7 month old - 3 centile height and weight difference?!

[Tasha121]

Hi All,

Wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar and can reassure me?

DS2 is under a dietician for CMPA and today we had a phone check up. Before this, I weighed him (on baby specific scales I have at home) and DH measured his height stood up (stands well with me holding his hands).

He is massively tall for his age - 8 months next week and is 76cm. This puts him on the 99th centile. His weight is 9.1kilos, which I think puts him on the 70th.

Neither of which sound an issue to me, but the dietician described him as 'underweight' for his height as they are 3 centiles apart, and wants to start calogen supplements. I don't mind doing this, but it seems a bit ridiculous for a baby on the 70th centile for weight!!

Could he have just had a huge growth spurt for height and it might slow down now? He has 4 bottles a day, 210ml, x2 180ml, amd 240ml before bed. No night feeds, dropped the dream feed last month as not interested at all. We are on 2 meals, breakfast and lunch, and I'm introducing dinner next week as he's only just ready for 2 naps and I didn't have time to fit it in before!

Solids seem to be going OK, he mainly prefers baby led weaning but is getting better with a spoon now.

Not really sure if this is just him and his shape - very chunky arms and legs but slightly slimmer tummy? My oldest looked similar as a baby but was equal for height and length and wasn't so tall at this age.

He was born between 25th/50th and last height was done at 3 months and was 75th then, so he has always been higher centile for height anyway. I can't force him to eat more and I'm not upping his milk at this age, he doesn't like the CMPA milk at the best of times!

Forgot to say, he mainly needs 9-12 month clothes and they don't hang off him either! He wore a 12-18 month vest the other day and again, only slightly too big!

i agree with everything you say. I’d just refuse and ask if you can have him reviewed again in 3 months.

I would also add though that even if he stands well the only measurements for height that our paediatrician ever accepted when they were under 18 months were those done with baby lying down not standing up. It’s possible that it’s not completely accurate.

Thank you, I'm glad someone else thinks it sounds a little dramatic! Sorry, I should have added we did also measure him laid down with a straight leg, but also did it standing up and we got 76cm both times. This was with a standard tape measure though, so yes it could easily be slightly inaccurate

There is huge errors in length measurements. My daughter apparently shrank 4 cm in a month at 14-15 months both values measured by the same nurse in the hospital! Did she shrink? No! Was one measurements probably a little long followed by one that was a little short. Yes probably this!

I would probably go with the watch and see approach. Keep an eye on intake and making sure that they are still taking plenty of milk alongside food of you are weaning. My daughter stopped gaining weight at 7 months as she didn't engage with weaning until 13 months and she wasn't getting enough calories from breastmilk and later formula alone due to her starting to move more. Once she ate alongside alfamino formula she started gaining weight. Our HV said it's quite a common age for weight gain to slow as their appetite doesn't always match their new found movement

My eldest DD had a big centile difference - I think it was something like 75th for height and between 0.4th-10th for weight. She was under a neonatal consultant as she had sepsis at birth and he never expressed any concerns. Once we started weaning, her weight begin to jump up centiles. Between 6-12months, she would have spurts where her weight would shoot up, then her height catch up afterwards. No reason why your DS wouldnt be doing the same. She then evened out at about 12months and is now perfectly in proportion at 65th for weight and 70th for height. So i agree with pp, that definitely worth waiting and checking again in a bit?