Fussy eater and height - relationship

[jasperc163]

Interested in people's thoughts on this. DD (2.4) is extremely fussy eater (had bad reflux when baby) and dairy intolerant. She has been ill alot this winter and so her food intake has been even poorer than usual for the last 4-5 months. She has just been weighed and hasnt increased at all in the past few months (and only 500g in total since last July) but this is no surprise really given her food intake

I read a book by a paed called 'My child wont eat' which said something like only 5% of child's food intake is used for growth (rather than weight i assume as the correlation there is fairly obvious). My daughter was pretty tall for her age but again is now falling here (on the percentiles).

So my question is - is her low food intake (and fussiness) likely to affect height and growth where it really matters (or is this largely genetic) or mostly just weight. She sees a paed and they always check height too which is what makes me worry (if the 5% fig was right then it wouldnt be relevant would it?)

Its difficult as i alternate between feeling that i should put my foot down re meals and try to tackle the fussiness by not offering any alternatives, but at the same time thinking i should just get some calories into her!

thanks
alice

I don't think this will effect her height at all, height is usually genetic and how tall are you and dh/dp. And i completely sympathise with you as a mum of a very fussy eater who can sometimes go all day with just a piece of toast or 2. And i have decided to just get as much food in him as possible and hope that he grows out of his fussyness as he gets older and he is 5yrs. So plenty of time for your dd to grow out of it yet and grow may just be slowing down a little on the height, children grow at different rates..try not to worry too much.I know it's very difficult..but i have sent myself mad sometimes worrying about my ds2 and you can't force them to eat so we can only do our best!! Good Luck!!

When the paed check height, they are checking height against weight ratio..it's to see if weight average for height!! It's not to see if height been affected by diet!! Don't worry about that.

I think the height is significant because they only seem to get concerned if they aren't growing properly upwards. Ds1 is appalling in his eating, and was checked out by the school nurse, but is fairly average for height, so despite being very light (9th centile) they aren't worried.

Yes but a child can be short but doesn't mean anything wrong..genetics play most part..i am small and most of my sisters very small but my dh is 6ft 2 and his older brother much shorter. My ds1, dd2, dd1 are all above average and are following there dads height..where as ds2 seems to be following my side of family and is petite!! When my hv came she weighed ds2, did height and said that he isn't underweight in relation to his height..height has a lot to do with our weight..they use this to work out what weight we should be..taking age and gender into consideration!! If your really worried about weight then, ask paed next visit or your gp to explain the relationship between the 2.

If genetics is so much more important than diet, then why do Japanese kids on western diets get so much taller than their parents?

BITCAT - that's true, the whole height spectrum will be present among children and some will be taller than others. But if they check the height and they haven't grown in some time then that would be cause for concern. Whereas not putting on weight for some time could be normal, or could be a sign they need to eat more. I think as long as they are growing upwards normally then they don't worry too much.

In scarcity of food situations, weight is affected first, the height, although I suspect we are talking extreme levels of malnutrition.

yes that's right blueshoes, which is I think why they only seem to worry if the height is being affected.

blueshoes i do agree with your comment, i think extreme levels of malnutrition would probably affect all growth whether it be height or weight, but i don't think anything to worry about that paed is checking height as this is normal!! Although my ds2 very small, he is not underweight and height is keeping up with this..it is a worry..too much pushing nowadays about weight!! Main thing is that a child is happy, has plenty of energy and is otherwise healthy, we are in cold mths still so children tend to suffer with colds and such like. I would be tempted to say give some vits and min, supplements if haven't already done so and ind out what healthy foods your child does like and try to offer these as alternatives if they really won't eat whats given and that way at least you know you getting sum nutrition down them!! Just a suggestion as i am going threw the same thing, it has eased sum of my stress knowing that he is going to bed with something in his tummy. Its very stressful when you have a child that doesn't eat to well and i have 3 others that are great eaters and will eat pretty much everything!

Tortoise shell, i suppose if a child hasn't grown at all in some time then this would be a worry, same as not putting on weight for some time, you would be very concerned..i don't think they worry unless there is no growth or virtually no growth at all.