Underweight eight-month year old - help and advice please!

[padi]

I've been struggling with anxiety over my 8 month year old son's weight for ages. trying not to get obsessed with weight charts, comparisons etc, but it's hard, as he is tinier than all the other babies of his age I've come across. He's never had much interest in food, milk or solids, breast or bottle and recently had a cold so ate even less. He now weighs around 7 kilos and just looks tiny and skinny, though seems happy and active most of the time. Should I just chill out or seek professional advice? Neither I nor my partner are very tall, so i'm not expecting a giant but he has been dropping weight groups (now below 2nd percentile). HELP!!

hi
please try not to worry as long as he is roughly meeting developmental targets then he is fine. If you really think something is wrong with him then contact hv who will help you assess him. My dd2 is 10 and a half months and weighs around 17.5lbs which is around 7.75kgs and that is on a hungry baby formula..lol She is healthy and is meeting delopmental targets fine so hv has said not to worry about her weight. My dd1 was small until she hit 10mths then she just shot up and am often told she looks bigger than her age etc.

Hi

Thanks so much for that. I've been trying not to worry but it's so hard, as other parents are so competitive about size and babies seem so big these days! I meet so few parents with babies who aren't enormous! He is fine developmentally....just not that interested in food. Mealtimes have become a trauma, and I'm going back to work full-time in 2 weeks. I will keep trying to chill out about it!

mealtimes will be worse if you stress. Do you spoon feed him?? Maybe try finger foods as both my girls wouldnt be spoon fed at all. Other people will comment regardless of the size of the baby, you will get oh isnt he tiny etc but if they are bigger you get arent they huge etc etc..I really wouldnt worry if he seems ok in other ways.

my son also weighs the same and i am no longer concerned as he is meeting his milestones and generally is happy and active. do not worry, contrary to the charts all babies develope and grow at different times. my son had his 8 month check up to be told he in under height, under weight and his head is too small! i freaked but have been reassured by so many other mumsnetters who are also going through the same thing! my son is below the 0.4th centile in almost everything. but then both his parents are small build.
do not worry.

my DD is 13 months and only weighs about 19lbs, she eats as much as she wants and drinks as much milk as she wants, we have just come to terms with the fact she is naturally tall and skinny, she does look much smaller than other babies but we feed her all the right things and seems happy!!

i went through this with DD1 - she started crawling at 6m before she was really into her solids, and lost lots of weight.

I stressed and worried - but she gained the weight as her eating increased and she is fine now. Still "lean" but in a good way! Fits the right age clothes etc. One bit of advice i would give you is not to be too healthy with his food. Load it with cheese, full fat milk, butter etc. Lots of high calorie food. I was doing the Annabel karmel thing with lots of casseroles made with home made chicken stock, organic meat, lentils, veg etc. which was very good nutritionally but wasn't that loaded with calories.

Fromage frais are also good for getting that bit more food into them. The odd biscuit doesn't hurt either .

With DD2 i didn't get her weighed after the 6 week check. I decided all it did was make you worry!

Yes, I agree, I give her lots of fromage frais and cheese, and stir soft cheese into lots of sauces!! I also lather on the butter!!

oh and the other thing i would say is that at 8 months he might be getting his top two teeth which caused DD1 no end of bother. She went right off her food and hated being spoon fed. I would definitely agree with giving him finger foods if he can manage it and don't get into food battles if he doesn't want it.

Sorry...only just had time to log on again. Thanks for all the advice....I will certainly try to load with calories and to relax a bit. The 8 month check is this week and I'm determined not to stress if the HVs get in a fuss about it. Have had so much contrary advice from them anyway, I don't really trust their judgement.