6 year old dropped centile

[wobblymum1]

My DD6 has always been skinny, and Hovers in 25th centile. I thought she looked even skinnier than normal and weighed her and she’s now dropped to 9th centile. She’s actually lost a bit of weight (0.5 kg) in 2 months. It’s coincided with a height stretch so could it “just” be that?
I think because she’s so thin to start with I worry more. She’s ok apart from this, active, she is a bit of a fussy eater and prefers frequent smaller meals but I try hard to push a good balanced diet at her and I’d say her food intake is ok. She passes stools 1 -2 x a day and they are normal.
ifs just the weight loss that threw me as I thought kids aren’t meant to drop weight at all and could indicate a problem if so?

thank you 😊

In the absence of other answers...
Has she been ill recently? My 9th centile child looks pretty skinny if illness has put him off his food. But he's a foodie, so once better we just bump up breakfast with some full fat yogurt, and encourage a snack when he gets back from school. Its normally enough.

I'd encourage a healthy extra each day, and revisit in 3 months. If it is illness or growth spurt related, it should be resolved. If something else, GP appointment.

It’s probably nothing.

I would try to up the calories in her food, swapping yogurts for full-fat and adding cheese to meals, that sort of thing. Weigh again in a couple of weeks, and if it’s not looking better then book an appointment with the GP to discuss.

If it’s not improving then you’d be looking at some blood tests to rule out things like diabetes, coeliac, that kinds of thing. From what you say it doesn’t sound very likely she has anything serious like that.

Huge thanks!
ive been bumping up full fat yogurt and she eats well in general I’d say so I’m stumped. Everything seems to point to her putting on weight but nope, she’s lost some.
ill keep an eye on it for the next 6 weeks and if she’s still not putting anything on I’ll have to do a Gp trip I think. Thank you 💞

Thank you! She was tested for both actually at end of last year after a particularly nasty tummy bug that saw her in hospital for a few nights and both came back negative- she doesn’t have any symptoms of either (like increased thirst, or Urination, or stool issues, bloating etc)
the only other thing I can think of that’s more likely coincidence is that she finally night toilet trained a couple of weeks ago (very late at nearly 7) so pointlessly wondering if that’s somehow dropped her weight?! Unlikely I know. And I must stop gazing in envy at kids who have more meat on their bones 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Ps really appreciate your answers and support 💞feel less anxious tonight now. X

I bought a chip pan to add extra calories to ds food when he dropped a centile after starting adhd meds. He's now back up weight wise again. Sometimes things take time and stomachs can take a long time to settle back down after serious tummy bugs or long term medication. Has she been tested for diabetes?

Thank you so much💞
she was tested for diabetes at end of last year and no symptoms since then that would make me think she’s since developed it (no big thirst/
increase in urination etc)
it did take her weeks to get over bad tummy bug (was norovirus + campylobacter and I’ve never seen either of my children so poorly 😢) for weeks after it she had tummy pains and loose stools. Feel we’ve finally turned a corner with all that in the last month and she’s healthy again so this sudden 0.5 kg weight loss (when I was expecting that to have gone on) has me stumped.

Somehow if she was bigger to start with I wouldn’t be worried but as she’s a skinny little thing to start with any weight loss worries me.i also don’t get it, today she ate:
breakfast: 2 x potato wafffles and a homemade full fat yogurt smoothie
lunch: soup and bread+ a potato scone and a coke
dinner: baked potato with beans
snacks: half a hot dog after swimming, packet of crisps, actimel yogurt, peppa pig yogurt, pack of mini breadsticks
so while it’s not the appetite of a giant I feel she’s eating enough?

my ? Is only because I doubt myself over EVERYTHING just now ☹️

It sounds like a reasonable amount.

On that day I would just make sure the portions are big enough, and also add some cheese to the baked potato. As you say it’s not a model diet but it would certainly be good enough for most!

Maybe put a date in your diary to review her weight, and when you start fretting remind yourself that you postpone any worrying until that date. I find it a useful trick for dealing with worries that I can’t do anything about right now.

You’re literally doing everything you can for her, I’m sure she will be fine with an attentive mum looking out for her 🙂

You could ask your GP for nutrition advice if it helps to find healthy ways of increasing weight. A family member had the same challenge and it was suggested they added nut butter to toast and porridge and said when the child was quite low that any food they like, would encourage a good appetite. Medical advice may be worth a check for your DC? All the best!

Thank you so much! I love this suggestion and am going to try it!
annoyingly she hates cheese ☹️Otherwise I’d be stuffing everything with it!

@wobblymum1 What height centile is she on? I have to keep a very close eye on both of my two who both tend towards underweight. I use the NHS bmi checker as a sense check - have you tried that? It uses their height, weight and bmi and tells you to seek help if they are underweight.

Oh good question. She’s 25% for height and steady on that. BMI calculator has her at healthy but 10th centile ☹️

Ok great, thanks for replying. So she is 25th for height and (now) 9th for weight? That's not too bad - my DS is the same and very healthy on it, strong with loads of energy. I wouldn't want him to skip down to 2nd though so I keep a close eye on him and he has full fat milk/cheese/yoghurt and I encourage him to eat plenty of healthy fats. I would weigh your DD in a month and see where you are - any more weight loss straight to GP; if she is the same weight in a month then I might still go to GP depending on what height is or I might monitor for another few weeks.

Thank you so so much, really appreciate this. Think my worry was the actual weight drop but she is growing up the way which is good I think? And she’s generally active and healthy (not lying around lethargic or anything) x