13mo weight and height

[captaincake]

I'm a little worried about DS's percentiles. He's on 75th for weight and was 25th for height but has barely grown in the last 3 months and is now under the 9th. His paediatrician is absolutely useless but says we're all different shapes and it's fine. I thought they should be more in line with each other? Not exactly obviously but a bit closer? He sees a dietician who says there's nothing wrong with his diet. HV wondered if his portions are too big but everyone I've spoken to with similar age DC say they eat similar.

[TheHouseOnBellSt]

Are you not in the UK? I ask because it's unusual to see a dietician and paed unless you're abroad or something's amiss with a child's health.

What is his day to day diet like? It's hard isn't it? My friends sons were both like yours but it was understandable as she and her husband are both quite short.

[captaincake]

Hi, yes in the uk DS has some mild health problems so we see a paed every few months.

He has either 2 adult handfuls of low sugar cheerios or 1 weetabix with milk for breakfast, lunch is a 7 or 10 months ella pouch and a couple of crackers followed by some fruit or a sandwich and fruit or something like that. he has an afternoon snack which varies mostly something like a half a bagel and some fruit, then dinner is veggies, potato and meat of some variety or egg on toast. Portions would be one egg and one full slice of toast. or half a sausage, half a jacket potato (half will go on the floor), he then has a 9-10oz bottle before bed. He's does quite regularly have a morning snack (a few times a week) of something like 'baby crisps' or a pack of toddler gingerbread men.

I'm not thinking he's huge or really concerned. Paed and HV aren't worried about his weight. I just can't help but think the lines should be a bit closer together and he shouldn't be as heavy as he is if he's so short. I'm surprised at his lack of growth because i'd be about the 25th centile at the adult height bit in the red book but DH is off the chart tall. We're hoping he's just about to have a growth spurt.

[TheHouseOnBellSt]

I'm not a dietitian....have you asked the dietitian about his centiles? It seems like he's having a lot of carbs daily...cheerios or weetabix for breakfast, then crackers or bread at lunch then half a bagel as a snack and then potatoes or toast at dinner time. Most children would I think have one or two portions of carby food per day....but you do need to ask for more advice from the experts I'd say.

[MarinaCoyle]

No advice really but my DD is similar but is on 91st for weight (always has been) but went from between 50-75th down to 25th-50th for height. So similar gap to yours. I'm only 5 foot so expected she wouldn't be very tall.

Her food intake is pretty spot on (weetabix and banana most mornings, fruit and yogurt as a snack, little portion of toast with cheese/tuna etc for lunch and maybe more fruit, rice cake as a snack and whatever we're having for dinner). She eats at her own pace and I've always been baby-led so I'm not particularly keen to change that. She's just started walking confidently so I figure if we keep active she'll slim down. And she is now VERY active!

FWIW I was similar as a baby and ended up petite and slim. I was a proper chubby baby/toddler. And my mum stressed about me, but my dad said I was fine. He's a paediatrician too (a very good one) so I'm not worried yet.

[captaincake]

Thanks so much for the replies. Very good point about the carbs I will try and reduce them a bit. Maybe just cut out the crackers completely and not always a carb with dinner. HV suggested crackers instead of fruit as she said it might be the sugar From eating a lot of fruit so crackers have increased recently. Today the dietician suggested rich tea biscuits He isn't walking yet so there is a good chance he'll slim down when he does.

[TheHouseOnBellSt]

Yes he will....a lot of babies go through a "round" stage before they walk....the dietitian doesn't seem worried so you shouldn't....I was told to avoid snacks between meals as they're not at all needed if the child's eating 3 meals....saying that, sometimes my younger DD prefers 6 tiny meals instead of three! It's very hard to balance their diets when so many are a bit fussy about eating salads and raw veg.