Toddler Gone from Tall at Birth to Tiny

[doggus]

I have just come back from the HV and am upset (plus ca change). DS is 2 years 8 months and for the first year of his life he was in the 75th percentile for his height and 60th for his weight.

In the subsequent year and a half he has dropped to 25th percentile height. He is also underweight at 15th percentile. Doctors are testing for lactose intolerance or any bugs but I wondered if anyone had any experience of this? I want to be told that I am flapping over nothing!!

I have no idea but know how worrying HV can be. They have such an important job and yet can so easily upset people and often do. I wish you luck in moving forward with this.

Yes my son was 9lb 10oz at birth! and very tall, he is now 2.2 yrs and on 25th for weight and 50th 25-50th for height.. Has been a gradual decrease or a sudden drop?
My HV says thats its common if it isn't sudden that they find where they should be .. it took my ds till over a year to find where on the line he fitted he has now been on those 2 lines for about a yr ish...
I must say I have a fussy child for food but what he eats is good so I don't think its my son't lack of variety that has casued this

so long as your boy is happy and healthy i really wouldn't worry too much about being slightly underweight, or not being as tall as predicted.

my son was average all over height and weight wise, apart from his mahhoosive head, and now he is 98th percentile height and 75th percentile in weight.

we recently had a hospital appointment and his pediatrtician (sp)? commented on how lovely he had grown and that hes perfectly fine.

Thank you all so much for responding. It was a gradual change over a year and a half leytonsmummy so no sudden drops. I just really wanted to hear if this had happened to others so you reassured me. I noticed in his diet he does not have enough high calorie food - we give him a healthy diet where he eats LOADS of fruit and veg, but only a little meat and bread and some cereal. Am going to start giving him a cake in the afternoon.

LOL, at the cake comment doggus,
i must admit my son does have a high calorie diet, and has lots of fresh dairy ( i put cream in his scrambled eggs) and we use proper butter from a dish too, he also has lean protein, which from what his pediatritian said will keep him growing tall and firm, and he also loves garlic which i cover his green veggies in and he just gobbles them up, he's not that fussy so long as i vary his menu each week.

he also tends to eat more at breakfast, than at any other meal. which i think helps.
a bit of cake isn't going to hurt him

The size (height and weight) of a child at birth is very dependent on the environment in utero.

After the child is born, their size and weight starts to be determined much more by genetics.

My DCs had a poor environment in utero (I was very ill, they were both born a little early). So, they were both thin and small at birth. However, me and my DH are giants so now my DCs at 4 and 2 are also giants - just the genetics taking over from the environment in utero.

Are you and his dad tall/short/big/thin? I think at 2.8, if the parents were small, it is fine for the child to be on the small side as well, regardless of birth weight.

I am in a similar position with ds. Born 75th percentile for weight and height; now at 17 months he is 3rd for weight and 25-50th for height. I'm not worried about his height but his weight is a concern. He had a cow's milk allergy when he was smaller which gave him eczema but he has out grown that (he has other allergies now). But he is prone to diarrhoea so is being followed up by the paediatricians. I think they might be thinking of testing him for a lactose intolerance. They seemed to imply he might have a digestion problem.

Apart from that he is mostly healthy - very active and developing well - walking at 10-11 months - and I wasn't concerned about his weight because my older girls both had similar drops in centiles but are now both tall and very slender but not underweight.

It is very worrying though especially when the doctors were virtually interrogating me about ds's diet. I do understand why he needs to be followed up but it is stressful for us parents.

Thank you all.

OTTmum - your diet sounds fabulous. DS just won't eat much meat. I try and give him Quorn instead as I know how useful protein is.

yellowcircle - thank you for explaining the difference between in utero and afterwards, the trouble is I am tall and my family are all tall BUT dh's family on his mum's side are tiny, his sister is under 5 foot. So could it be his dad's ancestors making him short (ha, a stick to beat dh with, when he gets too cocky!).

beglo - thank you for being in the same boat! DS is being tested for lactose intolerance etc as he never does a firm poo, always runny. So stressful isn't it, when the docs start to question you?! I write down everything he eats and I must say he doesn't get much variance in his diet so am going to try that. Plus the CAKE!