Small baby

[Canadiangirl]

Hello,
I'm new to this so forgive me!
My son was born 4 weeks ago at 2.57 kgs / 5lbs 10.5oz. He lost a bit of weight in the first wk and had to be hospitalised for 5 days, but now is up to 3.32kgs / 7 lbs 5 oz. We've been thinking that everything's fine, but our health visitor and midwife, while saying that he's doing really well and thriving, still comment on how small he is. I've just noticed in his red book that he was in the 0.4 centile for the first few weeks, though he's now around the 2 - 9 centile so he's improving. On top of that, my NCT friends all have quite big babies who are growing a lot bigger faster than my son is. All in all, I'm now terrified that he's not doing as well as he is and that he's too small and something's wrong with him. Anyone have a small (not premature) baby that turned out just fine, to put my mind at rest? I'm desperately scared that he's still too small for his age so anything to help would be very much appreciated!

he isn't too small for his age. if he was too small he'd be off the chart. he isn't, he's around the 2-9yth centile which is just fine! someone has to be down there

and he has increased from the 0.4th, so that's him getting bigger too!

are you and your partner small?

Sounds like he is doing perfectly.

My DD was 5lbs 10 when born. Lost 3 ozs in the first week but has gone from strength to strength ever since. Just looked in her red book and at 4 weeks she was exactly 7llbs 5oz too! She is now 27 weeks and over 20 lbs. She jumped from 2nd centile at birth to about 65th now.

However, the most important thing is that your DS is following his own line, or even jumping up too. As thisisyesterday said, he isn't dropping and the whole point of these centile lines are a variation of all babies age/weight etc.

Congratulations! I guarantee that before you know it you won't believe how diddy he was... that's how I feel when I look back at pics!

My DS was born 5 weeks early at 4lb 5 and 'failed to thrive' initially ie didnt feed well to start with, went to 3lb 6. However, he had caught up with his post natal chums by a year, and after that his smallness was never an issue. He is still slim at 4.6 but is tall and on the whole eats like a horse!

It was a stressful time tho so I understand your worries. Just keep posting here for reassurance it will be ok!

Dn't worry
I have had two small babies, one 5lb 9 and one 4lb 14 both are doing well now one is three and is really active and never stops talking and the other is 9 months and is starting to crawl. DD2 in particular got lots of comments ... 'ohh she's just like a little dolly'!!

Don't worry about your NCT friends, one of mine had a baby that almost weighed twice the size of DD1

Both me and DH are small and both the girls were are 4 weeks too, If he is feeding well you are doing fine.

I'm 5'4" and a size 10/12 and my partner is 6 ft and average/slim build, so neither of us is particularly small.
He is getting bigger, you're right - I should look at the positives. It's hard to not worry all the time...I think because the midwives convinced me that something was wrong when I went into labour (on due date, but when we got to hospital the midwives on duty declared that my bump was way too small and possibly something was wrong with the baby that hadn't been detected), on top of my son being hospitalised for dehydration/weight loss in the first week, I've become paranoid that there's something else wrong with him. Ugh....I wish I could relax!

If it make you feel any better I consistantly measured small with DD2 and was never scanned for her size. When I saw my GP after I told her the measurements were right she was small and she said 'oh I probably should have sent you for that scan'!!
Dd2 also spent a little time in SCBU for jaundice

If you look at my profile you can see how big she was... about the same size as her toy monkey.

DS was early and was 5lb 4 but was still small after adjustments. He is now nearly 18 months and is enormous. Not sure of exact percentiles but he definately looks big!
DD was quite big- she is nearly 3 and is now on the smaller side, so I don't think you can always tell what they'll be like when they're so young.

My son was 6lb 3oz, born a week before due date. I breastfed him for 9 months. He was born on and stayed on the 2nd/9th centile and is still there now at nearly 4 years old. He's skinny, yes, but average for his height, he eats like a horse and burns everything off. He crawled at 8 months, walked at 10 months and is much more nimble at running, climbing, jumping than his peers now.....there are advantages to being slim! Don't worry one jot about your baby being 'small' if they are putting on weight every week it doesn't matter if they don't go up in centiles, it is perfectly normal for a baby to be born on a lowe centile and stay there. We see far too many fat, overfed, weaned too early babies in the UK in my opinion and it becomes the 'norm'.....