Anyone with a very light child?

[HyerinSeo]

DD (16 in December) is 156cm tall but she only weighs 38kg. A friend's daughter (a year younger) is the same height but weighs nearly 50kg. Is it just me or she too light? I am 172cm and 53kg myself and DH is normal weight too.
She does not do a ton of exercise (just tennis every Monday) and she was normal weight at birth. She is definitely not anorexic as she never complains that she is fat and she eats all three meals a day.
Could this be a sign of an underlying condition?

[HyerinSeo]

Here is a picture if it helps

[Lockdownseperation]

Is she following her weight curve in her red book? I think they used to be a different colour.

[Mumdiva99]

My kids were light when younger. (I know because whenever I picked up friends kods the same age it was like doing a work out.) They are still on the slim side. (Lucky sods). They ear well and wear the right age clothes so I have no worries. I haven't checked them against any charts for years.

She sounds lile she is fit and healthy. Don't worry. You sound on the light side too....are you fit and healthy? Of so again don't worry.

[SpillTheTeaa]

She just looks petite?

[Sexnotgender]

My 16 year old daughter is about the same weight. She’s 4ft 7, not sure what that is in cm.

[meow1989]

She is on the 1st centile (or underweight bmi if you use the adult calculation). so I would be interested to know where she has been previously - was she low down as a baby and child?

Your bmi also places you in the underweight bmi category, though less so. So it might just be (good!) Genetics.

[pinkgin85]

Op I'm the same height and when I was her age I was probably the same weight, I was reallly stick thin! In my late 20s I went upto to about 45kg and that's been my weight until now at 35. I've had 2 kids and this is still my weight. Don't worry everyone is different including children.

My 5 yr old DS only weighs 15kg, but his height is fine and he's just genetically light.

[TerrifiedandWorried]

Does she have Asian heritage? My friends children are extremely light for their heights and their father is Indian. The health visitor told her to ignore the height chart in the red book because it doesn't take ethnicity into account.

[HyerinSeo]

Thanks so much for your replies everyone! It's reassuring to know it is not just my daughter who is light

[HyerinSeo]

@TerrifiedandWorried Yes I am half Korean half Japanese and her dad is full Japanese :)

[HyerinSeo]

@meow1989 No she has always been around the 40th percentile for weight up until age 8/9 and she was very tall back then. I think she just stopped growing after age 11 or so.

[Thunderbolted]

My DH is half Chinese and he's very very slim. I'm heavier now but when I was a teenager people thought I was anorexic (I wasn't but was so naturally thin I could fit my hands round my waist). DS (6) is in the bottom 1% for weight. We're all fit and well - it's just genetics.

[TerrifiedandWorried]

My children by contrast are extremely heavy! I think they are made of MDF. Or concrete.

[Lougle]

DD1 is 162cm and 40kg. She's almost 15.

[titchy]

Can't really tell with that photo tbh - the clothes are very baggy. Very underweight though. Is she purging? Her heritage will be part of it but worth monitoring and trying to get some extra calories in. Assume she's hit puberty ok?

[Melassa]

My DD is 160cm and 40kg at almost 15. she’s always been on the small, slender side, her weight was always on the bottom centile and her height tended to diver between 15th and 25th centiles.

She has a hearty appetite and doesn’t do excessive amounts of sport (in lockdown she barely moved!), that’s just her build. She’s not boney looking, just slender and in proportion. She takes after my side of the family, we all tend to have small frames which makes us lighter than we look.

[Lockdownseperation]

[quote HyerinSeo]@meow1989 No she has always been around the 40th percentile for weight up until age 8/9 and she was very tall back then. I think she just stopped growing after age 11 or so.[/quote]
If your child stopped growing at 11 then it might be a good idea to see the GP.

[Carandi]

My DD is 21 and is tiny, but she was only 6lb3oz at birth and has always been small. If I'm honest if you'd posted that picture and asked us to guess the age I would have guessed a much younger age than 16.

If your DD was 40th percentile and tall up to age 8/9 and you think she's stopped growing then why not get her a check up just to make sure all is ok and rule out a hormone or thyroid problem? Hopefully they'll confirm she's just petite.