Tiny 7 month old

[AlCookie]

I am so disgusted with everyone telling me how thin my son is and giving those 'pity reactions' - ohhhh poor thing! He is so tiny! :-/

I am 5 feet and my hubby is 5'6" - so who should excpect our son to be godzilla!!!! But people i tell you - simply irritating!!

Although to be honest, i am getting a little concerned now. He was exclusively breast fed for 6 months and then we started solids and i was so happy that he is actually interested in food. He happily gupls down what i would consider a good amount (going by what i hear from other mums) but he is just not getting fat!!!! I have tried feeding him all healthy yet fattening things but nothing makes a difference.

I also wanted a chubby rolly polly baby but i cant torture him by overfeeding him and then poor thing vomiting (sorry to say but i have done that...a number of times). Leave aside the weight, then i m very happy - he is a very active baby. Started cruising about a week back. Crawling at 6 months. We are cery happy with his development but his weight has been an issue since the begining. He was born at 39 weeks and weighed 7 pounds. Now at 7 and a half months, he weighs just 15 pounds!!

Any kind words....pleeeeeeeeeeeease!!! (Or suggestions on how to kill those big mouthed people who just have to give their opinion ;-))

Oh sorry...crawling at 4.5 months (commando crawling if course).

Also i keep fretting about the size of his clothes. He is still using 3-6 month and they actually fit him well. Because i feel so conscious, i did buy a few 6-9 month clothes, but they look like borrowed/stolen!! i am just so upset - i m not even sure why....i have a perfectly healthy bubbling baby but all i can think of is how skinny he is

I read so much about this that i m actually thinking what if there is an underlying condition! I read all things like malabsorption and all i need help!

Hi,

No real advice but didn't want to read and run.

If you're concerned make an appointment with his GP. Hopefully your DS is just naturally small and you can relax about it. Someone has to be at the bottom of the chart. If he's happy and alert I wouldn't worry too much.

Some people just have big mouths and say things without thinking. They're probably just trying to make conversation and don't realise how much it's upsetting you.

Next time try saying something like 'oh he burns off so much energy since he started crawling so early'. Might as well add a stealth boast in or just point out he's healthy and happy.

My dd1 was always tiny 5lb12oz born which isn't too bad but by the time she was 8 months she only weighed about 13lb she's always always been skinny she's now 6 and still only weighs just over 2 stone. Yeah she's underweight but she's short too which apparently balances it out according to the HV
People can be so rude and often had me in tears.
If your dc is healthy and happy tell them to bog off and mind their own business
FYI I always wanted a chunky baby as well haha

My DS is little too, 15 months and in 9-12 month clothes, he weighs about 20 lb. He's perfectly healthy though and has hovered on the 9th centile for the last few months. Me and DH are both small, so think it's just how he is! Just ignore people who comment, and enjoy it when they think he's super advanced because he's cruising but only looks about 4 months!

Don't worry. I had this sort of problem but in reverse. DS was 10lb 11oz at birth, which put him on 98th percentile IIRC. He was EBF for 4.5 months. At his 6 month check he'd dropped to 5th. The Public Health nurse made me feel like an absolute failure. I cried all day. I was referred to the Pediatrician and Dietician, both of whom said there were no problems.

DS now 10 months and up to 50th.

You're his mum. You know him best. He's happy, healthy and meeting his milestones.

Hi OP,

I really sympathise with you. DD2 was slow to gain weight. She was nearly 8 lbs at birth, but at her 6 month check was just under 14lb and had dropped from the 50th to the 10th percentile. We were referred to an allergy clinic (as DD1 has food issues). We then went through a year of elimination diets, nothing made any difference. And she dropped right off the growth chart. By 16mo she weighed 17lb4oz. She was also very fussy and eating hardly any solids because of all the messing around with the allergy clinic.

Failing to Thrive is such an emotive term, and I just felt desperate for her to gain weight.

At 20mo we were referred to a feeding clinic, she weighed 18lb. The specialist plotted her weight gain up to 6mo with the WHO charts for bf babies, and yep, she'd been growing just fine for a bf baby. I really angry that no one had thought to look at these charts previously.

I felt like we'd turned a normal baby into a toddler with massive food phobias.

Anyway, she's now just turned 3, weighs over 26lb, and is back to just below the 25th percentile. She fits into size 2-3 clothes, still very slim, but doesn't stick out as small amongst her peers anymore. We still have trouble getting her to eat a varied diet. But we've relaxed about it now, and she's adding new foods at her own pace.

I guess what I want to say is, not all babies conform to the norm, and those slow to grow usually catch up in their own time. If your DS is happy and active and generally meeting his milestones, try not to worry and tune out peoples negative comments.

Sorry for the long post

My dd wasn't even on the chart she never has been !! That threw them haha

Totally understand you hun - our dd is 7.5 months old and she weighs 15lbs 5oz (as of Monday so pretty accurate). I happened to run into an old school pal yday who has never met dd and she asked me "have you had another one? That's not Poppy surely? She's so tiny for her age" And so many people say "oh she's a little dot" or "she looks so fragile" etc.

I think you need to give yourself a bit of a break though - you said you wanted a roly poly porker (you didn't say porker but I'm on my phone so can't find the exact word) and I think that having expectations of these little humans is only ever going to leave mummies and daddies feeling blue. Ive been guilty of this too. For example, most of the babies from my antenatal group - including the youngest - have teeth, dd doesn't and she's the oldest of the nine and there's nine or 10 weeks difference between her and the youngest. I really let this get to me - who wants a slow developer?! - but then I stopped and thought and I was getting upset over something that is not in my control. Babies will develop when they're ready. Same as your LO's weight. If he's happy and otherwise healthy, you are doing a fantastic job. I think these flippin charts in the red book don't help as you just have something else physical to criticise yourself over if that line isn't upward every time.

As I say though, give yourself a break and enjoy having a contented handsome little fella call you mummy

broody great name my Poppy is 17 weeks , she is 13 lbs and is my chubby baby!

DS1 & 2 were tiny tots, when I took DS1 to GP at 6 months as I was worried about his size, the GP asked if he was there for his 6 week check! Bless he was 12 lbs

All EBF, both boys investigated by peads, both totally fine. DS1 is now 5 yrs and a tall skinny thing and DS2 is 2 and built like a rugby player

Try not to worry, your doing a great job!

My dd is 9 months, 14lb 8oz and around the 9th centile. She is still in 3-6 clothes and this week i bought her a wadded sleepsuit in 6-9 and it looks like a clownsuit on her. But developmentally she's soaring, cruising, crawling and we've had mama, dada, nana.

The thing is if she was my first i'd be panicking because with my first the same happened. I got referred to the gp who laughed when clearly my dd was meeting her milestones. If you are worried go to the gp or hv but i just plot the weight on the graph yourself. Just check that he's not falling down the centiles rather than hovering along a low one. But even then i'd say look at the baby and not the chart.

My dd is 18 months and has only just got to 20lbs. She is still in 9-12 month clothing. We call her the pocket rocket as she is tiny.
However, she reached milestones ahead of peers too. People did a double take when she was running around at 9 months as she was about the size of the average 5 month old!
Don't worry, as long as he is eating and is happy. Not every adult is the same size so why should babies.

I think you need to calm down a bit really. A 7 month old being in 3-6 clothes is perfectly normal children don't all grow at the sands rate. At that age Ds was in 0-3 clothes, he is 3 next week and just fitting into 18-24 clothes.

Unless you have other concerns then don't worry

I've been there with DC1. Just been and checked in her red book and when she was 7mo she weighed just over 14lb and was 7lb 13oz at birth.

The HV was lovely, just asked that I weighed her regularly to keep an eye on her weight, asked if she was feeding ok (she was ebf) and that was that. They realised she had settled onto her centile and there she was staying. Stopped me stressing about it so much. She was happy, healthy and hitting all her milestones.

Thankfully no one ever said any of the 'she's so tiny' comments. They would have upset me too. Because to me she was, and still is, perfect.

She's 9yo now and still between the 2nd and 9th centiles for height and weight.

We have a few upsets sometimes where she wishes she was taller. Or at least taller than her younger sister (DC2 has overshot her now by 1cm and is 2 years younger). But on the whole she's very happy with who she is.

Hope all this has helped :)

Oh and the clothes sizing thing; it's fantastic because you save loads of money as they last for ages! And shoes too. The first set DC1 had lasted an entire school year . I have the opposite problem now as DC3 was 11lb at birth and weighs something like 25 now at 10mo. He is costing lots in clothes and I'm already dreading shoes!

If you are concerned could you up the number of bfs per day instead of the solids and do you offer bfs an hour before the solids.

Haven't read the whole thread but has he been checked for tongue tie? How are you feeding him his solids? If its purees try mixing ebm or mascarpone with some of them.

Personally though, I would get the tongue tie checked out, up his bfs and relax. He is meeting all of his milestones and some children have to be smaller than others .

Ya i know u all are right. I am not even sure what i was looking for when i wrote the post last night. I guess more than anything, i wanted to share my frustration. Its just heartbreaking when people say all negative things about your baby - the little cutie every mom is trying so hard to raise perfectly. If only i could become anti social and stop meeting those disgusting people!

I feed him solids 2 times a day and rest is breast feeding. I also tried introducing one formula feed but he hates it. Tried cow n gate and aptamil - both were rejected. I am not giving him too much solids because it seems that milk is supposed to b their staple till 1 yr. but yes, the 2 times i give him solids, i dont feed him. Though in the mornings its normally cereal,milk n fruit. So milk is there too. Only at night when i give him veggies, i dont add milk unless i have to change the consistency...

The current advice for all babies is to offer milk an hour before solids, so maybe you could try that. As for his solids, have you introduced any proteins yet?

You could try going to your local la Leche league, the leader would be able to check for tongue tie and introducing solids when bf.

As for what everyone says, just ignore, ignore, ignore