Help!My one year old won't eat and is 3lb underwight.

[Babybrown]

Have been told by HV that my 1 yar old is 3lb underwight, feel a total failure! Somedays he just won't open his mouth, likes things one day and the next won't touch what I put in front of him.Now he's quite determined to start feeding himself, but finger foods mostly end up on the floor. What do I do?

3lb underweight?? how so? has he suddenly plummeted off a centile line? has he been ill recently?

is he happy , healthy and meeting his developmental milestones?

I had a very petite DD, she was smaller than her peers, height and weight wise, i thikn at one year she weighed 19 lbs. she had two bouts of bad stomach upsets and lost a lot of weight and her stomach was almost concave

she was never a big eater and insisted on self feeding from around 8 months

she did however have plenty of milk, and was fine in every other way

how is she reckoning that he is 3 lb underweight?

He had been unwell with a burst ear drum and random colds since going to nursery. I think he is going to be quite short (based on his parents!) He is now in the 25% centile line for both height and weight although was up in the 75% for weight for a while when I was breast feeding. He has not put on any weight since 8 months when he started crawling. But he is such a fussy eater!

are you still breastfeeding at all? if not, is he still getting plenty of milk?

illness often puts a little one off their food and makes them slow to regain their appetite

let him eat what he wants at the moment

also, make every bite count.. use butter, cream, cheese , olive oil wherever possible to cram in as many calories as you can .

try offering 6 small meals/large snacks a day rather than 3 meals a day

little and often can be helpful

if his height and weight are in proportion it could be he is just destined to be little.

Ds lost loads of weight when he had a series of ear infection, throat infection etc. I never took him to be weighed but he just looked so skinny and he didn't exactly have fat to lose either! He was about 2 at the time but here is what we did.

It is so easy to get frustrated and make food into a battle ground. A big help for us was the Dr saying to just let him eat what he wanted, when he wanted until he was actually enjoying food again. Common sense of course but when you are worried it is nice to have someone say it!

Don't make food into a battle ground. If food is refused just calmly put it to one side and give desert. I found if I left the main course on the table but to one side he would sometimes go back to it. I also found putting tiny amounts on the plate helped. I think a normal portion overwhelmed him but if I put just 4 or 5 bits of pasta on he would eat them then ask for more until he had eaten a decent amount.

Babybrown, this must be worrying. Can you ask your HV to plot his weight on the new charts? This is likely to show him in a different part of the chart, and not being 3 pounds underweight (a strange thing to say to a mother - what did she mean? That if he was three pounds heavier he would still be on the 75th centile?)

I think HV use the charts as strict rules as apposed to guidelines.

My DD was one on Friday and is 19lb 5ozs.
Shes Just on the 25th centile line. Shes a skinny little thing but im not worried at all as she eats like horse! Shes so active, running around that im guessing shes just burning it off.

All babies are different sizes and weights, just like adults.

Re feeding- We did BLW with DD so has fed herself from 6mths. At 9mths she was feeding herself loaded up spoons. I would say let him try finger foods if thats what he wants. Then top him up with a yoghurt or something afterwards.
Offer him high calorie foods so he gets the maximum out of what he does eat.

DD dropped to the 9th centile a while ago when she was ill too so I wouldnt worry too much

My ds2 is also low down on the centiles - in fact we aspire to the 25th! At 14 months he is just 19lb 5oz, but he is completely in proportion. I used to worry but not so much any more as he does everything he should be doing for his age (in fact ahead of his big brother).

We found a referal to a paediatrician helpful in that the HV just made me very stressed by insisting on weekly weigh-ins etc, but the paed was much more down-to-earth and realistic. They are used to seeing babies with problems and can therefore more quickly determine whether your lo has a problem or is just doing what is normal for him.

As others have said, don't get into a fight over eating, it is a battle you will always loose, just give him less than you think he will realistically eat and then you might be pleasantly surprised when he finishes it. Also go for the high calorie foods - cream, cheese, full fat yoghurt, the WHO also recommend augmenting vegetables with olive oil for babies, it is just that this is not communicated in this country due to the fact that for most children in this country, the bigger problem is overweight, not underweight children.

I hope that helps.