Dd underweight - should I be concerned?

[NeedAHoliday2021]

Dd is a small build. She always has been like a beanpole. She eats healthily and similar portions to me so mostly I’m not worried but I’m wondering if I should be?

She’s 14 and 5foot 4inches weighing 6stone 4lbs. Clothes wise she’s a size 4. She’s always been “underweight” and was on solid food at 4 months due to reflux (under a paediatric consultant).

She’s developing but no periods yet. Would you be concerned?

That is very underweight for her height. I would speak to the GP and see if they have any advice.

Hi @NeedAHoliday2021 I can't tell you whether you should be concerned on the basis of your DD's history, but I can tell you that when my DD1 was admitted to hospital for 9 days to start restoring her weight to a normal level, she was 162cm and 37kg. She hadn't really lost weight, she just hadn't put it on as she grew.

In eating disorder clinics they use 'weight for height' which gives a percentage value, comparing your child's weight and height and sex with the average weight of a girl the same height.

Your DD's weight for height is 76-78% depending on whether she's just 14 or almost 15. DD1 was still using a wheelchair and on bed rest until she was 80% WFH. She was not allowed to attend school, even part time, until she was 85% WFH, and then she was not allowed to do PE until she was 90% WFH.

I think you need to contact your GP, to be honest.

I wouldn’t worry, my son is similar height and weighs less than 6 stone, he’s just really thin. I mentioned it last time we went to the drs. She said he was below average and if I wanted to I could give him some protein type milk powder (sorry can’t think of what you call it in the uk) she said he looks thinner as kids these days are often quite big. I didn’t bother as quite honestly he eats very well and I don’t think he needs any more to eat.

I’m a similar height and only about a stone heavier, I was much smaller at school and no one batted an eyelid then, I was also one of the bigger girls at school.

She’s got energy, not sporty but does horse riding 3 hours a week, walks to and from school. I think it’s just her natural build and don’t want to make a “thing” if she is healthy. She’s just turned 14.

I should add, she eats 3 meals a day but rarely snacks.

If she has always been that way then no, I wouldn’t worry.
My son has always been 99th centile for height and 25th centile for weight. However much he eats, he grows taller rather than wider

Some people, such as my DH, have a naturally very slender narrow frame. They will have a tendency to weigh less than the average person of the same height. Look up ectomorph, mesomorph & endomorph and you will see what I mean.

My daughter is 5'6 and weighs 7 stone. She eats lots and is active, I just think that's what she's meant to her like.

She's tiny! My granddaughter is 10 1/2, 4ft 10, and weighs 7 stone.

@TheNoiseIsDrivingMeMad

She's tiny! My granddaughter is 10 1/2, 4ft 10, and weighs 7 stone.

Which is borderline overweight!

@TheNoiseIsDrivingMeMad

She's tiny! My granddaughter is 10 1/2, 4ft 10, and weighs 7 stone.

My same height and age child is 5st. Shes skinny but within healthy boundaries.

My 10 1/2 year old twins are 4foot 6 and weigh 4st 10lbs. They are wider than Dd1 and “healthy” on nhs bmi. They have my curves already whereas Dd is more like my cousins on my dad’s side (I take after my mum). She is tiny though. I struggled with child clothes but now adult clothes fit the arm and leg length on size 4s actually fit her.

She is very underweight though. Have you tried getting more calories into her? Not forcing extra meals or snacks, but for example full fat milk rather than skimmed, adding extra butter, peanut butter, slightly larger portions? Are there calorie rich supplements you can add to her meals?

And an obvious question does she disappear to the bathroom soon after she's finished a meal?

@NeedAHoliday2021

My 10 1/2 year old twins are 4foot 6 and weigh 4st 10lbs. They are wider than Dd1 and “healthy” on nhs bmi. They have my curves already whereas Dd is more like my cousins on my dad’s side (I take after my mum). She is tiny though. I struggled with child clothes but now adult clothes fit the arm and leg length on size 4s actually fit her.

I think the start point is considering how she is in general. DD1 would have been considered to be 'naturally slim'. Her frame is tiny. However, as she grew in height but didn't put weight on, there were several things which indicated that she was not 'perfectly healthy'. She got cold really, really quickly. Her toes would go purple if she didn't wear socks. Eventually, she felt dizzy when she was standing up. Checking her heart rate revealed that it rose to 144 bpm when she stood up.

DD1 was a size 4. Now she's a size 8. She's put on 18kg and she actually looks healthy now. I think it's very easy to become conditioned to the appearance of someone who is very over or underweight, and it's only once you take a step back and see how extreme it can be that you see the reality.

I weighed the same at her age. Stopped growing at 5 5, then remember getting to 7 stone at some point and staying there for years, but hitting 8 stone in my 20’s once I started to take an interest in food.

I hated being so skinny and took myself off to drs at 13, and she just laughed and told me not to worry. I remember trying powder supplement from boots but not being able to force it down, I was just rarely hungry and a really fussy eater.

One of my DD’s is also tiny, at 10, and hardly eats. She has a multivitamin every day and I have started to make her smoothies with added cream and ice cream. That is only because I am worried she will be teased at secondary school for being skinny though, DD couldn’t care less!

I think it is about building up portions slowly but then some people just don’t seem to put weight on easily. I ate whatever I wanted until 35 and was an easy size 8/10 , and then something just happened to my metabolism overnight and I have to really watch calories now, it’s a struggle to stay at size 12

DD is pretty much almost exactly the same weight and height. She's just fifteen. She's not unhealthy at all and is full of energy and eats plenty - she just takes after me and her dad (we are both skinny and always have been regardless of what we eat). She started her periods about a year and a half ago when she weighed a few kilos less than this.

I think a size 4 is very normal for a younger teenager! This is who this size is aimed at, surely?

I think in your shoes I would take her to the doctor to check there aren't any underlying concerns but she sounds very similar to my DD who is robustly healthy. If she is eating about what you eat, maybe she is just skinny?

titchy and Aroundtheworldin80moves I know that - as the paternal granny, I have no control over what/how the mother feeds her. When she's with us/her dad, she eats very healthily and she walks and swims.

If she didn’t eat then I’d be worried but there’s no rapid weight loss. She’s always been at the bottom of the bmi and weight charts but has stayed on the same trajectory. She eats adult size meals and no slipping off to the bathroom straight after meals. She’s not particularly motivated by food but also isn’t especially fussy. She doesn’t eat butter but that’s about it. If her portions were tiny I’d be adding to them but she really does eat good amounts, just goes up rather than out.

@RaoulDufysCat I do think she’s taken after my dad’s side. They’re all tall and slim. I take after my mum’s side - curvy hour glasses.

I was always very skinny, ate loads. If she’s eating and happy I’d leave her alone.

To bulk up a bit- not at age 14, I went to spin classes and circuit training/body blast (with weights).

She sounds fine. I also have a 14 yo horse riding bean pole - not as slender as yours but nothing too her when you look at her sideways.

I'm a short, stolid lump beside her!

Similar to @Lougle here, we’re a thin family and my dd was always very slight and ate well. I was so used to her being slight that I didn’t really notice her becoming dangerously underweight. I also didn’t really notice how little she was eating for a while because in my head she ate well and because she was eating dinner. Again she never lost weight, just didn’t put it on as she grew.
I’m not saying that this is the case with your daughter but it is worth keeping an eye on and going to the gp if you are at all worried.

Thank you all. I’m going to monitor for the moment. I don’t usually weigh her but I was dyeing my hair and she was chatting to me in the bathroom and hopped on the scales. I’ll keep a subtle eye on her.

My DD14 is slender at about 40kg - not sure what that is in lbs and don’t really weigh anyone regularly here, but will google.

I’m about 57kg and a fully grown woman with a decent bosom and childbearing hips. I am approx 170cm but she is a bit shorter with room to grow.

I was 47kg when I was 17-21 or so. When I lived on fags and booze admittedly