My DD started out as a chubby baby and once she became a busy toddler she slid right down to 25th percentile weight, whilst still tracking 85th percentile height. I was very anxious as a few times she dropped to 15th percentile (growth spurts, I guess). I suppose if she had been shorter she would also have been off the charts, and like you I would have been desperate. As it was, I was simply told to track her ratio weight/height and only take action if it suddenly changed or she lacked energy for daily life. I was a skinny kid too and no one thought twice about it.
DD was in full time nursery and I was told she ate the food they served, occasionally she might have seconds. She burned off all her food.
She was a fussy eater until age 9 years old when I’d say she relaxed a bit about trying new foods. It has been hard coping with the fussiness but one thing for sure - you cannot force someone to eat. She is still skinny, compared to her peers, and eats smaller portions than some kids, but she endless energy. Just in the last year, my (endless) patience has been a little rewarded and she has discovered some new “likes” - she now raves about butter chicken curry, chilli con carne, kiwi fruit, fajitas, Chinese crispy duck. She still has a list of food a mile long she won’t eat, but I feel sure that by not pressuring her and simply encouraging her, she will in time find more food she likes. (Except mushrooms, for which
a hysterical hatred will always exist.)
I have survived the last 9 years as follows:
- provide snacks, and always offered a second full dinner when she got home from nursery
- ensured she gets daily childhood vitamins supplement. She now has this in a drink form at breakfast
- made sure she always eats and drinks something, no matter how small, before leaving the house in the morning.
- gets her 5 a day, one of which I allow fruit juice (up until age 4 yrs, she detested fruit juice but then decided she loves it).
- squeezed in dairy daily. She decided to drop school milk age 6, not liking it, so instead either a small milkshake, a small hot chocolate, a piece of cheese or a yoghurt if we don’t have a milky meal (cauliflower cheese, macaroni cheese and spaghetti carbonara feature heavily in our lives)
- squeeze in oily fish once a week, for years she would only eat tuna or fish pie but recently she has branched out and now likes salmon, trout and smoked mackerel. Yayyy for being patient!
- make mealtimes fun and relaxed, yes I do let her eat while watching TV, and yes I do eat with her, even though it often means I now eat dinner earlier than DP.
- always have snacks and a water bottle in my handbag. Cereal bars, grapes, blueberries, banana bread, crisps, flapjack, apples, banana chips, raisins, KitKats - so no, not always healthy but a normal mix of yummy stuff to stave off hunger. She does need to snack between meals, no surprise as she has very little fat to burn.
I do NOT weigh her any more, I slowed down weighing her regularly around age 5 and she has only been weighed three times in the last two years, each time to fit her appropriately for ski hire! I have always carefully talked to her about food and she knew from an early age which foods help her bones grow, which foods help her run around, which foods build her muscles so she is strong, which foods help her brain etc, etc.
It hasn’t always been an easy journey and I am dreading teen years so I have been very cautious about how I discuss weight issues with her and reinforce positive body image focused on health not weight.
So in short - yes, been there, and it is fine.