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Hi all.
Liebling, my son, turned 4 in February. I put him on the scales yesterday and his mass came in at 14kg. It has been 14kg for at least 8m now (I know it was 14kg when he went on holiday with my parents in July last year). Should I start to worry? He eats like a horse and is usually very active so I have never worried that he's lightweight, he's about the same height as his friends so no real worries there.
Should I take him to see a doctor or just chill about it?
Thanks!
Um I dunno. DS is about a month older than your boy and he's been hovering around 17kg for about a year now. He did get up to 18kg and then lost it somewhere, as well as growing a cm. So he is 107.5cm tall - think that's average?
I say if he doesn't look sick or extremely skinny - he's probably fine :)
Coolio. DS is only 101cm tall, but is due another growth spurt soon. (His best mate has just had one, that's how we usually can tell!)
I had been planning on introducing computer games and junk food all week and see what that would do to him LOL.
LOL @ the junk foods!! My DD just turned 4 and is 15kg and about 98cm tall. She has been 15 kg for a fair while now, sometimes up to 15.5kg, she eats fairly well too. My DS1 who is 16months younger than her, is 14kg and 96cm. Maybe at this age they're losing the baby fat and gaining height, so they kind of hover for a while, kwim? So I think it entirely depends on the child. Maybe give your health nurse a call if you're worried, rather than the doctor, though I don't really think there would necessarily be need to worry. Maybe keep an eye on him over then next 3-6months and see how he grows, and then if he hasn't changed from now until then, then go to a doctor?
Ryn, my DD2 is a skinny slip of a girl and at that age she was only 15kg for ages and ages but once she hit 5 she gained 4kg within a few weeks and now she has slowed right down again and is nearly 7 and would be 22kg tops. She is quite tall though which makes her look even skinnier. On average, they are 'supposed' to gain2kg a year, but if you know he's not gained wait for nearly a year but still eats like a horse, he either has a super fast metabolism and burns off most of what he eats or he could have absorbtion issues. Maybe try giving him full fat everything - buter, milk, cream and yoghurt etc and see if that helps?
My 7yr old is still not even 20kg...try and relax about weight unless you have a suspicion of some underlying health issue.
Genetics plays a big part in kids weight, if you and your DH were light when you were young, he probably is the same. My DS1 in particular is his father's son, eats like a horse, adult portions and still doesn't put on weight :lol:
A 4yr old is pretty active. My DS2 is 4.5yrs and is hovering close to 18kg only due to the fact he is a big pasta eater and meat only.
As Trill has mentioned, give him full fat products if you are truly worried.
He has full-fat products and eats more than I do most days - I'm only concerned because some of what he eats must be stored in his body, but it just doesn't look like it is happening. I remember being stuck just under 30kg when I was 6ish - twice DS's current weight (I've always been a big girl). But DH is really slight, so I suppose DS may be taking after him.
My almost 3 yr old DD2 is still the same weight as she was this time last year, but in that time she has gone from wearing size 1 jeans to size 3 jeans so has really shot up in height.
We're seeing a paed for her about other issues and he has no concerns about her weight. If your DS is happy, energetic and alert then I really think its just one of those kid things where they burn up almost everything they consume just in development, whether that is physical or mental development. Any day now and he'll wake up one morning 5cm taller and 2kg heavier.
If he is happy and healthy and eating well i wouldn't be to concerned.
I also think genetics has a lot to do with it.
My DS3 is 9 and is just over 20kg...he is a scrawny boy :lol: but I am 5'6" and 48-49kg so he is very much built like me.
My 2.5yr old is also very petite at not yet 10kg and 87cm...very petite like my XDH's side.
i've had an underweight child for most of her life (compared to her peers at playgroups, childcare, and now Big Kindy).
Early on i was told by a child youth nurse, the best things to go by, are SKINTONE and EYES. Do they LOOK healthy and alert, interested, curious etc.
i give my child full strength cheese and milk, she eats like a sparrow - still she's similar stats to your child. 101cm tall and 16kgs. but at the start of this year, she was 14kg, so 2kg has snuck up really fast, without her increasing her daily intake.
smaller children get picked on at kindy, so it's a sore point with me. Her, in isolation, i feel fine about her being small, but i do get myself in a twist, about her being in groups of much larger children (taller and heavier).
Thanks all. I do also worry about his height - I am nearly 6', so expected my child to be tall - but he has such a dominant personality he doesn't get picked on at all at Nursery; that may change at school though.
I'm going to go with him being fine and healthy and enjoy the fact I can still carry him around with ease.
jack is 4 1/2 and has been same weight since he turned 4 but he is also 21kg and 110cm
DS1 is about 100cms and 13.9kg at 4yr 2m. I'm not concerned at all.
Ryn, he's got plenty of time to hit the 6ft mark. I have seen some of the scrawniest boys turn into the biggest men after they hit their pubescent growth spurt. Our neighbours son was this skinny little mite - in his last year of primary school he hadn't even reached his mother's shoulders in height, and he went off to boarding school and the next time I saw him nearly 6 months later he'd grown 6 inches and gained about 10kg.
I wouldn't worry about him being small now, my DH was 75kg and about 170cm when he left school (and he joined the navy), then when we met, almost 2 yrs after, he was 6 foot 2 and 100kg (not the fat kind of 100 kgs either)!!