She's too skinny..

[skybie]

hunny shes always been small, just like iz. you're not a bad mummy, its just the way she's built

[~Kim~]

argh that drives me crazy!!! How dare they make you feel like a terrible mother. Being concerned about her and making you feel like crap are totally different and one is not acceptable. There have to be little (and big) kids to make the average...it's basic maths and not rocket science, and yet some doctors think it's OK to forget about those basics....grrrr.



I've got a 5th percentile kid. He always has been except for the couple of months after birth. He's just little.

You stand your ground chick. Make sure there's nothing wrong and then say thanks, but we're good, she'll be much better with food if we don't make it a war.

[leesha]

I feel you as I had the same problem with DS.....At 12 months he fell off the bottom of the graph and I felt terrible.
My mchn was supportive enough to refer to a dietician she knew and then gave me the info I what I can do to boost him up a bit!
We bought from the chemist a tin of POLYDULE which you just pop into their milk or sprinkle it on their food. They use it alot in nursing homes and hospital to keep the oldies well nourished and help to keep weight on. Also just putting cheese, butter in everything. I thought I was being good by not giving him too much fatty foods etc but apparently I had to
She also suggested that those foods like macca's and kfc would not hurt for him to have in moderation but not to avoid it like I was....again thought I was doing the right thing!

Maybe speak with your mchn as you may meet the requirements to be referred to a dietician first and try diff foods

[*LittleMissSummer*]

Thanks everyone. I feel better now. She's just shy of being 9kgs. I have tried her on all sorts of food from the age of 6 months. She took to jar food really quickly, then we moved onto those squeezy ones and she'll eat about 5 of them a day. Plus she always snacks on biscuits and bars. Though since shes been sick the amount of food she eats has decreased quite a bit but i have just upped how many bottles she has. I tried to get her on cows milk but again she refuses it. She does have a pot belly though thats the only place she has fat.

Misty- Thank you! It really helps hearing that i shouldn't worry by somebody who has seen DD. I have considered maybe she is lacking in vitamins and minerals considering shes not eating as much as she should. So once ive had all the tests done ill look into a multivitamin.

[Ozziehoffy]

Ahh yep very annoying... I have a friend who's little girl just turned 3, she weighs less than Elijah who is almost 2 1/2... he is around 14 kgs and I reckon Kaylah would be lucky to be 10 kgs! I almost throw her over my shoulder when I pick her up, I swear! Her arms are like half the size of Elijah's lol... she's just little... always has been and her mum is only around 5'2 and her dad isn't overly tall and not fat at all... so some people are just smaller.

[misty]

Just think how jealous everyone is going to be when she gets older. I have siblings like that, size 8, looks fab and gets to eat what they want. I am extremely envious.

[nothing2lose]

Maybe it's not her size but the fact she has lost almost 25 per cent of her body weight that is of concern

Also, pot bellies are sometimes not a good sign (not saying this is the case with your DD but it may have something to do with doctor's concern???)

[*LittleMissSummer*]

Maybe it's not her size but the fact she has lost almost 25 per cent of her body weight that is of concern

Also, pot bellies are sometimes not a good sign (not saying this is the case with your DD but it may have something to do with doctor's concern???)

He made the comment when he lifted her shirt to listen to her chest. He then started mentioning the program when we weighed her. He didn't say much about her belly only about her hernia because her belly button was protruding a lot. I did ask if that could be affecting why shes not eating and why her belly is big and he couldn't answer it and said to wait until our appointment with the pediatric surgeon next month.

I can't stand knowing something could be wrong with my baby

[RhiChiChi]

Ya know, my DD is 4 yo (turned 4 in June) and she weighs just over 15kgs....

[misty]

LMS - Honestly, your DD reminds me of how my DS1 looked (and still looks). I don't think you are doing anything wrong with her, and I certainly don't think you have anything to feel guilty about. Having said that, it is a good thing that your doctor is taking an interest in your DD's health. There may be an underlying issue causing her to be skinny, in which case you can get it resolved (I don't think this is the case, I think she is just skinny like my boy). But it also means that any underlying issues 'caused' by her weight should be picked up - in our case, we found DS1 had some severe vitimin and mineral difficencies, which when we addressed them (through multivitimins, etc - not force feeding) we found DS1 stopped getting sick as much. We had never thought of him as particularly sickly, but after addressing the problems caused by his fussing eating and low weight, we found that he got sick less often and actually gained a little more weight in general, despite eating no more then he normally ate. When he does still get sick, it is never as severe as it used to be either.