Is my 18mo malnourished?? Help!

[fionnthedog]

My 18mo has always had a small appetite and been a fairly picky eater but then he's always been small (9th centile) so I've tried to be chilled out about it.

However, for the last three weeks DS has been full of cold (two colds back to back I think) and has been even worse at eating and I'm beginning to get worried at how skinny he's looking. Other than being full of cold he's generally ok and toddling / bum shuffling as normal.

As an example today for dinner we had spag bolognaise (which usually he loves) and he ate two pieces of pasta and a spoonful of sauce and then nothing else. Last night we had sausage and mash and he ate less than half of a sausage and nothing else.

Should I take him to the GP? I don't want to be a time waster but I am worried he's so skinny...

Are you or DP skinny and small boned? If so, he may be naturally tiny. But small babies do get thin quicker when ill as they have so little to lose.
Is he still drinking lots of milk?
DS was like this. he'd eat two spoonfuls and then refuse anything more. I used to add Abidec vitamin drops to his milk with a bit of cream too. I also used to cut food into tiny cubes and put it in his mouth while he was playing as he didn't seem to notice it going in. (He's normal height and weight now, for his age.) But do check with GP if you are worried.

You could be describing my 15 month old, I think though as long as he is being offered food regularly and has vitamin drops in his milk I am happy

If he is not well then he might not be hungry take him but if his eating is generally ok i wouldnt worry about him being malnurished. 1 of mine was a picky eater and she was skinny hv said to let her graze rather than worry about full meals.if you are worried about his weight and eating then do speak to your gp about it better to have him checked than you fretting

Oh yeah i gave dd vitamins too

Thanks all. To answer your questions, my DH and I are both fairly short (DH especially for a man) but neither of us especially skinny! And yes DS still drinking a good amount of milk morning and evening (about 12oz overall).

I think I'll start giving him vitamin drops to be on the safe side and maybe get a Dr appt next week if no improvement in the cold/cough or the eating / skinniness.

Sometimes being a parent is so stressful!

The NHS give away the Healthy Start brand of children's vitamin drops to low income mums. They have the NHS logo on them. If you can afford to buy them you can get them from Superdrug.