Toddler below 9th percentile :(

[Ivortheengine8]

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about how my daughter of now 20 months doesnt seem to eat enough.
Well today the midwife came around (we are new to the area so she wanted to meet us) and weighed er and she has dropped to nearly 8th percentile :(

She didnt seem too worried but said they will keep an eye on it. DD is very energetic and never stops moving. She walks alot rather than go in her pushchair now and seems fine in herself.

I don't give her snacks if I can help it now so she eats her meals but it doesnt seem to help much. She will have one bite of something and leave it. The only things she seems to eat properly are sausage rolls, yoghurt and cheese.

MW seemed to think she was getting the right amount of milk (which she does drink).

So any advice anyone?

Is her height in proportion to her weight? My son is 7 now and still only on the 9th centile - he's petite, active (ADHD) but because his height/weight are in proportion it's not really been a problem. He's just little.

I don't know what her height is now actually wales. Her height was measured last time at about 9 months and she was on the 50th percentile for that.

My advice is not to worry. My Dd2 is also below the 9th centile and is now aged 4.

You DD has laods of energy which is great. She drinks milk which is also great. I would give snacks as she is only 20 months. Also keep offering a range of foods and don't get upset if she doesn't eat them (it's hard not to, I know.)

I think flapjacks, croissants, pizza, full fat yoghurt, mini milks, ice cream are good. Also try food for dipping - carrot sticks, bread in to houmous or cheese dip, buttered soldiers into boiled egg.

Also strips of steak - my Dd2 seemed to like the texture and the thin strip meant is wasn't too chewy.

But really - someone's got be below the 9th centile!

Norman, I was wondering that actually maybe I SHOULD be giving more snacks etc.....she has a few allergies and egg is one of them but maybe I should start getting more snacky foods in and try that way again. She does like pizza! She also likes those cheese dipper things.

If she is reasonably in proportion I wouldn't worry.

DD is now 5 and has never been higher than the 9th centile for weight. At her lowest she was on the 0.4th. Her height is usually between the 25th and 50th centiles. She eats like a horse and is always on the go, but is just little.

Snacks worked for my Dd2 and I found that when she started nursery at 3, her mealtimes improved because there was more structure to her day.

I also think snacks are a good opportunity to 'try out' foods, and then try them again - my Dd2 was sensitive to textures (although noit the texture of choc biscuits, interestingly) and it would take a few goes for her to start liking something.

Based only on my experience I found it was important to build appetite. So the more she ate, the more she wanted to eat.

also here is a link to a mumsnet thread where everyone has tiny toddlers

My DS is the same - always been around 25-50th centile for height and 0.4th for weight at 6yo. He's always been on the go and active. he didn't have a big appetite as a toddler but eats fine now (good amounts for him, probably less than the average 6yo possibly) and sometimes eats like a horse (3 big bowls of cereal in the morning). DH and I are similarly not big people so I try not to worry.

Its easier now he's older but I used to worry far more when he was a toddler. We were referred to the failure to thrive clinic when he was a young toddler (he had bad reflux) and they suggested putting butter and cream in things (in mash, fish fingers cooked or smeared with butter after). Full fat milk. Cheese and yogs are good (and sausage rolls for fat content). Maybe look for the most calorific yogs. And grate a little cheese into mash or into a stew or rice to get a few more calories in.

Have to say though, that it doesn't seem to matter what my DS eats he just burns it all off. And especially as a young toddler it seemed he just had an automatic calorie gauge - so if you filled him up with something densely calorific then he'd even it out at the next mealtime as he wasn't as hungry.

I think they say its if they drop 2 or more centiles over a period of time that they start to worry about it. My Ds was born on 4th I think and then dropped within a few months and stayed at 0.4th ever since.

But I think the best gauge is whether you can see they're healthy and active, alert and happy. rather than thinking about what they should be on the centile charts - there are always going to be children that are outliers and aren't 'the average' and don't grow 'averagely'. My DH was tiny height wise til he was 15yo then grew 5 inches in one year - according to the estimate the height from your height at 2yo in the red book he'd still be fairly short instead of average height.

Normantebbit's point is interesting about building up appetite....sometimes I'm sure I've heard you can get iron deficiency and that dulls your appetite - kind of a chicken and egg thing. You don't eat so much, which leads to you wanting to eat less. So building up your appetite could work well too! (I think your HV would've mentioned if iron deficiency was a problem, but having extra iron by eating more might increase your appetite. Sorry not trying to give you more to worry about

my dd1 has always been skinny. She was 8lb2oz at birth but rapidly dropped on the charts and settled at just below the 2nd centile. She's always eaten well and been very active, she's just thin. She's now 13 and still skinny :) she's on the 75th centile for height and still around the 2nd for weight.

There are to be a certain proportion of the population below each centile line (as that's how they're worked out) your daughter might well be naturally a lightweight :)

Yes, she is alert and seems happy enough (a litttle too much sometimess!). It is very interesting about what you both said about the snacks building appetite. I think it is true even for myself. If she iron defincient would that not make her lethargic and tired?
She was 7.2lbs at birth so not a big baby by todays standards.