she'll be tall and skinny like us. And she still is. She's definitely going to be taller than me.

[SilverFish]

this is so us. dd is 11.5 months and just barely over 18lbs. she is in the 15th for weight and 50th for height. she has been 18 lbs for a while now too, but is still on that 15th curve, so i can't complain at all. she is actually in fairly good company in our babies group, since we have a bunch of tall-but-littles. the only one who has gotten any flack for their weight is the one boy who is 12 months and 20 lbs. he is SO tall though, i really don't get where their ped is coming from. no dr has ever commented on dd's weight, but we do get comments (the regular, she's HOW old? what a peanut! etc) from family and strangers. it's a good thing they don't see her without her clothes on, since she is incredibly skinny (but very wiry and muscly). i have never met a pair of pants that will stay up without her big cloth diapered butt. she is a pretty good eater and we have a good high cal, high fat diet (me too, since i have been melting away from breastfeeding).

when she was born she was 5'10". SO tiny... it was really kind of freaky to look at her. she was born at 35 weeks though, so i wonder how she would have looked at term. overall, i think i am the one with the most concern over her size and shape... to everyone else she just looks petite and healthy. but i am a fairly large person (always been slim, but tall and broad), and i think i spent my whole pregnancy expecting her to be a moose like my nephew and myself and my sibs... it never occurred to me to me that my DH's petite and short mother might play a part in my dd's genetics. hah. i am kind of morbidly obsessed with how much my next baby will weigh. with our genetics, it can clearly go either way.

[Knitting Mama]

We're in too! Cecilia was 6 lbs 3 oz at birth, 5 lbs 10 oz when we took her home. She was around 12 lbs at her 6 month checkup. She's 10 months now and around 17 lbs. At her 9 month WBV she was 10th percentile for weight and 50th for height (and 75th for head, my giant noggin girl ). She's juuuuuust starting to outgrow 6 month sized clothing in length, but the width still fits her very well. So in sleepers I've moved her up to 9 month but in shirts she stays with 6. Pants are the hardest, because if the fit her in length they're comically large in the waist, even over a cloth diaper.

My pediatrician isn't worried in the slightest. Cecilia's steadily jumped up on curves every time we go in for a measurement check. She was 5th for weight, 5th for height and 25th for head at her 3 month. At her 6 month she was 5th, 15th, 50th. And at her 9 month she was 10th, 50th, 75th. So really no cause for concern at all! And even if she hadn't jumped up, her ped said to me that as long as she held steadily on her curve, she wouldn't have any cause for worry.

Most people think she is way younger than she is because of her petite size. But according to my mom, it was exactly the same with me and my siblings. I used to worry myself about her size, but I don't anymore, since she's obviously a happy, healthy baby hitting milestones easily.

[SeattleRain]

I'm in too. Daniel was born nice and hefty at 8lbs9oz, but unfortunately spent much of his early days not gaining due to reflux. He's 7 months and 16lbs but a whopping 28" long! Basically, everything is baggy because he needs 6-12 month clothes to fit his length but they're quite loose on him. I think at this point, he just has a fast metabolism. He's not a huge milk drinker (people are shocked when I tell him he's FF because there's a stereotype that all FF babies are fat) but he loves to eat, whether its purees or chunks of food. In spite of this, he doesn't really put on weight. He's ALWAYS moving!

I've been quite lucky in terms of my ped. She's a huge advocate of feeding on demand and listening to your baby's cues, so she isn't really concerned with how Daniel is gaining. He's been pretty steadily a skinny guy and is otherwise quite happy.

[MJB]

Edie was 7 lbs. 1 oz. when she was born at 37 weeks-- smallish, but not tiny. She was 12 lbs. 9 oz. at 2 mos.-- fat rolls galore. Now at 6.5 mos. she's hovering at 27" and just under 15 lbs., having gained ~2 lbs. in 4.5 mos. She nurses a ton, gets bottles on occasion (of EBM or formula), and eats more solids than most toddlers, including lots of meat, dairy, and eggs. She has reached all her milestones early, pees enough and has several big poops a day, so I'm not too concerned. She hasn't seen her ped. recently. 

When I am looking at her she doesn't look all that skinny; her thighs are chunky, her tummy is all squishy and she has cute cheeks. But next to other babies she looks tiny! 

[Adaline'sMama]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama 

We're in too! Cecilia was 6 lbs 3 oz at birth, 5 lbs 10 oz when we took her home. She was around 12 lbs at her 6 month checkup. She's 10 months now and around 17 lbs. At her 9 month WBV she was 10th percentile for weight and 50th for height (and 75th for head, my giant noggin girl ). She's juuuuuust starting to outgrow 6 month sized clothing in length, but the width still fits her very well. So in sleepers I've moved her up to 9 month but in shirts she stays with 6. Pants are the hardest, because if the fit her in length they're comically large in the waist, even over a cloth diaper.

Most people think she is way younger than she is because of her petite size. But according to my mom, it was exactly the same with me and my siblings. I used to worry myself about her size, but I don't anymore, since she's obviously a happy, healthy baby hitting milestones easily.

Same here. People often act like she is a genius for being able to sit in the front part of the grocery cart. People are always coming up and saying , "oh my gosh, look how well she sits up! What is she, 6 months?"

DD is weighing in at 17lbs 5 oz at 10.5 months. She just started being able to wear those 9 month outfits!

Aimee,

Our babies have almost always been exactly the same size and doing the same things :) DD is also 75% for head size.
 

[Knitting Mama]

And only about 2 weeks apart! How interesting! Was Ada early? Cecilia was born at exactly 38 weeks.

[Adaline'sMama]

Adaline was born at 38.5 weeks according to my calculations, 37 weeks exactly according to the dr.'s due date. She was born 36 hours after I had an external version.

[jump mama jump!]

subbing. Hi ladies. My dd is 11.5 months old. 6lbs 10oz , 19 inches at birth. At her 9 month check up which was actually at 10.5 months (due to our doc being in the office so rarely, and scheduling issues), the dr freaked out about her being only 15 lbs, 7 oz and 27 inches tall (they didn't take a head measurement, strangely enough), and especially the fact that she hadn't gained at all in the 3 or 4 weeks since she'd been seen due to being sick. No one mentioned anything out of order when she was seen then. Of course she wouldn't eat solids and barely nursed enough while she was sick (it lasted almost a week). The doc basically implied that we weren't feeding dd enough, which may have been true in terms of solids, but she'd bfed on demand, and still nurses tons. We have to take her back for a weight check in 2 weeks (from now, 6 weeks from then), and if she hasn't gained enough (how much is enough was totally unspecified!) they'll do all sorts of bloodwork to rule stuff out. She suggested putting formula in dd's cereal, cream and butter in everything knowing that we are vegans, and suggesting that raising dd vegan would be "just too hard". I've been really freaking out about this. I'm pretty sure nothing is wrong. She is 1 inch less and 1 lb lighter than I was at her age (I was 2 inches longer at birth), and my dh was TINY as a baby. He actually did fail to thrive (not just in terms of weight but milestones too), but turned out just fine. Dd is more than meeting her milestones. I discussed this at length with my FIL, who is a dr, and he was totally outraged, since americans are so obese on average, and suggested plotting dd on the french charts, and certainly the WHO ones. At least she's on the WHO charts, but she's off the american ones for weight. He also said we clearly need a new dr. but have to wait til this blows over lest it look bad and induces a call to CPS. Also we need to find someone vegan friendly. FIL was actually one of the only family members I've spoken with who is supportive of us all being vegan. Dh and I are fairly skinny (ok I keep gaining weight since I had dd since pregnancy was so awful and now that I'm not nausious all the time any more I just eat and eat and don't get to excercise enough), and I doubt it has much to do with the veganism since FIL is skinny too. Also all our nephews -  both dh's brothers, and my sister's kids are small and they all eat meat and dairy.

We had been getting lots of the "oh she's so tiny" comments before this, but the dr freaking out was a real blow. I had just been starting to feel like I was getting the hang of parenting until this. Now my self-confidence is totally shaken. Worse is that when I tell people about this, the usual reaction that I get is "oh, it must be because you all are vegan." I'm so sick of this. It's f-ing genetics! So, we're trying to sneak more calories and fat into dds diet, speeding up the introduction of and being more aggressive with the solids (even though I keep reading tons of contradictory stuff about how bfing more and doing less solids is the way to go, since that's what the dr ordered) and hoping for the best. I'm definitly worried about teaching her bad eating habits though.

[SilverFish]

we're vegan too, jumpmama. i do think carefully about how i feed dd because i don't want people to make judgements like that either. so far it seems to be working. if you want some suggestions of high fat/high cal foods that your baby might like, i'd be happy to help. otherwise, i'd be quite tempted to just lie to the ped, say you're feeding her what ever kinds of foods he suggests and leave it at that. i really like my ped, but i just kind of nodded and smiled when she went on about rice cereal last time we visited, same with cheese and whatever. she's a good doctor, but she's not a nutritionist.

[marinak1977]

Originally Posted by jump mama jump! 

subbing. Hi ladies. My dd is 11.5 months old. 6lbs 10oz , 19 inches at birth. At her 9 month check up which was actually at 10.5 months (due to our doc being in the office so rarely, and scheduling issues), the dr freaked out about her being only 15 lbs, 7 oz and 27 inches tall (they didn't take a head measurement, strangely enough), and especially the fact that she hadn't gained at all in the 3 or 4 weeks since she'd been seen due to being sick. No one mentioned anything out of order when she was seen then. Of course she wouldn't eat solids and barely nursed enough while she was sick (it lasted almost a week). The doc basically implied that we weren't feeding dd enough, which may have been true in terms of solids, but she'd bfed on demand, and still nurses tons. We have to take her back for a weight check in 2 weeks (from now, 6 weeks from then), and if she hasn't gained enough (how much is enough was totally unspecified!) they'll do all sorts of bloodwork to rule stuff out. She suggested putting formula in dd's cereal, cream and butter in everything knowing that we are vegans, and suggesting that raising dd vegan would be "just too hard". I've been really freaking out about this. I'm pretty sure nothing is wrong. She is 1 inch less and 1 lb lighter than I was at her age (I was 2 inches longer at birth), and my dh was TINY as a baby. He actually did fail to thrive (not just in terms of weight but milestones too), but turned out just fine. Dd is more than meeting her milestones. I discussed this at length with my FIL, who is a dr, and he was totally outraged, since americans are so obese on average, and suggested plotting dd on the french charts, and certainly the WHO ones. At least she's on the WHO charts, but she's off the american ones for weight. He also said we clearly need a new dr. but have to wait til this blows over lest it look bad and induces a call to CPS. Also we need to find someone vegan friendly. FIL was actually one of the only family members I've spoken with who is supportive of us all being vegan. Dh and I are fairly skinny (ok I keep gaining weight since I had dd since pregnancy was so awful and now that I'm not nausious all the time any more I just eat and eat and don't get to excercise enough), and I doubt it has much to do with the veganism since FIL is skinny too. Also all our nephews -  both dh's brothers, and my sister's kids are small and they all eat meat and dairy.

We had been getting lots of the "oh she's so tiny" comments before this, but the dr freaking out was a real blow. I had just been starting to feel like I was getting the hang of parenting until this. Now my self-confidence is totally shaken. Worse is that when I tell people about this, the usual reaction that I get is "oh, it must be because you all are vegan." I'm so sick of this. It's f-ing genetics! So, we're trying to sneak more calories and fat into dds diet, speeding up the introduction of and being more aggressive with the solids (even though I keep reading tons of contradictory stuff about how bfing more and doing less solids is the way to go, since that's what the dr ordered) and hoping for the best. I'm definitly worried about teaching her bad eating habits though.

Jump Mama Jump, we got the same reaction from the Dr at the last WBV at 12 months. Her solution for getting DS to gain weight was to nightwean. Didn't make any sense to me. DS is in the bottom precentiles of the WHO charts. We'e not vegan but this definitely made me take notice on how we're approaching solids. Our weight check is in 3 weeks. DS too was sick for over 2 weeks, changed rooms in daycare and wasn't drinking enough during the day. I'm hoping that the weight gain is enough to put worries to rest. I totally relate to "shaken self-confidence" I felt like a terrible parent after the WBV. FWIW I was tiny as a baby as well.

[Knitting Mama]

You can partially take the ped's advice by cooking everything in olive oil or coconut oil, and adding both of those to the solids your babes eat.

New question: Are any of your babes anemic? Cecilia is, and my research indicates that babies under 6.5 lbs at birth are more susceptible to it.

[SilverFish]

we haven't done the blood test. i asked my ped about it, because dd was so small at birth, i have historically low iron (unrelated to veganism... it's been lowish my whole life) and we didn't do fortified cereals. my ped said i could do it if i wanted, but in her opinion, dd wasn't showing any signs and it wasn't necessary. i still haven't made up my mind. i may go after her first birthday.

[Knitting Mama]

My ped was fairly adamant that low iron can impede proper brain development, and she routinely does the test at 9 months. Cecilia's isn't phenomenally low-- I think between 11-14 is normal for hemoglobin and hers was 9.8.  But we've ramped up on foods that are high in iron and vitamin C (which aids iron absorption). We also didn't do cereals. At this point she does eat sweet potatoes, fortified oatmeal with fruit and meat with tomatoes in hopes that they will help her iron. She eats spinach too but prefers the meat.