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Behaviour/development

Worrying mum - is my 3 year old too small?

12 replies

pinkmama · 10/05/2005 12:19

I am hopefully being a paranoid pregnant mum here. My ds does not seem to be growing very much. He was on 50th centile until about 6 months ago, measured him this week and he has dropped to the 9th. Mentioned to HV that he saves me a fortune in clothes as they wear out before he grows out of them, and still in 18mth-2yr trousers. She said that this was a bit concerning and wants to see him on Monday to see if he needs a referral to a paeditrician. He is also been referred for speech and language assessment, because whilst his vocabularly range is fine, I think many people find him hard to understand because he lisps.

I realise that unfortunately he is inevitably compared to his older sister (7) who has always, since birth been on the 98th centile, and was always very advanced in speech and development. Its hard to know what is normal.

He comes from a tall family, I am considerd the runt of the litter at at 5'5". On both sides, apart from me all females are a mimimum of 5'10, and all men minimum of 6'. Myabe he has just inherited my genes (although I was tall as a child).

I know some on here have similarly tall childen like dd, but has anyone had this issue with smaller children when it doesnt fit a family pattern?

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foxinsocks · 10/05/2005 12:25

how tall is he?

my ds (also 3) is well under his weight and height curve but he seems to grow in fits and starts - so e.g. he won't grow for about 9 months and then in 3 months he'll outgrow everything and his feet will grow 2 sizes.

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piffle · 10/05/2005 12:31

Gosh just like our family
my ds is on the 99.6 centile age 11 yrs and dd is in the 9th aged 2.5 yrs
My dd does have a genetic condition which you can attribute most of her lack of weight and height to though so we do have an explanation, and she has always been small.

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Lua · 10/05/2005 12:40

Hi pink mama, I think the party line is that as long as kids stay with a curve it doesn't matter which one it is. So for example although DH and I are average to tall, DD is pretty small, but she has been slightly bellow or above 25% for the whole year - that means she is growing at a normal pace, she is just small.
I do think though that a child that has been constantly keeping up with a 50% curve all of a sudden drops to 9% should be checked. Is probably nothing, but it worth making sure....

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pinkmama · 10/05/2005 12:41

He is 93 cms at 3 years 3 months. He has always seemed small incomparison to his enormous sister. She was born at 9lb 11 whereas he was only (only ha ha!) 8lb 9, so from day one he seemed quite titchy. I just thought his smallness was because of dd's height, but then he started to fall behind his friends, although I have to say he doesn't appear massivly smaller than them. I bought him his first pair of age 3 trousers for a wedding the other day and they just fell straight down! Had to secure with belt and roll up several times. Maybe he just has little legs!

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pinkmama · 10/05/2005 12:44

I think you are right Lua. He seemed small before, but it is the drop down the centiles which is a bit concerning. However he hasnt seen a hv for a very long time, and it could be that I did measure him incorrectly last year. Having said that, I think its best to get it checked. I am now just going off into paranoid mummy mode about what terrible things it could be that have caused it!!!!!

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elliott · 10/05/2005 12:49

My ds1 is 3.5 and weighs about 13kg - just above the 9th centile. He's always been lighter than average but tbh I have never had his height measured and only rarely weigh him so really I haven't a clue whether he crosses centiles or not. He's certainly not in age 3 trousers yet - and in fact was in 12-18 month trousers for absolutely ages. He's just growing out of trousers I bought him a year ago...
I guess your health visitor is being cautious becuase if he has suddenly and unexpectedly lost weight then there might be cause for concern. Are you worried about his health? Do you feel he is failing to grow? If so, probably best get him checked out.

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oscarsmum · 10/05/2005 12:49

I wouldn't worry about it. Both my children are small, ds is 4 years old and wearing age 3 clothes (just), even the french ones that are known for being small. His feet have only grown 2 1/2 sizes in nearly 3 years. He is rather fussy about food and has a small appetite.

Dd, who is 1, has just made it up onto the 2nd centile for weight (not sure how tall either of them are), although she eats quite well. Both were on the 50th centile for weight and height at birth.

However, both have round faces and tummies and don't look thin. The HV has never raised their sizes as an issue whenever I've had them weighed before being vaccinated.

DH is 5'5" and I'm 5'6" but we're neither of us petite and spend all our time trying not to put weight on! How ironic.

So unless your son looks unwell or is unusually energyless I wouldn't worry. After worrying that ds wouldn't eat all my lovely Annabel Karmel meals, which I now realise is because he wasn't hungry, I just enjoy the advantages - ds still fits into the double buggy, as you say his clothes wear out before he grows out of them and smaller sizes can be cheaper!

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foxinsocks · 10/05/2005 12:49

pinkmama, if it makes you feel any better, ds started on the 75% curve and is now on the 2% curve but he seems happy and everything else is going OK (eating, sleeping) although his speech is nowhere near clear, he's making an effort to be understood.

For the last few months, I've been giving him lots of high-fat good foods (like avocados etc.) to try and boost his weight and it does seem to have worked.

See what the HV says and go from there. It's always worth getting it checked out if you're worried.

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serenity · 10/05/2005 12:51

In my family DS1 (7) and DD (18mths) are big, 98th and 95th centile. Poor old DS2 (4.5) in the middle is Mr Average, following 50th centile. I used to worry about him, as he seems so delicate compared to the other two, but he's fine, weight and height in proportion, loads of energy etc. He also sees a SALT for developmental delay in his speech, and sometimes I wonder if that adds to the general worry I have about him.

I imagine that the HV is not concerned because he is small, more that he has dropped so far in a short time. However, I've noticed that mine tend to grow in spurts, rather than follow the nice uniform graph. Last year DS2 didn't grow at all over the winter, but then grew 2 or 3" in 6 weeks! Kids are like plants - they grow more in the sunshine!! Hopefully your DS will do the same.

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Hermione1 · 10/05/2005 12:52

my ds was small, but my family are very short, but my dd had no problems and is average height.

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pinkmama · 10/05/2005 13:04

Thanks guys, as reassuring and supportive as ever! I just got myself into a panic that there was some terrible life threatening underlying cause . Bloody hormones! TBH I think part of it is because his speech is difficult because of his lisp, and because he flatly refuses to come out of nappies, his height makes him seem younger than he is, and with another baby on the way I have become rather overprotective towards him. He seems to small to lose his place as my baby . He is very healthy in every other way, active, eats reasonably well, happy, relaxed. In fact over the winter when the rest of us were succumbing to every virus out there, he remained relatively unnaffected! We will see what they say on Monday.

Thanks again!

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mummylonglegs · 10/05/2005 22:10

For what it's worth my dd 2 1/2 is about 12.5 kilos and wears 12-18 month trousers and 18-24 month tops. I'm 5,9" and dp is 6,4" so we'd expected to at least have a tall child if not a heavy one (we're a both beanpoles).

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