Very Small Children - Do I have the small *ist* child? - Page 2

[Karry]

www.celiac.com

[Elphaba]

ICM, I can't wait to get our petite beauties together! Shoshanna is about 1 month younger than your dd, and weighs in at a whopping 24 pounds! She's 35 inches tall. She's just perfect!
I have a friend whose 6 month old outweighed Shoshie at 2.5 yo.
Chunky, slender, I love 'em all!

[mirlee]

I wouldn't worry about it. Sam is a little over 4 and weighs in at a whopping 32 pounds. He is pretty short too. The Ped. was concerned initially because when she charted his height if he maintains his current growth trends, he will be 5'5" or 5'6". We didn't think anything of it because I am 5' and dh is a whopping 5'5".

[Ame]

My first two were 20 pounds by 3 months...but my third (Lucy) has been 20 ish (give or take 2-3 lbs.) since she was about 6 months old - she is 22 months now. She is super tiny and gets mistaken for an infant often....people actually scold me for not being more "careful" with her- since she is so young and tiny ! I don't worry about her though - she is full of energy, eats like a horse ( more than my first 2 chunky babies), and is healthy.

[pilesoflaundry]

My second child is petite and grows slower than her siblings do/did at the same age. She is 2 years and 5 months and is 25lbs and I think 33 inches tall. She was 7lbs 14oz at birth, she seemed to grow ok but just slow. She took forever to hit 20lbs and after that she seemed to jump to 25. She did have some food allergies that went undiagnosied for a little while and she has a vax reaction which slowed her down and she lost weight so that explains part of her problems. Now that we got all that straightned out she doesn't seem to have as much trouble gaining weight.

So I guess I didn't really help because she didn't have normal health to begin with! Sorry! Some kids are big, some are small. It is hard though, my ds was very tall and big for his age so everyone assumed he was bigger and wondered why he wasn't walking, talking etc at such a young age.

[Jessica36]

Originally Posted by lilgsmommy

I know right now they are doing testing to rule out growth hormone issues, EE issues, stuff like that.

My DS #2 has EE! Just thought I would share.

[Jessica36]

Originally Posted by lovetomom

My DD is also tiny. Was 5lbs 6ozs at birth and now at 23 months is about 23 pounds. I don't want to go to the doctor to have them poke around because it upsets her so much. She does have irregular (every 2nd day as opposed to every day) and often undigested bowel movements - is that "THE" sign that there is a problem. What are doctors trying to rule out when they test our little children?

Yes this is a VERY big sign. Have her checked for Food allergies and a GI consult. I know you don't want them to bug her, but we just found out my little guy is allergic to 9 different food and has eosinphilic eosphagitis which is causing him to not absorb nutrients.

[edamommy]

Mommy to a mini-me

Hi there. My son is a preemie and I worry night and day about his size. Doesn't help that the pediatrician ALWAYS has to mention he scrapes the bottom of the growth chart- blablabla. But, he's bright. He's ahead of all his milestones. blablabla. At 16 months he weighs a whopping 21lbs. He hates to eat which makes me crazy. But don't worry as long as your child is happy and healthy and not delayed. He was 4.6lbs at birth...

Kimberley

[mammabear]

My very active child weighs 33 lbs. She will be 6 in August.

She has always been petite and will probably always be. She is a picky eater, but she does eat well- the foods she enjoys. She wears a 4T-5T.
I just try to buy pants that have belt loops so we can hold the pants up!

I know she is healthy. She has tons of energy and hardley ever gets sick.

[Peppamint]

My dd is 3.5yo and when she was weighed at 3y1mo she was 27lb and 36in. She is definitely the smallest preschooler at playgroup.

She was 6lb 2oz at birth (38weeks) and weighed 13lb 14oz at 7.5mo, 15lb 8oz at 9mo, 17lb 8oz at one year, 19lb 8oz at 18mo where her weight stalled for awhile... then she suddenly gained a few lbs and hit 22lb at her two year visit.

I was concerned about her nasty, messy diapers... but doc said she was fine and thankfully she potty learned overnight and we don't have to change her diapers anymore!

[pilesoflaundry]

Michelle, do you give Ellie probiotics? Daria had those nasty diapers also, she is dairy and soy intolerant we figured that out partially by the diapers but anyway probiotics cured that.

She now is potty trained but I started giving it to her while she was still in diapers, I couldn't take changing them anymore! I figured it couldn't hurt to try them and it might just work. I think because of all the dairy and soy she got before we figured out the allergy it trashed her stomach a bit. After the probiotics her bms became normal, regular and digested. It also was when she finally started gaining weight again.

[comet]

oh good grief, you're not alone. My daughter is almost 3 yrs old and she is about 25 lbs. She will oscillate between 24 lbs and 26.

[Peppamint]

Originally Posted by pilesoflaundry

Michelle, do you give Ellie probiotics? Daria had those nasty diapers also, she is dairy and soy intolerant we figured that out partially by the diapers but anyway probiotics cured that.

I did off and on, mostly she ate yogurt. It cleared up after awhile, I'm not really sure what was going on really. She doesn't eat yogurt anymore and occassionally drinks a small glass of Organic milk... but otherwise doesn't get large amounts of dairy (just the cheese, eggs, or milk that is cooked into our food).

It's weird that I never figured out exactly what was going on, but I'm glad it cleared up nonetheless!

[stafl]

Since DD, while being very small, has always been a little larger than I was at any given age, I absolutely refuse to agree to any sort of testing when she has no signs of anything being wrong. Being small is not a medical condition

But, reading these posts, I have a question for you all... she (and I) has many very mild food allergies/sensitivities, nothing major. Dairy, for example, gives her a stuffy nose. I do limit the amounts of these foods in her diet, but she really really likes them, and as thin as she is, it's hard for me to not let her have any at all when it might be the only thing I can get her to eat at the time. KWIM? So what do you do in that situation? for example, knowing that cheese will give her a stuffy nose and make her a little grouchy, if that's the only thing I can get her to eat for a snack, should I let her eat cheese, or hold off until she's hungry enough to eat something else? I've had to cut way back on the sugar she eats, too, it was causing behavioral problems, but at least it was getting calories into the child...
And I realize the problem is mostly mine, not hers. That I have been indoctrinated into the way of thinking that skinny equates with illness in children. Even after I was taken to the doctor repeatedly my entire life because I was thin and small, and nothing was ever found to be wrong.
But I can't help but get really upset when she won't eat as much as I think she should. She had severe problems nursing as an infant, too, and I'm sure some of my anxiety is left over from a false FTT dx and threats to take my child away from me if I didn't give her formula (which caused colic and allergic reactions...). Some days she'll eat more than I would care to eat, some days she hardly eats anything at all. And everytime she has a growth spurt, she gets painfully thin, and I try so hard not to worry about it, but I still do...
what do you all do? How do you stop obsessing over how much the child eats (or doesn't eat)?

[pilesoflaundry]

Stacy, I just learned to realize that kids eat when hungry and don't when not. My kids between 1-2 years old went through 'ravenous' days where they ate everything in site, plus snacks! And then the next day or so would be a 'graze' day and they would pick and not eat much of anything. All I ever worried about was fluids, too much juice, milk or water will fill up a kid so they won't eat but not enough when they aren't eating causes dehydration. So I tried to strike a balance, after I stopped trying to make them eat they ate on their own schedule.

And my dd has mild dairy problems and although I don't like giving it either sometimes if all she will eat is cheese I do give her some.

[Karry]

I am also wondering if my DS has a sensitivity to dairy. He refuses to drink milk and has all along. He will eat yogurt and cheese though. Sometimes it is all he will eat and is picky. I also wonder if I was to eliminate dairy from his diet altogether if it would help things. I just don't know how I would get any high fat foods into him if he can't have cheese. He is so tiny. He just turned three and weighs 23 lbs. and is 35 inches.