2.8 yr old not gained weight in 8 months?

[sparkle12mar08]

Hi all, haven't ever started my own thread before so go easy! My ds1 is a whirlwind of energy and is constantly on the go, all day every day. He obviously has enough energy from from his diet to manage like this, however his weight on the scales has been static for the past eight months. He has always been small - born on the 9th centile, rose up and settled on the 50th by 4 months, falling back to 25th by 18mths, and is also short - 25th centile only, and is barely in 18mth+ trousers.

He is with a CM four days a week and I get a daily diary which also covers his food - amount and variety seem fine, as does his diet with us at home (plenty of carbs, protein, fruit and veg, fat coming in through dairy, meat, etc and the occasional pudding/treat). However I am getting ever so slightly nervous about this static weight. I distrust our local HV team so am not prepared to talk to them yet, but wondered if any other mums of small children would like to share their experiences and any tips on making his diet more calorie dense? Cheers!

i wouldnt worry, mine was the same.
In fact he is 5 now and is the same weight as he was when he was 3.
He eats, has energy, is bright as a button and is never ill.
i give him multi vits and omega every day as aboost and i still give him a pint of full fat milk each day (divided over the day)
Unless he was suffering health wise and didnt eat, i would not be concerned. hth

well done on your first post, tis a good one

Don't worry, my DS1 is also 2.8 and has not gained more than a lb or two in the last year or so. He is just getting taller and losing his fat a bit!

Hi sparkle, my DD has been 'underweight' for coming up to a year now, she's 1.8 - some of the clothes she wears are 9-12m and I have real trouble finding her trousers that fit round the weight but aren't too short. Anyway she's been on high calorie powder (Duocal) for about a year, prescribed by the HV. Other than that I fry a lot of her food, add double cream to everything I can e.g. pasta, scrambled eggs, yoghurt. I am also giving her jersey milk rather than normal milk - it's more expensive but it's a lot creamier than normal milk (80 calories per 100ml as opposed to 60). There was a point when she was off the chart, but she's back up to one centile below where she was born now, which apparently is acceptable.

She is a fussy eater though & doesn't sound like your DS is, but she is very energetic so whatever she eats she burns off.

How long has your DS been mobile? Does he move around a lot more than he did before the static weight? This would surely factor in..

Oh, another thing is perhaps to check his iron levels - if his iron levels are low he will find it harder to get the nutrients out of what he eats so he may need supplements.

Hope this helps, good luck

.. around the waist even

Thanks ladies! I think I know in my heart it's not a problem, but it's that age old issue of comparing him with his peer group. He's just the smallest thing next to the rest of them, and when I see him eat with them it's not half as much as I think I see when we're at home. So I've caved ever so slightly to my paranoia and bought a general multi-vit and an omega 3 supplement for him. Will also try offering more regular higher protein/fat snacks like nut butters on toast etc.

Sparkle, my ds2 is also 2.8 and is small! As long as they're healthy, I wouldn't worry too much about their weight or size. I find that ds2 is more of an all-day grazer than a 3 meals a day boy, so I just make sure he has a variety of snacks and hope we cover the major food groups over a couple of days!!

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I think that if children are eating well and full of energy, the proper response to concerns about their weight is to stop weighing them! How do you know what his weight is? Are you weighing him yourself or taking him to a clinic - if the second do you have to?

Seeker - We stick him on the scales at home every three months or so, and have been back to clinic precisely twice since he was six months. You're absolutely right that if I didn't know what he weighed I wouldn't have any concerns, but it's my own curiosity that gets the better of me! I know home scales are not precise and there could be a lot of variation between weighings, but there's apparently been no gain at all, absolutely none.

Pitchounette - I think his height/weight is fine, he's now around the 25th for both and looks totally in proportion to me. In all honesty I don't think it's anything to be concerned about medically, he's just going to be a small child. He's hit all his other development milestones bang on time, if not a little early - especially the physical ones. Neither his dad or I are tall, and I'm really quite short in fact.

I'll just try to chill out

Sparkle in that case, I would sayt hat the problem is that the floor our scales is on is a bit wobbly and therefore not accurate!

Actually, a serious point. Remember that at this age, baby fat is starting to turn to muscle, so although he may not be putting on weight his body is changing from a baby to a little boy. Also, it does sound as if he's not destined to be a giant so good things come in smaller packages!

Your scales, I meant, not ours. Unless you've been sneaking into our bathroom......

My DS is 2.5 and has put on maybe 1 kg in the last year. He has bags of energy, is getting taller and does all the things he should, so I'm not too worried.

My DS is 2.5 and still in some of his 12-18mth clothes and is a skinny fellow compared to his peers despite eating loads most days. I haven't had him weighed since he was 18mths (well not properly - Find our bathroom scales can give vastly conflicting readings) but as he is whirlwind of energy I've assumed he was ok. We had a lot of weight gain issues - or lack of them when he was very young and we he recovered from these we finally got him up to the 25th centile for weight. Sometimes I do worry that he is very small compared to his peers - but this summer I had a 'lightbulb' moment while on the beech watching DS play with his father and paternal grandfather - they all looked the same skinny shape (apart from a bit of middle age spread on FIL and DH!)-thats when I thought blow it he's doing ok - well ok for our family!!!

As has been touched on, it's not just his weight, but the height gain that's important.

I have had concerns about my ds for years, literally, and kept being told (by paediatrician not gp) to wait and see, as londg as he'ss following his %ile blah blah. I wasn neither happy nor convinced, and he did end up dropping down and down - born near 50th, long time around 25, then 9, now off the scale completely.

he's turning 5 in 3 weeks, and still wears 2 -3 clothes, and is often mistaken for a 2 year old. He is smaller than a lot of 2 year olds, and is only 1 kilo heavier than my 14 month old niece.

At last referred to a growth specialist, who's done an x ray, which reveals he has the bone age of a 2.5 yr old, and has an expected and height of 5'2" or so. We are looking at starting him on growth hormone treatment, but it is unclear why he's failing to grow. He grew normally till he was 2 and since then hasn't growth hardly sice then. Digging out our winter things last week - got his snpw suit which he wore 2 winters ago, and it still fits him - so in 3 years he hasn't grown out of something.

One of the initial Q was - can he still wear clothes that he wore a year ago - even if wieght hasn't changed, height should have.

the calculation of end height using parents height only helpful if no problems or concerns - I have 3 sons, and they are all v. different & clearly ds3 will not end up anything like the same height as ds3.

YOu say in your heart you know it's ok. You haven't mentioned how his height has changed. I knew in my heart it wasn't ok. Well, if you're happy he's growing, then ok, but if you're not happy, or if he isn't growing, I would push for a referral, and not to a paeditrician either - they're basically gp for kids, not specialists in growth problems.

good luck.

Ernest - he can't wear clothes he had a year ago, but only just. I can't bring myself to believe it's anything grossly serious, it just doesn't seem that way. He looks totally normal just small, there don't seem to be any particular features or issues that scream growth disorder at me? Part of my problem is that I distrust the establishment and the 'system' so much I do not want to enter it unless I'm dying basically and perhaps some of that is rubbing off on my approach to my son?

My fil is a gp and I know that's not perfect, but I think I'll ask him what he thinks too.

Seeker - I'd love to say I'd sneeked into you bathroom, but 'fraid not

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interesting - have 3 boys, ds3 is the blond one

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Hmm. Now you see I'm starting to become more and more concerned. He's extremely fair. I haven't done the chart thing yet but I'll go and have a look now. Back in a sec.

Right, am back. Have looked at the red book calculation. Because I don't know his exact current height this is all a bit of guess work, but his parental calculations mean he should be on or just below the 50th centile. Optimistically he's probably around the 25th max for height and at his 2yr check they measured his height (v innaccurately and disputed by me, I might add!) at just below the 9th. It means he's probably 2 inches shorter than he the average at this age. He is noticeably the smallest of his entire peer group.

Bugger. I need a proper opinion don't I?

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but weight gain does slow right down, this is totally normal. The thing to watch for is height gain. If they've grown 4 inches but only gaind 1 kilo and brimming with energy, I wouldn't be concerned. If their height hasn't increased, or noticeably smaller than his peers, I would be concerned. I'm sick of people saying he'll catch up or other facile comments, when he has actualy got a real problem. He is the smallest in his class, and some of the kids are 2 years old!

My ds, btw has plenty of energy, so being boisterous doesn't mean there's no problem.

Our specialist today told me the 3 things I could do to optomise his development were

1. balanced diet (which he has anyway, though he has been found to have low iron levels, so is now getting iron drops) including high-calorie snacks.
2. Plenty of sleep
3. Plenty of exercise

Anyway, we find out maybe next week, if he'll be accepted onto a study trial, and if so, he'll start GHT soon, but no guarantee it'll work.