10th Percentile for Weight

Hi,

Wondering if anyone else has a similar story? I have a 9 month old son who is very tall and very lean. He's on the 50th percentile for all other measurements, however, his weight is on the 10th percentile. My GP has expressed concern over this but I'm not entirely sure what to do. He's breastfed and since he was 5 months old has had solids and he's currently on three meals a day and 4-6 breastfeeds. I can't possibly shovel any more food into him. My side of the family are tall and skinny and I'm thinking he might just be like us, but should I be concerned? Anyone else have a similar issue? He currently has a nasty cold and isn't eating today which concerns me now as I'm worried if he's already skinny and gets ill that he'll deteriorate.

Any advice or similar stories would be appreciated :-)

I wouldn't worry too much if that is the general stature of your family. Is he mobile (crawling, cruising furniture) yet? If he is that would also be a contributing factor. I know DD basically stopped putting on weight at all once she started crawling, because all their energy is going into moving rather than growing. But that's ok, it will even out and they will catch up. Unless there's an underlying reason to be concerned, or e is actively losing a lot of weight I wouldn't worry just yet and just keep monitoring.

Both my kids were skinny for their height. If you saw my 6yo you'd understand.
My 3yo was on the 5th centile for a loooong time. There was a thread on this a while ago, and many of the mums had been referred to paeds/dieticians etc about their children's weight. I never was. Don't know if it's my 'don't mess with me' attitude or not ;)
My little guy hardly ate too. But, from previous experience I knew he would when he was ready. He was also still BF and was weeing/pooing and meeting all his milestones.
Mummy intuition will tell you if you need to do extra or not.Is he eating high cal foods? That's probably my only suggestion.

DD2 has always been tiny - hovering between the 2nd and 10th percentile for most of her life. She had a check up today and is on the 10th percentile. She barely eats but is constantly on the go. DD2 has been seeing a paed over the last 15 odd months and he has no concerns about her weight, despite knowing of her incredibly poor diet, weight etc.

So long as your little man is active, alert etc I really wouldn't stress about it, especially if its a genetic thing in your family.

I wouldn't worry, my DD isn't even on the chart.

My DD1 was similar at that age - around the 10th for weight, 50th for height and 90th for head!! Just like her father - tall, skinny with a big head :lol: Anyway at 6yo she is still tall on 75th now, still has a big head 90th and still skinny for her height but is now at the 40th.

If your DS is happy and healthy and you have a certain build that runs in your family then I don't think there is anything to worry about.

Also, I'm fairly sure those charts are based on formula fed, not breast fed babies too.

Go with your gut. Those charts don't take genes into consideration!

I have a 24kg 4.5 year old, so off the chart, a very solid boy, and a 10kg DD at age 2 (well almost) they eat the same thing, run around the same.... But are just different.

Try not to let the doctors worry you. If you don't feel concerned by what they say, then you're probably right.

Is he healthy, developing and reaching milestones?
Those charts are for mostly ff babies, and it is different, especially as they get older. You may find he's more like 30th percentile (total rough guess!) on the WHO charts. I know that was the case for my DS at that age.

If he's actually losing weight - and not counting if he's unwell, because that can happen then - and lacking energy, not developing/reaching milestones etc, etc, then there may be cause for concern. If you're unsure of what your doctor is saying, you could always find another to get a second opinion, too. Perhaps talk to someone with more breastfeeding knowledge?

DD has been on the 3rd for her corrected age all her life, even before she was born. And she is fully FF.
I'm pretty sure she's fallen off the scale now and her growth rate has slowed yet again. It's part of a medical condition, but neither DH or I are very big people, we're both tall. I'm 5"9 and DH is 6"2.

If your little one is healthy and happy and not 'all skin and bones' then I wouldn't worry too much about it. Unless you are concerned.

My now 12 year old started life smack bang 50th% for everything. By 12 months she was below 50th for weight and on the 75th for height, now at 12 she is off the top of the charts for height and around 45th for weight. Some people are just skinny at tall.

My ds fell right off the graph at 12months and wasn't even in any percentile! He was bf till 9months then formula till 15months.
My health nurse was great and spoke to a dietician for me who suggested polydule. It's what they put in the elderlys food and drink in the nursing homes who don't or can't eat a lot or need some bulking up. It comes in a can like formula and I bought it from my local chemist. I put it in his milk. On top of that she also recommended for fats in his diet like avocados, cheese in everything, butter etc....
He never really bulked up much even trying all this and now at almost 4yrs only weighs 14.5kg but health nurse is happy with his milestones and his general well being so don't stress yourself out over it hun.
My second child a girl is exactly the same and health nurse is happy to just put it down to genetics! Bubs number 3 is overdue so I'm sure he/she is going to be the same!!!

He's your child and he's perfect regardless of what the charts say. We spend the first year of their life fattening them up and the rest of their life thinning them down. He is what he is. If he has access to food he will eat when he wants to. Enjoy and don't stress

I know what it is like my DS isn't on the chart for weight anymore and i worry with every illness as it affects his eating. I can't get anymore into him either. My DS is about on the 75th for height and head about 25thish...I've stopped looking at the graphs as they stress me too much. His weight was on the 75th when he was born and slowly dropped off the chart over the year. We have a paediatrican and have gone through a couple of rounds of testing poo/wee/bloods and nothing has been picked up to date. We had a referral to a dietician but that hasn't led to a weight increase. His weight is compounded by not being able to eat dairy.

Due to months of consecutive illnesses (started childcare) and little eating we ended up seeing the GP for weekly weigh ins until he gained more weight.

All up, the doctors are cautious but not alarmed because of the consecutive illness, our families are thin, he is reaching developmental milestones, he has some fat around his thighs, his height is following a curve (it would be more alarming if this was dropping too so they tell me) and tests have come back negative.

One thing the doctors told me is that when they get illnesses and go off their food they eventually go through a really hungry patch. After many weeks of illnesses we finally got a break over Easter and sure enough my DS was just eating all the time.

I know it's hard not to worry particularly when you see their appetite drop off. Do what you can but also accept that somethings are out of your control. I reckon a good and supportive GP is a key to both monitoring your bub and also supporting you. A paediatrician is good for overall monitoring and a specialist look into and ruling out any more serious things, but a GP or maybe a nurse even is important for regular support