Small LIttle Man

Melissa - posted on 10/31/2009

I would ignore the charts! That's what I have to do, since everyone tells me how skinny my daughter is! They don't realize how much she actually eats then when they see her eat a meal, they understand that's she's just a peanut. She has hit all of her milestones. Crawling, pulling up on things, climbing up things, starting to cruise, etc. As long as he is happy and meeting milestones then I would not worry about it anymore!

Bethany - posted on 10/31/2009

Good grief, stop feeding your child saturated fats! And formula over Breast??!!



All children's weight varies all through their childhood. You are nursing him, and you are feeding him veges, and meat and fruit and baby rice/cereal ate each meal. That is enough. You can't force feed a baby and they will eat if they are hungry.



Think of his heart, his liver, his kidneys. Feed him healthy food each meal time and plenty of breast milk and he will be what he will be.



Don't for goodness sake feed him fats for the sake of puting on weight!



My daughter was born in the 97th percentile for head, height and weight. Now she is nearly 9mths and is in the 3rd percentile for height and the 25th percentile for weight. I know I am feeding her in a healthy manner, teaching her to stop when she is full, and using healthy food until she doesn't want any more. Breast feeding 5 to 6 times per 24hrs. She snacks a bit more now that she is teething and her jaw hurts sometimes, but she just has less food more often.



Ignore the charts for a month and just enjoy nurturing your little individual.

Ronna - posted on 10/31/2009

kathy dont feel bad! my daughter is in lower 30% for her weight, which is significantly bigger than your son & last week i had to take her to the emergency room b/c she wouldnt eat. when they weighed her (thin pj's, socks, & a dry diaper) you will never guess what the nurse had to say to me. she asked me if i even feed my child & she weighed over 17 lbs. my daughter is very long & lean, picky w/the foods she will eat, mainly bottle fed, & gains about a pound a month. she is hitting her milestones & her doctor says as long as she gaining or not losing there is nothing to worry about!

Sarah - posted on 10/12/2009

My son is small too. He is only 15 lbs. and has actually lost weight since his last appointment. However, he is healthy and thriving....crawling, pulling up, standing ect. He is only in the 10% in every category but my pediatrician isn't worried. My husband and I are both on the small side so he is probably taking after us. Maybe you have someone smaller back in the gene pool and he is taking after them. If he is happy and alert, I would just do what you can and not stress about it. The dr.'s are just used to seeing 20-30 lb babies so to see one that isn't huge is out of the ordinary. Stick with the bf...it is sooo good for them.

Kirstin - posted on 10/12/2009

Hi Kathy, I hope all is well with your little man. I do not want to alarm you in any way but I was wondering if you had genetic testing. My BFF had a baby the same time as me and he was permanetly on the bottom of the graph line while my baby grew. Both babies met every milestone together. Every one reassured her he was just small don't worry. 3 years later she found out he has a rare strain Cystic Fibrosis that did not show up on the generic testing we do here. He is now managing quite well. Hope that this may help you a little.

Kirstin - posted on 10/12/2009

Hi Kathy, I hope all is well with your little man. I do not want to alarm you in any way but I was wondering if you had genetic testing. My BFF had a baby the same time as me and he was permanetly on the bottom of the graph line while my baby grew. Both babies met every milestone together. Every one reassured her he was just small don't worry. 3 years later she found out he has a rare strain Cystic Fibrosis that did not show up on the generic testing we do here. He is now managing quite well. Hope that this may help you a little.

Sandra - posted on 10/11/2009

That is awesome that you got a different doctor and discovered it was reflux! The good news is that he should grow out of it by his first birthday, but he'll more than likely be on another medication until then. Good luck! Better days are coming your way.

Kathy - posted on 10/11/2009

Thanks Ladies. It's nice to have some reassurance. The new Pediatrician started him on cyproheptadine (I hate giving him meds) but this is an antihistamine that has a side effect of making them hungry. The problem now is that he is eating more but now he is showing reflux! It seems like they fix one problem and another come out. Apparently he wasn't eating so much because of the reflux! He always eats often, just not long nursing sessions. So now longer nursing, more table food, and reflux. This new ped is good though, she is very interested in treating him like an individual rather than a chart. She does want to see him gain more weight too but so long as he is healthy she just wants to increase things slowly. She is also lactation trained and found the nursing problem (no long sessions) So this is probably part of the problem. Only time will tell. I probably won't keep him on the meds if the reflux continues..

Sandra - posted on 10/08/2009

All babies grow at different rates. As another mom said to me in an older thread not everyone grows up to be six feet tall and two hundred pounds. As long as your son keeps hitting those milestones you're doing fine. You never know! He could get into a huge growth spurt and he could be in the 90th percentile on the next visit. Hang in there Kathy!

Marissa - posted on 10/08/2009

It's not so much the weight itself, but more the development of the weight. If he follows the flow of the graph he's developing fine. You need to worry if he was on the 50 percentile for a while and then dropped to these low percentiles. But if he's following the graph, he's ok. Especially if he's doing all the other milestones. He's just small. Somebody has to be the smallest.
I have the opposite problem, mine is really big (height and weight) but she's doing fine, happy, active, curious. And she eats what she's supposed to in quantity, so I trust she's fine.... just tall.

Shellena - posted on 10/08/2009

I have a just under 7 kilo baby about 15 pounds. She's small because I think she was born 37weeks borderline premie. It's hard to hear comments outside as people always think she is only 4/5 months old and she's 8 months next week! When I say how old she is people get this "ooo" look as if there's something wrong.



Like Sandra said size does not matter. As long as your child is prospering and healthy they are normal! My daughter doesn't crawl either or do many things other children are doing but then she's doing many amazing things other babies her age arent. So look at the positive things your son is doing. He may be more social than physical or fine motor skills more developed than his gross motor.

Michelle - posted on 10/07/2009

My daughter is a pound or so more then that and my doctor says she's fine. My son spent from about 6 months to now (he's two in a week) being in or below the 3rd percentile (for weight the rest he seems to be okay and his weight is finally getting better). We feed him everything he will eat. Neither kids have missed a single milestone. They are both healthy and happy. I breastfed my son until he was a year and am still feeding my nearly 8 month old. My son has been tested for allergies etc, but when that came back clean the doctor said he was just small. Some days it does wear on you. Keep in mind modern growth charts are based on formula fed babies and not breastfed babies (which tend to be smaller). They also as some other people said adjusted them for bigger babies. My son wears a larger size in my nephews hand me downs then he does in stuff I buy now. Also you're going to have to work to be an advocate for your child. If someone is telling you to do something that you don't want for your child (feeding them junk food, switch to formula etc) then you will have to speak up for them. If your child is hitting all their milestones and is happy they are not failure to thrive. Keep feeding him and keep a food diary. Most of all hang in there and don't let people bully you into decisions. Don't be afraid to get another doctor if you feel pressured to do things that you're not comfortable with. You're not doing anything wrong and it sounds like you're son is okay otherwise. Good luck!

Jodi - posted on 10/07/2009

i dont think cosleeping or not cosleeping has anything to do with his weight. I see where you are coming from with all the fatty stuff... like the drs not wanting us to feed our kids cereal and stuff before they are 4 months old. I don't think its healthy to feed kids junk food either. I am glad that he is meeting his milestones and that he is on track with things. is your family petite?

Kathy - posted on 10/07/2009

Thanks to everyone for your help. I actually put a long post out here but apparently I never actually hit the Post button!! Long story short, I think we are pretty much doing everything you mentioned. I didn't know about the graphs though, that is very interesting. I knew there was one for breastfed babies opposed to formula fed. The Dr's should use the old chart!! Naw, it's all good it's just so darn stressful to go to any Dr appt you know. I agree with you on the fatty stuff it just makes no sense to me to give him stuff that is unhealthy. They mentioned sending him to a "failure to thrive" clinic" which just the words freak me out. To me failure to thrive he would just be sitting around lifeless and malnurshed. He looks and acts like a normal 8 month old, just small. I don't cosleep so maybe I should try it. We never did because as a baby we found the he slept better in his crib. But maybe i'll try it again. I'd hate to have to break it though!!!!



Thanks Ladies!

Marissa - posted on 10/07/2009

I wouldn't get hung up on the charts so much. You say he's meeting all the milestones, sounds like he is developing just fine then. If he's active and happy and developing well ... he's doing just fine. So he's tiny, he'll grow!
I would cut out all the fatty stuff though, french fries etc have way to much salt for a baby, their kidneys can't handle that. I'd go with the healthy normal stuff, veggies and such. Those are sound building blocks for babies.
If you do want to fatten him up, feed him more often, a little less time in between feeds will get another feed in over a day. But don't beat yourself up over the graphs.

Did you know that they have adjusted the graphs a couple years back? To account for the average heavier baby nowadays. So if your baby had been born 5 or 10 years ago, he'd be higher on the graph for weight!

Jodi - posted on 10/06/2009

he is tiny. try pediasure I am not sure

Catherine - posted on 10/06/2009

My boy is 4 days older and 2 lbs heavier than yours, but the doctor flipped out because he was 8 lbs when he was born at 38 weeks and he's gained only 4 ounces over the past 2 months.



How big was your boy at birth? Are you and your husband on the smaller side? I have heard that height and head circumference are the numbers to watch, so at least he is on the charts for that. It sounds like he is hitting his milestones. Does he have enough wet and dirty diapers? Is he generally bright eyed and happy? If so you just might have a naturally little guy.



I wouldn't give him ice cream and french fries tempting as it may be because I bet he is going to catch up and you don't want him to have a taste for that kind of food. How much does he nurse? Breast milk has the most fat and calories of anything he can eat, so I would really push the nursing. Maybe try some breast compressions to help him get the hindmilk? Does he switch sides while he nurses? If so, is he fully emptying the first side? Do you give him water or juice? If so I would stop and stick with breast milk. If you are going to pump, do it 10 minutes or so after your son has emptied the breast so you can pump purely hindmilk.



For solid food I would try adding a bit of olive oil to his vegetables and stir breast milk into things. I would stop with the butter and the whipping cream because the lactose might be too much for his tummy, but you can give him full fat plain yogurt and cheese. Try straining the yogurt to get out the water and make it even richer, or just buy full fat greek yogurt. Overall though especially since he is a little guy remember that solids are for fun and the bulk of his nutrition ought to come from breastmilk.



Do you ever wear him? If not try getting a ring sling or wrap. They are much more comfortable and easier to nurse in than baby bjorn type carriers. Do you ever give him massages? Both have been shown to increase weight gain, so maybe you could up the amount of skin to skin contact. Does he nurse at night? Some babies around this age get so caught up in all the cool new stuff they can do that they don't nurse much during the day, so perhaps you could try a dream feed? Are you comfortable cosleeping? If so try sleeping without a shirt so he can snack at night.



I hope some of that helps, most those suggestions are from my pediatrician.

Sandra - posted on 10/05/2009

Oh Kathy, you are not the only one! My daughter is little too. Just remember that size does not matter!!! I know it's hard and you keep thinking you're doing something wrong, but you're not! I'd stop with the fatty food though. You're right, it's not for babies. Maybe it's time to find another Doctor. That's what I did. My first Doctor thought I wasn't doing anything right and was saying she was way too small. I changed doctors and he is happy that she is healthy. My daughter was born a month early and even age adjusted she is on the small side. Hang in there!