To think my son weighs too little

[aquariusgemini]

My son was born full term and weighed 6.12, on the 25th centile.

He followed that for a while but is now 3 years and 9months old and I noticed he has dropped to the 2nd centile for both weight and height. He weighs 12.5kg or just under 2 stone.

He's always been very slight, but recently I've started to notice he feels very bony. He eats like a fly and has to be really encouraged. He has very little appetite and is very very energetic.

He has recently gotten over a sickness bug which meant he barely ate a thing in over a week.

To me, he just looks very skinny.

Is everything on the centile chart 'normal'? We have a doctors appointment booked but not until next week and my anxiety over this is through the roof.

Does anyone have any tips to build him up a bit?!

My DC dropped from 50th to 2nd and is now up somewhere between 2nd and 9th and looks very skinny but is strong and healthy and has enough energy. Health professionals not worried. I am sure your DC is just fine. How is his height on the centiles? The doctor said to us that two differentials between height and weight would be the threshold for being concerned not weight on its own. I think just offer lots of snacks/meals with calorie dense foods

Sorry just read similar height and weight so think that's probably all fine

GP was concerned when DC height was 75% but weight was down at 10 and dropped from 50%. Along with random puking / sleeping a lot.

As height and weight is the same I don’t think they will be too concerned.

However tips for eating are:

• add in cream / cheese / butter to foods to add in extra calories. I stirred in butter to soups / scrambled eggs etc
• Have chocolate milk or calorie dense drinks (that won’t fill up the tummy) at snack times
• Distract at meal times to keep them eating longer

Milkshakes are good for extra calories - use Jersey milk if you can as it's higher fat, then add cocoa powder, a banana, peanut butter, yoghurt and blend. For even more calories add some cream.

Also recipe as above but pour into ice lolly moulds, freeze, then take them out of the mould and drizzle melted chocolate over them. Back into the freezer on a baking tray - homemade magnums (ish!) You can also omit the cocoa and banana and use raspberries or strawberries (frozen is fine)

My youngest was 9 1/2 lb at birth but very quickly became a very slight child. I expressed concern but he was rarely ill so must have been fine. He was the smallest in his class until puberty and then just grew up. He’s now almost 6ft but still weighs less than a feather He’s skinny, he’s bony 🤷‍♀️

if your son is very energetic then I’m sure he’s absolutely fine.

Get the calories in him if he eats like a sparrow.

Full fat everything.
Peanut butter.
Olive oil in pasta
Butter in toast
Smoothies - really easy way to consume calories..

That kind of thing.

DS (6) is a bit like this, weight always a few centiles below height (he's tall but very slim, sometimes I think he looks a bit skinny) , I just make sure he has calorie dense but healthy foods, he still has whole milk, loves porridge with nut butter, smoothies with blitzed frozen banana, peanut butter, Greek yoghurt and some berries , snacks I try and hit a few food groups, apple with peanut butter, cheese, crackers and sliced apple, humid, pitta and veg sticks all with a cup of milk, he has porridge and fruit most mornings, hot school lunch , sandwiches and fruit at after school club then a hot dinner at home and often pudding, anything from yoghurt, to home made rice pudding, crumble etc. Needs a little nudge to eat certain veg but eats well overall. He's just really really active from the minute he gets up and built like his father.
DS loves to help in the kitchen and has from quite a young age, it could be a good way to get your ds to eat a bit more if you're worried about that?

The chart is the normal range for all children and he seems in proportion. We come in all shapes and sizes and children will feature in all sorts of ways on the chart in terms of height and weight.

I was you. My son was skinny, often referred to as bony and underweight. He grazed through food and never seemed that bothered by it. I’d get especially fraught if he was ill and his non-appetite dived even more.

He’s now a healthy 20-year-old excelling in his sport - partly thanks to his naturally lean physical attributes.

If I could have my time again, I’d spend less time worrying about whether he was eating enough, trying to get foods like milkshakes down him, worrying about the amount of leftovers on his plate and listening to too many people who probably have a skewed modern view of what a healthy weight in a child looks like x

Are you & your dh smaller than average in height and weight? If so, that may be normal for your family.

How tall is he?

DS1 was born on 25th centile, but since he started moving has sat around 9th centile.
Yes, he is slender. Yes, buying clothes is a nightmare.
But he's a teen now, and fit and healthy and strong.
The only difference is he has always eaten well - he eats more than most of his peers, and still settled down on the 9th centile. For him it is his natural place.

This is soooo reassuring thank you to everyone for responding.

He is 2nd centile for weight and height.

I feel as a mum I naturally just want to fatten him up a bit which is weird as I've never been a feeder.

I'm not tall and I've always been quite slim (was skinny as a child and teen). DH was a fat baby apparently (much like our second child) and as an adult I'd say he's slap bang average - so neither of us are big people.

We have a one year old too who is the complete opposite - and absolute chunk who loves his food so it's hard not to compare and there isn't much weight wise between them.

Please keep any recommendations for calorie dense snacks and meals coming and any tricks of how to get more food in to him.

This with bells on.

I think our view of what a healthy weight looks like is skewed because the vast majority of people are overweight.

I always had comments directed at DS about how skinny he was...... he's now 6foot tall, lean, muscular, active and does pretty well at a competitive sport.

but still a picky bloody eater!!!

As an op above mentioned peanut butter is great for weight

I had issues with my eldest not putting weight on for about a year and dropping centiles when he was 2.5-3ish. I spoke to the Health Visitor who wasn’t particularly concerned, she just advised giving him full fat milk twice a day (which we already did) and giving plenty of cheese, nut butters and food that are high ‘healthy’ fats. He’s almost 4 now and still skinny (was wearing 18-24 month shorts all summer but now spends half his life pulling his trousers up as he needs to wear age 3-4 trousers for the length 🙈🤦‍♀️). He also only weighs 2lb less than his 20 month old brother although he is a bit of a chunk!