Child usually 1.5-2nd percentile. Now 0.8th..

[Elmo311]

Hi all,

I've got a small 26 month old, she weighs 8.9kg and has always been 1.5-2nd percentile.
Fits 9-12 month clothing.

Long history - bottle aversion, Leading to NG tube for 3 months but that was when she was 5months old.

Very fussy eater, doesn't eat fruit- did during weaning but because she was so small we concentrated on higher calorie foods so that's probably my fault although due Autism assessment so could be sensory.

Eats meat, some veg, loves bread. Becoming less adventurous with food but she's never dropped off the graph.

She's Happy otherwise :)
I'm worried about taking her to the Dr incase they suggest feeding tube again as I really don't want to go down that route.

Has anyone been through this?
Another thing to note is that previously if we added calories to her food in other ways - say olive oil or shakes, it just means she eats less overall so she doesn't really gain.

Should I just leave her if she's happy?
Arrange to see a Dietitan?

I tend not to weigh her often because otherwise I worry too much, last time I weighed her was at the beginning of February and she was in the 1.5th percentile.

If you're worried, go to the Dr or see your health visitor maybe? Don't let it go on for both your sakes.
They will try many things before any sort of hospitalisation I'm sure.

@PennyRoyal You're probably right.
I guess I'm wondering if anyone else has had this experience.

The health visitors here aren't that great. Dr usually quite dismissive but I can give them a call.

If she’s due an Autism assessment, I would assume she has a paediatrician - ask them. I work with children with ASC and some of them have fallen way off the bottom of the chart and have not needed to be tube fed

@Sls668 That's good to know, thank you.
We are due to see the developmental paediatrician soon, I will call to see if they can see us sooner.

Test for coeliac.
Discuss with paed
Genetic testing some syndromes linked with asd also linked to small size
Keep food diary and talk to dietician
There are also speech therapists with specialism in feeding who can assess and advise

@Embracelife Very helpful, thank you.
What syndromes can be associated with ASD and small size?

Many of the microdeletion syndromes fir exple...but there are very many ask for a standard microarray test which looks for tiny deletions additions etc across all chromosome . Might give you an overall answer

@Embracelife Thank you.