worries about 19 mo's weight

[phlebas]

I had ds2 weighted for the first time in 9 months yesterday - I was slightly concerned he was looking a bit thin. He was 10.5kg, pretty much exactly on the 25th centile, the last time he was weighed he was 10 months old & just above the 50th (9.2kg), he's been at or around the 50th since he was a couple of weeks old.

The HV was quite reassuring - suggested ways of getting more calories into what he is eating. He has not been eating well since Christmas - been getting increasingly fusses & distractable. Typically he will have three or four mouthfuls & throw the rest on the floor. Today for example he wouldn't eat his shreddies but had a slice of toast with butter & jam for breakfast, then for lunch had two small mouthfuls of scrambled egg & about 5 mouthfuls of pasta with pesto & cheese. Apart from breast milk (he had a feed at 7am & breakfast at 8:45) he will only drink water. He very enthusiastically eats chocolate though. He needs about 1000-1100 calories a day & I don't think he's getting that.

The HV suggested we weigh him in a month & then call the GP if we're still worried. I spoke to the GP about it this morning & he has asked us to bring ds in for a urine test for diabetes & said he would want to refer to the paeds if he hasn't gained enough weight.

This has thrown me into an absolute panic - I have never had concerns about any of the dc's weight before. I wasn't worried about ds' health or development apart from the weight - he's not been ill or anything, seems to be full of energy, normal nappies etc - now I'm worried that I'm missing something serious :(

Has anyone got any experience of similar? When I google I really only come up stuff about younger babies.

hopeful & slightly pathetic bump

We had very similar with DS. He was a v big baby (9lb 8oz), but by 9 months he was on the 25th centile for weight (50th for length). He was also a picky eater from about 12-18 months and I did resort to giving him only yogurt on a few occasions as it was one thing he would quite happily eat. I also had to spoon feed him everything as he refused to feed himself.

He is now 9 and is on the 2nd centile for his weight (still 50th for height) and eats very well. He does lots of exercise, very high energy levels and is rarely ill. He now eats a wide range of foods and has a big appetite and it is hard to remember that fussy faze he went through.

The school nurse picked up his low weight a couple of years ago, but after a range of tests decided he is just a 'skinny child' with a high metabolism.

My only advise would be to let him eat what he will, but continue to offer him a small amount of a wide variety of other foods and try to to stress at the dinner table. Yogurt is great as it is quite high in calories and you can spoon it in quickly and then stress less about what else he does or does not eat.