14.5 months and only 16lbs!!!

[samybooker]

My baby girl wasn't premature. She was born a healthy 7lbs. She has a global developmental delay and also low muscle tone. She's a very fussy eater and struggles with textures so has a limited diet unfortunately. This doesn't help her motor skills ( can't crawl or walk yet )
She's behind in all areas. She has a dietician/paeds/physio and early intervention and every type of support you can imagine already.
Has anyone else had a baby this small??? It really worries me how tiny she is for her, she looks about 7 months old 😭😭. Makes me so sad

No personal experience, but I've checked the centile charts for you – she's between the 2nd and the 0.4th centile, probably about the 1st centile. So if you had 100 baby girls her age all in one place, she'd likely be the smallest, but if you had 200 baby girls, she probably wouldn't be. Small, absolutely, but by no means unheard of.

Have you spoken to the dietician about it? Can they help with higher calorie options that she can tolerate if there are concerns her food intake is limiting her growth and motor skills development?

@skkyelark
To be quite honest the dietician is rubbish. They just call once every 6 weeks to check in and give advice... the advice doesn't work. She has been prescribed special fatty milk which is 200 calories per bottle.
But she screams and cries if I try to put anything healthy in front of her or anything with a texture she doesn't like. She only accepts fully smooth jars ( meant for 6 month olds ) and fully smooth yoghurts, chocolate and crunchy things like crisps and biscuits.
I have tried all fruits, veg, egg, pancakes e.t.c.
I tried putting mash in her jars and butter..
I cut up pasta and put that in too and tried to blend it but she won't accept anything.
I just feel helpless. I add a liquid vitamin to her bottle daily. I just need more help with it all. She's not getting what she needs.

Ah, that's very unfortunate about the dietician. You need someone who is willing to listen to you about your child and work with you to figure out what they can tolerate. Any chance of seeing a private dietician, even as a one-off?

For children with very limit food range, I've heard the first thing to focus on is calories – all calories are good calories at this point. Which jars/pouches does she like, is she particular about the flavours? Was she okay with a bit of butter added? You could maybe try adding cream or oil? Greek yoghurt is higher calorie than regular, I think, and you could maybe even stir in a bit of the extra-thick cream. Or some honey, as she's over one? How about perfectly smooth soups (again with cream added), as a tiny step away from bland long-life baby food?

For crispy stuff, will she eat crispy breadsticks or savoury crackers at all? Thin, well-toasted toast might be the next step?

@skkyelark your feedback was amazing thank you! I could always try a private dietitian for sure. I never really thought about going private as everything in the UK is usually done via NHS. So we have tried soups like chicken soup and tomato soup and she had a little bit but then went off it. With her jars she likes certain flavours yes and we add melted butter into them each time. She likes ritz crackers and haven't actually tried bread sticks yet! Will give that a go. Is honey good for calories?
I just need to get this little girl fattened up a little and some energy. It's so sad to see her seem so fragile and not able to be mobile yet.
I don't care what she eats or if it's unhealthy, right now I just want her to gain weight and develop. Thank you for your advice

OP has anyone ever checked your dd's heart? I used to go to a playground where one mum had a very small baby (who also had some delays) and it turned out she had quite a large hole in her heart that had somehow been missed. Once that was fixed her dd grew and put on weight normally.