anyone else have an underweight child?

[meowee]

Does anyone else have a very skinny/ underweight child? My 10 1/2 y.o. son's BMI is 14 (18 is considered underweight) and he is 80th %tile for height and 25th %tile for weight (though by BMI he is 5th %tile). He is a very picky eater and just doesn't eat much. Clothes hang on him.

Where do you draw the lines between being worried and not worried? I already let him eat whatever he wants except candy, but I do let him eat cookies, etc.., though I don't always have what he wants on-hand. I am a bit concerned that his growth is going to be stunted if he just doesn't get enough food intake at this age.

(His pediatrician calculates BMI in addition to percentiles, he said BMI is now standard for children.)

[onlyzombiecat]

According to the BMI calculator on www.keepkidshealthy.com my dd has a BMI which is considered underweight.

I'm not too worried right now because:
She has been steadily growing and developing on the same line on the growth chart since birth.
She is very active.
She doesn't get sick often.
Dh and I were skinny kids and are normal sized adults.

I would be worried if she lost weight or stopped growing. I would also be concerned if she put on 15 pounds next month.
I would be concerned if she acted lethargic or sick.
I would be concerned if she was obsessing about her body size and showed signs of an eating disorder.

My dd seems to be eating better since we started giving her a magnesium supplement for other issues. She is being much less picky.
I'm not saying picky eaters are deficient in magnesium but it might be worth considering deficiencies or allergies to see if that could be contributing to the pickiness over food.

[Lingmom]

I used to struggle with this a lot, but no longer worry. My older daughter has always been below the 5th percentile in weight but she is healthy, eats a variety of foods (in small quantities) and looks like a slim, not sickly, child. I've given up thinking that it's something that I can or should try to change. Somebody has to be in the 3rd percentile, right?

[meowee]

He is active and doesn't get colds easily, but, he complains a lot about being hungry even when there's plenty of food to eat. He also is extremely pale.

[memiles]

Originally Posted by meowee

He is active and doesn't get colds easily, but, he complains a lot about being hungry even when there's plenty of food to eat. He also is extremely pale.

According to the chart, my dd has a bmi of 13.4. She's underweight, we know that. She also has celiac disease and some other food allergies, so we are limited in what we are even able to offer her.

She eats constantly, at least one snack an hour. Some are fruits and vegetables, soy yogurt, gf crackers, rice cakes with sunflower butter and jelly. I do let her eat candy at times (a small sucker, for example). Right now, she's eating a small gluten free, dairy free brownie at 10 am, because they are here and she knows she can have one today and chose to have it now.

Meowee, your ds sounds exactly like my daughter. Does he have any food allergies or sensitivities that you know of? It might be worth looking into.

[Peony]

I couldn't calculate DD1's BMI, I don't know what her exact height is. I do know that she is average height, 5y old, and weighs 33 lbs. The child eats nonstop, it is starting to drive me insane. She just snacks all long long. I'm not concerned, I was very thin as a child, I remember being in 4th grade and still not weighing 40 lbs yet, and it looks like DD1 will take after me.

[meowee]

Originally Posted by memiles

She eats constantly, at least one snack an hour. Some are fruits and vegetables, soy yogurt, gf crackers, rice cakes with sunflower butter and jelly. I do let her eat candy at times (a small sucker, for example). Right now, she's eating a small gluten free, dairy free brownie at 10 am, because they are here and she knows she can have one today and chose to have it now.

I do let him have some candy, but it's the only food I limit.

The only sensitivity that he has is dairy-- he's not allergic, just sensitive to it.

[marieangela]

I just checked the bmi calcuter and ds1 is not actually underweight. He is in the 25th percentile for height and weight. Just small all over. You can see his ribs, though. He is a somewhat picky eater and it is hard to find good proteins and fats that he likes. He just went for his 5yo check up and I expressed my dh's concerns to our ped. She reassured me that he has been in the 25th percentile since he was 18 months old and is growing well on his own curve.

I am certainly no expert, but I would think that the fact that your son is growing taller is a good sign. My mother was a nanny for a four yo boy (now 6, I guess) that barely ate at all. His 2 yo sister was the same size as him. I know his parents were worried, but the father retired and my mom moved on to another nanny job before I found out what happened with all of the tests they had done.