Underweight child support thread

[Reallytired]

Following on from the runty thread in "Am I being unreasonable?" I thought it would be good to have a support thread for children whose weight is a medical concern.

My daughter's weight has dropped from the 50th percentile to the 0.4th percentile. We have the health visitor coming out next week to see her eating lunch. I feel really nervous and I am trying to decide what to feed lo.

Last month the health visitor came to my house and did a development review that dd passed with flying colours. I think my dd is fine as I got a 4ft mother in law.

Me too. Can I join?

Have posted often about my little tiny ds2. He is 2 years in less than 2 weeks, but still only 9.7 kg (about 21 lb 7 oz, in old money I think).

He was born on the 9th centile, started off wonderfully and went up to 25th centile then stopped gaining weight at about 4 months, was down to the 0.4th centile by 6 months. He still hovers around there, although on the new breastfed baby charts he's only gone from the 9th to the 2nd centile, so not nearly so bad.

We've had visits to paed's, dieticians (useless), allergy consultants (he has a milk allergy) and physcologist (sp?), we are currently waiting for a visit to a gastroenterologist and ENT specialist as he throws up 4-5 times per day. If he eats 3 spoons of food in a day we are doing well .

UnseenAcademicalMum, Any suggestions what I should feed my daughter when the health visitor comes round? You laugh, but I feel really nervous about it. Why was I fool enough to agree to her coming round to see dd having lunch? I am scared I am going to get a grilling about fat content, amount of fibre in her etc. etc. blah!

My dd appears to have nothing wrong with her. She eats well and is very active.

I hope they find the cause of your son's problems.

I'd just give her something quite typical of what you would normally give her for lunch. I suspect they will just want to see is she eating at the table, in a relaxed environment and if she eats well, probably how can the calorie content of her meals be increased?

I think I'd be scared if my HV wanted to come round for lunch too (but then "as much use as a chocolate teapot" is an expression that comes to mind when thinking about my HV).

Hi there, can I join? I have a 1 yo dd who was 4 weeks prem and who is currently 17lb (7.8kg). This makes her just above 2nd centile. We have a clinic appointment at the hospital on Friday to discuss her weight. She has been gaining v slowly since about 7 months. She eats really well though & is very perky.

I hope your lunch goes well reallytired, although I'm inclined to agree with uam that hvs are a bit useless.

Can I join in? I'm 99.9% sure that my DD is just, ahem, naturally runty (as indeed is DH and all of his family) but still, I worry a bit... she hovers around the 2nd centile.

But I think it's important to remember that the charts simply show norms and averages and do not in themselves indicate there's anything wrong.

Reallytired... good luck with the HV! Could you give DD her very most favourite food, and take her running round the park beforehand to make sure she's extra hungry

What a timely thread... just had HV here today to see 10 week old DD who is 9lb 4oz (born 6lb 14oz). She is on 2nd centile, but 75th for height.
Me and her dad are both tall beanpoles.

She has 6oz of formula 4 times a day and sleeps through every night - anyone any thoughts/experience on this? Is it enough/not enough?

She is otherwise very alert, active, physical (kicking around etc) and lots of wet nappies. Should I be worried?

HV was a bit useless I thought. I asked for genuine advice (should I wake her to feed during the night etc) and got the standard reply: "Just keep an eye on it..."

stressheaderic, my ds1 is on the 75th centile for height and until he was 2 yo bobbed between the 25th and 9th centile. He is now 5 yo and is on 75th for both height and weight. If you are feeding on demand, I'd leave her to find her own level. I wouldn't go down the lines of waking her for feeds.

I don't know. Can't comment on the amounts as have never FF, but 4 feeds a day seems quite few. I know that when I started waking DD for feeds she started feeding much better but equally she completely lost the ability to sleep through the night, which she's never regained...

May I also join? I have a 1-year DD who was 12.5 weeks prem and was 1 lb 15 oz at birth. She was 1 just under a fortnight ago, and last time I had her weighed (about 5 or 6 weeks ago) was 14lb 5.5oz Nobody seems worried about her (except me). She is 'in proportion' and looks healthy and alert. However, she has only just gone into 3-6 month clothes and some are still too big.

In my opinion, she eats like a horse! For example, today she had:
Breakfast:
Ready brek made with 80ml milk and strawberry puree
100ml milk
Lunch:
Hummus sandwich made with 1 slice bread
A few Quavers
A bit of Banana
2 Raspberries
Water
Dinner:
Half a jacket potato
Beans
Cheese
Fromage Frais
Water
Supper:
Cream cheese sandwich made with 1 slice bread
100ml milk

Bearing in mind how tiny she is, this, to me, seems like a lot. Any comments? Maybe it's not a lot. She's never been much of a milk monster.

My daughter today ahd

7am breastfeed

8am 1 wheatabix with cows milk at nursery

12pm lamb hotpot with carrots, beans and
youghurt (At nursery)

4pm Sandwiches, fruit (At nursery)

5.30 (at home) a bit of scampi, half a carrot some rice and half a banana.

7pm breastfeed

She usually has two to three night feeds.

My daughter is active and is wearing 9 to 12 month clothes. Although some of her 6 to 9 month clothes still fit. Our health visitor is in a tiss because she was on the 50th percentile at 6 months. I then didn't bother getting her weighed until she was a year old and she had fallen to the 0.4th percentile.

[Bad second time mum emoticon]

My daughter's head is on 0.4th percentile and her height is the 2nd percentile. Sometimes I think health professionals just look at weight charts on their own.

Well, DD was weighed today (at 54 weeks, so 9.5 months corrected age) and she's 15lb 3oz, which means she's now dropped below the 2nd centile for weight. I've been told that if she's not back above it again in 4-6 weeks then I should get a referral to a paed. Ho hum.

Hi just wanted to reassure you all that your lo's will all be fine , i know how worrying this can all be as i have been there with DD now 4.4yrs , My DD was 5lb 4oz at birth (4weeks early) but she gained SO slowly she hardly ever got to reach the bottom line of the weight charts My HV was dreadful & my visits usually ended up with me in tears & worrying myself sick over DD's weight . Now dd is still very petite (god only knows how i am going to find a school uniform to fit her in Sept) but Eats much better these days & is very rarely sick in her case her appetite increased when she turned 3.6yrs , up until that she was a nightmare . she is 4.4yrs now & going on 2.5 stone in weight .

I am glad when I had DD and DS they didn't have all those charts with percentiles or whatever on them. The HV on the whole were very good and as long as your child looked OK was eating well sleeping etc. they didn't bother you. As one HV said to me you have to look at the family as a whole if like my DH you have parents who are quite short and maybe very petite then maybe some of the children will take after them. I have 2 GD's the eldest is short for her age but solid just like me and the youngest slim and tall like my DD both are very healthy and active. When they were babies DD only took them to the clinic twice said she couldn't be doing with all these charts etc.

You might find some more support mighty oaks from little acorns thread My dd will be 3 next week hardly eats a thing and weighed in at a grand 9.7kg 21 lb 5 oz 2weeks ago. She never really reached any of the lines till someone on that thread pointed me to the W.H.O. chart for girls that were breastfed and I believe the health vistors are now using that chart its goes lower that then one previously used in the red book

Just weighed DD (6 months) and she's not gained any weight this week, though stil around 2nd centile..

(am weighing her myself because HV was stressing me senseless and agreeing to weigh myself was only way not to be summoned every week)

Is that OK?

I don't want to call HV as she will PANIC...

OrganicHairbrush, don't worry. She will have some weeks where she gains nothing and some weeks where she gains more than you might expect. IIRC the WHO guidelines are to weigh babies >6 months only once every 2 months as less than that might not give a good picture of the overall weight gain.

We also weigh ds2 at home (from about 6 months), because of our horrendous HV. I was so much happier when not forced to attend baby clinic every week with her nasty comments. Have you got baby scales or are you just using the bathroom scales? Also weighing at different times of day or before/after a feed can make quite a big difference (I only ever took ds2 to be weighed by the HV after a really good feed ).

Thank you. Really must stick to my own principles about weighing too often.

Do you know where the WHO guidelines say that? Don't want to scare HV by waggling a printout in her face, but it'd be good to have up my sleeve. Poor woman. I think she's just overwhelmed by the post-Baby-P responsibilities of her job, and she isn't exactly the sharpest pencil...

WRT to other question, yes I bought some baby scales off Amazon. Not brilliant - I have to weigh her five times and then average them - but cheaper than the real thing and usually fairly accurate.

Hi OrganicHairbrush, this is the GP training info on baby weighing www.gp-training.net/training/tutorials/clinical/paediatrics/pgrowth2.htm. I was a bit out previously in that it states babies aged 3-12 months should be weighed not more than 1 time per month and not less than once every 3 months.

I'm sure the WHO sayes slightly differently, I'll try to find that info again.

Relax ladies....
Seriously in 5, 10 years time no one (nope not even the HV) will care if your DC were not high up their weight charts... honestly!!

My eldest DD1 was dainty (aka thin as a rail and very underweight) I worried myself sick, sobbed over her meals and her refusal to eat any of them.. was terrified of what the HV thought....

She's now 18, and guess what..yup she's still thin as a rail (or rather has a drop dead gorgeous figure..but a size 6-8 and 5 ft 8) she simply was destined for those proportions..and she is still a very picky eater...very healthy but very odd (addicted to celery and Mr Brains Faggots!). I spent so much time being worried sick about her that I almost failed to enjoy her toddlerhood!
(my DS2 ..opposite...was positively chunky at 4 but now they fittest slimmest teenager ever!) DD2..tiny from birth... yup now 16and still short and slim, DS2 long and thin at birth... now 12 and 5 ft 10.. oh yeah and very thin.. eats like a horse....

relax... if your children are healthy and happy, they won't starve themselves to death and they will balance their food intakes to suit themselves..

Babyhood and toddlerhood is too short and too precious to be marred by fear of what the HV will say!

Macforme, what you say is so true. I feel I have wasted much of ds2's babyhood worrying about his weight/blaming myself for his poor weight gain/blaming everyone else for his poor weight gain. It is such a loss. (Esp as in my case he will be my last so I was really looking forward to smug mummydom of having done it already (yeah, right, that lasted for about 4 months....)

We have in recent weeks just tried really hard to not worry if he only eats 3 spoons in a day and guess what? for the first time ever (after about a month of trying this now) he has started steal food from other people! He still doesn't eat a great deal, but at least he takes an interest. Best of all he gained more weight in the last month (when we eased off) than in the last 4 months combined!

Ds2 was on the 75th centile for height and 2nd for weight. HV said he was verging on malnourished.

He's now 14 and super fit and healthy. Slim but muscular build.

Eats like a horse - came downstairs a while ago and had a bowl of cereal as he woke up because he was hungry!

Hi everyone, dd2 had her appointment at the hospital yesterday, the paediatrician was very reassuring, he said that as she is all in proportion and developing normaly he was not worried about her. However he has ordered a range of blood tests to be doubly sure nothing else it wrong e.g. Coeliac disease, thyroid function, anaemia etc. (blimey, this post is a spelling marathon!). He also said that babies can take a while to find their 'line' as it were so moving between centiles is not unusual.

I would second those who say don't weigh every week & definately don't let the hv do it. In fact I am glad I took myself out of the hv 'system' as it were by going to the gp, as all the hv do is raise problems without coming up with solutions.

My dd1 (2.5 yrs) eats less than the babies described here! It's funny, she has never eaten well but she keeps growing so we are not concerned. Dd2 eats like a horse by contrast...

Thank you for your lovely posts. I feel a lot better after reading them.

My daughter is not a turkey being weighed for market. She is a bright little girl with life ahead of her. Macforme your post is very wise.

Your support is making me feel more confident when the health visitor visits on Monday.

Hi
I would also like to add my little bit. I have 3 Ds's. DS1 is now 10 and has always been "chunky and solid" built, ate very well as a baby, and still eats like a horse now. Probably is slightly overweight, nothing very much, but has a healthy variety of food.
On the other hand, when DS2 was born (he is 7 now) he dropped from the 50th centile to 0.4 centile quite quickly, and over the years I spent many tearful times trying to persuade him to eat more, bribe him etc etc. He was extremely fussy, his classic line at 3yo was "don't like food" !!
As he failed to put on weight he had so many tests done, for CF, thyroid etc etc, nothing ever showed up.
Anyway, to cut a very long story short, he was signed off at the hospital last year, the conclusion being "he is just built that way" and I am extremely satisfied with that. It's true. I wish I hadn't spent so much of his young years getting so stressed about it. He is still a poor eater, is still only just over 3 stone, but is happy and healthy.
DS3 is now 17 months and is only 21lb, and again a fussy eater. Although I'm keeping an eye on it, I am far more relaxed about it.

I'm not saying you should never investigate these things, but be prepared that sometimes there isn't an answer, they are just like that.