[veganbaby]

I know that this topic has been done before, but I can't find the thread for it. Put in small toddler in the search engine you come up with a lot of hits.
Anyways, I am trying not to worry. My DD has always been small. It just seems as though her weight has slowed signifcantly in the past eighteen months or so.
At six months she was 11 lbs.
At thirteen months she was 13 lbs.
At 18 months she was at 16 lbs.
Now at almost 24 months she is at 18 lbs. Her head used to always fall under the 50th percentile. Now it has dropped down to the 10th. She has even seemed to fall in her height as well.
She is doing the things a 24 months should be doing. Her vocab is fine, she can walk up and down stairs unassisted. She seems like a happy girl overall, except when it is time to sleep.
Should I be worried? How can you tell if a child is malnourished? What if she has some malabsorbtion problem. Should I stop watching the scale and just look at her?
She is still breastfeeding several times a day and maybe two to four times a night.
Thanks for the advice.

 

[rabrog]

I'd talk to your ped at her 2 year appt. just to be on the safe side, so at least it's documented that you asked at this point in time.

A little girl who is a week older than my DD was only a few pounds heavier than yours at the 2 year mark. This girl is still smaller, but no problems.

What solid food does your DD eat? Fruits and veggies are great, but there's not much caloric intake there. Are you doing whole milk for her? If so, keep it up past the 2 year mark. We've kept DD on organic whole milk because the child has no butt - her pants fall down!

Jenn

 

[veganbaby]

As for soilds, we are vegan so we do not give her whole cow's milk. She gets rice, hazelnut, almond or oat milk.
She is a very good eater. We add fat to her diet by giving her avacados, hemp oil, coconut milk, fresh peanut butter and other fatty foods. She loves cashews. She eats just about everything that she is offered. Sometimes she will eat three servings of her meals and that I am feeding her all day. Other days she will just graze her food. I try to have her at at least every 2 hours or whenever she asks.
Her snacks consists of rice crackers, sesame crackers, veggies and hummus, peanut butter sandwiches, granola, fruit, smoothies, pretty much anything that is easy to grab.
Breakfast she will have waffles, cereal, with a smoothie or fruit. Lunch and dinner she will have whatever we are eating: lentils, rice, soups, nori wraps, salad, enchillidas...you get the idea.

 

[wifty]

This is definately something that you want to check with your doctor about. Small is ok, but they want to see that she is following the same percentile on the chart and if she is dropping alot (from 50 to 10), they need to know that and make sure everything is ok.
That she is doing all the things she should be is great......but there could still be something seriously wrong. I don't mean to worry you....but please, make sure your ped addresses this. Let them know that you are vegan too. It shouldn't make a difference, but its important that they know that.

Catching growth problems early is the key to making them not as significant as they could otherwise be.

Good luck and let us know what he says!!!

 

[kwilki8]

Have you checked her height to weight ratio? Is it falling much? My dd is also very small and gains weight very slowly. For a while her head and length measurements started falling off the curves, but that put her in the 50th percentile for the height/weight--she basically became more proportionate. Because your dd is so far below the charts in weight, it's possible that her other growth is slowing down to give her a chance to "catch up" (at least, that's how my dd's ped explained it to us).

However, I would agree that this is worth discussing with her ped, because you certainly want to catch any problems right away. You might also want to keep a food diary for her for a week or so before you go in--it was really helpful for us to have an exact record of what/how much she was eating.

 

[veganbaby]

Ped knows that we are vegan and isn't concerned about that. He wasn't too concerned at her 18 month check up, but as a parent, I am.
I will ask at our next check up.

 

[brookerenee]

I have a small DD, and we went through a lot of testing for failure to thrive. Unlike your DD, she started off big (90th percentile) and began to quickly drop off the growth charts (she fell to the 30th then to the 10th then to the 3rd and then completely off the bottom). She was 18 pounds at 9 months old and still 18 pounds over a year later. The doctor got very concerned and sent DD for bloodwork, parasite tests, allergy tests, and finally a gastric emptying scan and an endoscopy. My instincts were right - nothing was wrong with her; she is just small. She is starting to follow a consistent curve now (though not on the growth chart) so the doctors are no longer worried. Does your DD seem to have a lot of energy and appear to be otherwise healthy? What does your gut instinct tell you? Most of the tests for FTT were relatively easy, but the gastric emptying scan was terrible so avoid that one if you decide to pursue testing. They made my DD drink radioactive liquid from a baby bottle. They'd never seen a baby that would not take a bottle, and that was the only option, as they could not risk the liquid getting spilled. DD did not drink enough of the liquid within the time frame, but they did the test anyway. They put her in a straight jacket and sat her under a machine for an hour. She screamed bloody murder the whole time. It was horrible for all of us. The endoscopy required general anesthesia, but was very quick (15 minutes) and DD woke up wanting to play right away.

I see other have mentioned her proportions. Is she short as well as lightweight? I know my DD was too tall for her weight for awhile, and her head was in the 80th% so it almost looked too big for her body. Around 2 years of age, she started to slow down in height, and her head is now around the 40th%, so she is better proportioned. (Below the charts for both height and weight now, and not such a huge noggin in comparison.)

 

[northcountrymamma]

My dd is small, when she was 24mo she was about 19lbs. She is now 25lbs at 2.5yrs, which isn't as small as I thought she would be. We are not vegan but since I was vegan at a certain point in my life we eat many of the same foods you are listing. I would say that so long as your child is getting all of the essential vitamins and minerals they need and is eating appropriate foods to allow for the absorbtion of these, there should be no worry. I always wonder about the "charts" anyways, in an obese culture, how can normal be what they indicate. DD doesnt go for well child checks anymore, we don't do shots and I got so sick of hearing that she was in a lower percentile than she should be.

 

[BodhiMom]

I just wanted to say that not everyone is average. My son is considered small for his age, based on national averages. Well, the average american eats fast food atleast four times a week. The average american loads themselves (and their children) up on sugars, partially (and fully)hydrogenated
oils, stereroid filled meats, and a vast array of processed and chemically created foods. The average american is overweight and undernourished. Veganbaby, you stated that your dd eats whatever is offered and I read the healthy whole-foods that she's offered; it sounds like she's nourished and healthy. Don't feel pushed to compare your unique child to a generalized average.

Blessings.

 

[Catherine12]

Another thing to bear in mind is genetics - if you and your husband are smaller than average than you would expect her to be that way too. Healthy grown-ups vary in size a lot, so why not healthy babies/toddlers? It sounds like you're doing a great job feeding her.

 

[MamaRabbit]

DD had failure to thrive at about 6mo old. But once the problem was fixed, she's been consistently growing but at the 5% or lower growth rate. At 2yr old, she was 20lb. She'll be 3 next mo. and weighs 24lb. She's tiny! Most people think she's 18mo until they hear her talk!

As long as she has no medical problems and is growing, I wouldn't worry.

 

[AEZMama]

My ds was born at 6 1/3 lbs, at 6 mos was 8 lbs (PDA surgery at 6 mos), at 15 mos was 18.6lbs and the doc isn't overly concerned, but ds stays around that 3-5% weight. He's never hit high numbers for height & weight (current length is 29 1/2 in) but has a good sized noggin. He doesn't eat anything that's large or textured-he has a really sensitive gag reflex, though I am working with different foods to get him to eat more. He also doesn't self feed. We are going to do some early intervention once we know if we'll be changing our insurance coverage, but after that we're full steam on getting the kiddo to eat more.

A friend of a friends ds had eating issues also, they're veg and they threw all that out the window just to get him to eat and put on weight. Not sure when they'll go back to having him be veg tho.

 

[knittinclothmama]

My DS is small also. He is barely on the charts. At 13 months he weighed 17lbs at 19 months he weighed 21 lbs. He will be 3 next month and is right around 25.5 lbs. He weighs less and is shorter than both his older sisters at the same age. He will try anything and eats great sometimes but not others.... a lot of the time he is "too busy" (his words). I have to be creative to get him to the table. His proportions look good for his size and he's doing all the stuff a normal 3 year old should do. I worry like every mother worries but my "instinct" says he is perfectly fine.

 

[veganbaby]

Thanks for advice. She is pretty short for her age, but so am I. I'm 4 10. and 81 lbs. So I am thinking maybe she takes after my genes and not my DH's who is 6'2 and weights 230.

 

[Wabi Sabi]

Another mama with a very scrawny little boy here! At 22 months he is just about 18, maybe 19 lbs.

We've been seeing a family doctor whom we love, but she had been concerned about his very slow growth for quite a while. She has suggested getting a referral to a large children's hospital for additional testing but we declined. Finally, at his 18 mo. appt. she said that as a physician ds was just out of her comfort zone and we finally (reluctantly) made the appt. with the children's hospital.

In the meantime, since it was going to take a couple of months to get an appt., we decided to get a second opinion from a local pediatrician. She took one look at him, reviewed his records and told us she didn't think we needed to see the specialists. Although she agreed that ds is unusually small his height and head were still following his own curve. His weight was the only thing that was more or less a flat line. She also said that although the developmental clinic at the children's hospital is great that in her experience she could just about guarantee me that they would tell me I need to wean him.

:

Dh and I really aren't all that concerned. He's just a skinny, short kid- that's all. Dh was always the smallest kid in his class at school. His medical records indicate that he only weighed 32 lbs. in second grade! Guess who ds takes after, LOL?

We're just working on trying to get more calories into him now (instant breakfast and good oils added to his breakfast smoothies, lots of extra butter on his food, avocado, and other full-fat foods). In the meantime, we joke the poor kid is destined to still be rear-facing in his carseat (goes up to 35 lbs.) until he is school aged, LOL.

 

[pinkmilk]

I have a tiny dd too. I call her mouse. At 1 yr, she was 16 pounds, at 2 yrs she was 19 pounds. She has gained a couple pounds in the last 4 months which puts her at a whopping 21 pounds(just 1 pound lighter than her 6 month old brother!

: ) The moose and the mouse!

She still wears 12 month old clothes! But she's healthy and strong and very spirited. And she doesn't see a doctor any more either...we did the blood tests at around a year...waste of time and energy as far as i'm concerned. I know she is perfect!

 

[Peony]

My dd is 3.5 years and weighs 26 lbs. She isn't that small just skinny, she's always grown, she just doesn't gain much weight despite constantly eating. We don't do well child appointments so her weight has never been a concern for anyone else. DH and I know she is perfect the way she is, and we aren't the biggest people either so i know where it comes from.