My 32 week preemie, now 2 years old, weighs 21 lbs, all drs freaking out, how big are your... - Page 2

[Cinder]

I've got tiny kids, my youngest's stats should be taken with a grain of salt cause he has a genetic growth disorder discovered through micro array dna testing, but even knowing what he has and testing specifically for that, all 3 other kids are perfectly normal, 2 of them are small and 1 is just really tall and really skinny.

Anyway:

Janelle-born at 34 weeks, 5lbs 9ounces, 4lbs 8ounces 12 hours later after diuretics, this is what the doctors considered her true birth weight,, at 1 she was 17lbs, at 2 she was 17lbs (at 18 months she was 15lbs, so she did gain in there, she just lost some first), at 3 she was 21lbs...not 100% sure on weights after that, but now, at 9, she is 42lbs and 51".

Kincaid-39 weeks...he was 7lbs 7ounces at birth and 19lbs at 1, and I don't remember anything else, he's always been, since around 1, between the 20th% and 30th% for weight and the 80th and 100th% for height.  He is 7, will be 8 in march, and weighs 55lbs and is about 53", he's been bigger than his big sister since he was 4 months old and she was 22 months old.

Travis-38 weeks-6lbs 14oz at birth.  14lbs at 1, 16lbs 14oz at 18 months (I only remember this cause it meant at 18 months he had gained exactly 10lbs since birth...), 19lbs at 2, 25lbs at 3, 32lbs at 4, 33lbs now at 4 1/2.  He's also really really really short, like 39".

River-36weeks, 5lbs 10oz at birth-12lbs at 1, 15lbs at 2, at 2 1/2 he is 16lbs 12oz, he's also only 29". 

For us, except for River, we understood they were going to be small.  My mom is 5'1 and my husband's dad is also 5'1" (and FIL's sisters are all under 5' and FIL's mom was 4'6") so it's just natural for us.  My dad's family are all REALLY tall, even my dad's mom was over 6', so that also explains our one really tall kid as well.  Strangely enough, our only kid who has ever had any feeding/eating issues is Kincaid, the one who grows fine with no issues.  His eating issues were very severe though, he was hospitalized for IV rehydration more than once when he refused to eat, nurse or drink anything for days at a time.  He'd go weeks where we got nothing but liquid into him, and he was 2.  He got feeding therapy for 3 years and is much much better now.  His issues were sensory issues (didn't feel hunger, didn't taste food, didn't like the feel of food in his mouth) and epilepsy (the medication he was on, topamax, though a miracle drug for him, is a known appetite suppressant) combined.  What we learned in feeding therapy was totally the opposite of you, food was never supposed to be used as a reward or a punishment, leaving a kid in a high chair for hours is definitely a punishment.  We had to make it so eating was no big deal.  We made a meal, we put his plate at the table with ours, if he ate good, if he didn't we offered something else later, we never cooked specifically his favorites just for him, but we never forced him to eat either.  Now this was done along with a LOT of therapy, especially oral sensitivity therapy by an occupational therapist, so it's not like just one thing worked, it was a huge combo of things, but letting him sit in a high chair screaming for hours was NEVER part of it.

If you are actually worried, genetics could actually be a good idea.  For us it was worth all the testing cause the disorder River has has a shortened life expectancy without growth hormone therapy but no issues at all like that if you do growth hormone therapy, that's a pretty major thing to know.  But there was more going on than just small (and, your 2 year old is bigger than he will be at 3, by far) like he ended up hospitalized for colds and such cause they'd attack his muscles and he wouldn't even be able to hold his own head up.  So it was a lot more than just a kid who didn't grow as quickly as the doctors wanted him to. 

Edited by Cinder - 1/28/12 at 3:26pm

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by New_Momma 

Some days he eats like crazy, some days he doesn't eat, when I say that I mean he may have a cheese stick and a cracker all day. He has grown out of intolerances thankfully. His iron is good. He does drink cows milk, usually chocolate, pediasure which is a life saver for us and lots and lots of juice.

 Every 2 year old I know sometimes eats a lot and sometimes doesn't eat enough to keep a bird alive. When tracking a child's eating, you really need to keep track over the course of a week, rather than a single day.

The only thing that you wrote that would concern me would be the "lots and lots of juice". Juice is high in sugar and low in nutrients, when compared to other foods. It also tends to fill kids up without providing them the nutrients they need. For a 2 year old, I'd be concerned that it's not providing nutrients and the dense calories he may need. I've known at least 2 toddlers who have had eating issues (in particular being underweight) and one of the first things the doctors recommended is to cut way back on juice. Way back being no more than 4-8 oz a day. If he drinks more than that, I'd work on scaling back the amount of juice, perhaps by watering down the juice and then replacing it with water. Water doesn't fill a child up the way juice does.
 

[~bookcase~]

my 3 year old is about 21lbs and still being monitored but we've had blood tests etc done and all were normal. i was adamant not to let the pressure interfere with how i fed her, so if she didn't eat for a few days i knew that her siblings had also not eaten for 3 days sometimes (i don't mean literally, but grazing without 'purpose' lol) and then eventually she would down more food than her siblings for a while. i wanted to preserve 'normal' as far as we could and i think we achieved that (it helped that she has 5 other siblings so i felt confident generally)

it was suggested for ages that i was starving her and i remember crying at the dr that maybe he wanted to rehome her and see how well she did somewhere else oops. but i think he got the picture and i definitely felt better for saying it out loud

now she has the diagnosis that she is genetically small - we'll see. her uncle was titchy and is now a skinny 6' something. i'd love to send the dr a picture when she is 20 and still a stick insect but towering over both her parents

you could get some inspiration from baby led weaning website/ book to maybe help you relax......