4.5 year old weight loss

[kellsbells2015]

Wondering if anyone has had a similar experience - I have noticed that my otherwise healthy 4.5 y.o boy is looking skinnier than he ever has done before. He was always a solid baby/toddler but of late I have noticed him looking particularly slim.

You can see his ribs front and back and his spine and hips all protrude quite prominently. I have started weighing him and whereas from birth to age 2.5 he was always in or around 91-98th percentile for weight, he is now sitting around 63rd. He has also dropped a further 200g in the last week. He eats really well st home and school says he eats like a horse there too.

I've taken him to our GP this week and they say to monitor it over the next month and then go back. I'm understandably worried over Christmas but wondered if anyone had experienced anything similar at all. He is a very active child but dropping weight like this is obviously a concern.

Thank you x

Children do change shape as they get older and I would say four or five years old seems like the right time to be getting skinnier. If you look at healthy weight Reception kids depending on build they tend to have visible ribs and thin legs and arms. Faces also start to get more angular. I think the advice to monitor weight loss is good but honestly if he is eating well I would try not to worry. I honestly had no idea at this age what weight my DCs were so I would try to hold off weighing him and just compare to other children his age.

My 4.5 year old also used to be on the 98th centile, and has dropped to the 65th since starting school. She is healthy and eats plenty, so I just put it down to her running around more plus the school run (2 miles a day).

You need to keep and eye on weight, height and his BMI to get a complete picture. The NHS calculator is very helpful for this. It could be that he has grown in height faster than he’s been gaining weight.

Thanks all, I appreciate your thoughts. I'm not one to have bothered with weighing either as he has always been happy and healthy. The change on him as been quite dramatic though hence it prompting my concern.

He has crossed three percentile lines on his growth chart which GP has said is very unusual - crossing one is apparently fairly normal; two unusual but three shouldn't happen unless there's an underlying reason.

Will keep an eye and see where we are in a month. Thanks for the advice x