My 4yr. olds weight?

Rebekah - posted on 07/11/2011

Did they give you a prescription iron? My daughter is two and has pretty much been on a prescription iron her whole life... Anemic at 1 years old, fine (after giving her the prescription) at 15 months, back to anemic at 18 months (when we had stopped giving her extra iron), then anemic again at age 2 (also after we'd stopped giving her the extra iron for a couple months). We recently took her off the prescription though and are trying Pedia-sure and Flintstone vitamins with Iron... we'll see how that works b/c she does like the vitamins and pedia-sure much better than she did that awful tasting prescription, so I think I'll be more likely to stick with it.

Rebekah - posted on 07/11/2011

Did they give you a prescription iron? My daughter is two and has pretty much been on a prescription iron her whole life... Anemic at 1 years old, fine (after giving her the prescription) at 15 months, back to anemic at 18 months (when we had stopped giving her extra iron), then anemic again at age 2 (also after we'd stopped giving her the extra iron for a couple months). We recently took her off the prescription though and are trying Pedia-sure and Flintstone vitamins with Iron... we'll see how that works b/c she does like the vitamins and pedia-sure much better than she did that awful tasting prescription, so I think I'll be more likely to stick with it.

Rosie - posted on 07/10/2011

i have small children, my 4 year old weighs 27 lbs. my 11 year old is 60 lbs. they are perfectly healthy though.
now, the iron thing does concern me more than her weight. did the nurse say to put her on iron supplements? cause that may be why she's not growing as much. but it's an easy fix! other than that it's probably just genetics like my boys. :)

Karen - posted on 07/04/2011

My son is 7 1/2 and just broke 40 lbs (fully clothed with skechers on). As long as they are healthy, there should be no concern about weight. I believe that most kids are overweight now days due to the processed foods we eat. The "average" has increased from when we were growing up.

Jessyca - posted on 07/04/2011

how much does she weigh? my daughter is 4 and a half and is 34lbs

Tami - posted on 06/23/2011

that is probablywhy your little one is on the smaller side is cause he cant have that whole cows milf that has all the fat in it but im sure he is still healthy and fine

Tami - posted on 06/23/2011

good vitamins to get are the Progressive vitamins from the vitamin store they are multi vitamins for kids aged 3-12 years they are around 35 dollars for a bottle of 120 take 1 per day for 3-5 year olds and one twice a day for 6-12 year olds. they feature vegetables and green foods, whole fruit concentrates,D3 & grape seed extract, plant enzymes & flax & DHA. the flinstones vitamins i was advised by bot my doctors and the dentist to not use them or anyof the cheap chewables for kids cause they are loaded withsugar which can make them eat less cause it fills them up a bit can cause cavities and also make them really hyper as my daughter is really go go go but she was worse with those vitamins she would be so hyper and running around i dont think she had the ability to stop and listen or anything however she is adhd so add red food dyes (which are in those vitamins and terrible for you anyways) or add any sugar or apple juice and apples to and she was wired. i would go to the health food store or vitamin store near you and just look at whay they have available and try different ones for her iron and nutrition if she wont eat much sometimes it will help her overall health stay where it should be and hopefully bring up the iron levels. it isnt going to make her gain any weight however but thats ok as long as she has all the nutrients that she needs she will be quite all right. also if she eats salads at all add spinach leaf to it and brocolli if she likes brocolli and that too could help bring her iron levels up

Tami - posted on 06/23/2011

my daughter was and still is a slow gainer. doctors were always worried but they just did blood work to make sure it was normal (meaning she was getting all the right vitamins,calcium and nutrients and enough of them) then they checked her growth chart and it is fine. my daughter has athsma and they recently found that she has a heart murmur (just mild) but it can still affect weight gain. most people especially children that have heart murmurs dont gain very much weight. ask to have her checked for that get blood work done and maybe have a pediatician and a childrens nutritionist follow your daughter for a year or so. that should take all worries off of you. cause your daughter is probably perfectly fine but then at least you know. ALL PEOPLE GROW DIFFERENTLY AND AT DIFFERENT PACES, EVEN CHILDREN!!!! my daughter will be 5 in August and she is 38 pounds but almost 4 ft tall. and she was and 8 pound baby at birth. so good luck but i think everything will be ok.

Sandy - posted on 06/21/2011

I would say that if her doctor isn't worried, I wouldn't be. I have a small child who was 22lbs 10 oz at his 3 year check up, and he had only gained 2lbs 7 oz in a year. also when they checked my daughters iron (1 year) they only wanted it at 10, but that could be a difference with age. Call your doctor, if they are worried, they will put her on an iron supplement. I always say if the doctor isn't worried, I'm not worried (I trust my doctor and we have a good relationship).

Teresa - posted on 06/15/2011

I'd definitely talk to your ped over WIC. WIC can be very helpful, but they are not doctors and IMO tend to overstep their bounds as far as certain health issues are concerned.

Worry? No. Watch the iron? Probably.

Toni - posted on 06/15/2011

I wouldn't worry too much.(Although being a mother, you probably will anyway. :) we all do) One of my boys is very petite. He weighed 35 lbs for 2 years. and he is a shorty too!! But he is healthy as an ox. He just turned 5 and now weighs almost 40 lbs.

Cory - posted on 06/15/2011

WIC are not trained doctors there going on pages in a book! If your doctor says the child in fine and healthy believe the doctor. I have two boys my 2yr is 30lbs and the size of a 3yr old and there trying to tell me to watch what he eats but, yet he has always been in the 80-90% growth tile and his doctor told me not to listen to them, that I can hurt my child by keeping food from him. He is very very active and eats a very well balanced meals. You and only you know your child best. My advice do what your head and your child doctor tells you not the people at WIC.

Jennifer - posted on 06/14/2011

I think everyone here has nailed it! My daughter is now 5, and has yet to hit 40 pounds. (And I swear, she is always 'starving!', NOT picky in the least, tries anything once, and is a really great eater in general!) When she was just shy of 1 year, our 'lovely' WIC 'nurse' told us she was 'grossly underweight' and there was no way I was feeding her enough - to wake her up at night every 4 hours and feed her. I flipped out, (uncharacteristic of me, but I felt like she was accusing me of starving my child, lol!) and informed them I had been to my pedi just the previous week, who said, yes, she is only in the 15 percentile for her weight group, but she is obviously a very healthy little girl, just 'petite'. (And was near 95% for her height!) And, there was no reason to wake a sleeping baby to eat! If she was hungry, she would wake herself up and get fed, lol.
So please, double check with your pedi before you let the WIC folks get under your skin - in my opinion, and in my area, they are idiots. And rude to boot!
Certainly there have been some excellent ideas on here for getting iron into her diet, just be sure to vary what you offer, and when you find something iron-rich that you all love, make it often! =)
And best of luck to you!

Renae - posted on 06/14/2011

hey i dont think you should be worried about anything my son is 3 he turnes 4 in september and he is tiny compaired to all the other kids his age hes weighes 15kgs and in a size 2 going on 3 all the other kids his age or younger are in size 3 going on 4 and are atleast 20kgs ...i think it comes down to genetics as my partner is tall n skinny...i had problems with the maternal n health nurse asking what i feed him and i dont feed him enough but he eats reguarlly and healthy meals too and hes active so i dont steess as much as i used to :)

Julia - posted on 06/07/2011

yup tree nuts and nuts allergy too lol the poor kid theres tons he cant eat and what he can eat he doesnt like lol.. he loves fries though!! i usually make my own, and we have found alot of things that he is slowly trying..ih ave to find something for his allergy to tomatoes..he loves pizza! we have no soy/milk cheese but its boaring without the sauce!

Joslin - posted on 06/07/2011

I would rely mostly on your doctor's opinion, not what they say at the WIC office. If the employees at the WIC office were Dr.'s or nurses they wouldn't be working at the WIC office. I don't think it's really about how much weight is gained in a certain amount of time either, unless it's a drastic increase or drastic decrease. My son is 3 and has only gained about .5 lb in the last 8 months and he's very healthy as well.

Alison - posted on 06/07/2011

@ julia, my nearly 2 year old is only 23 lbs and is allergic to eggs, not milk. I think milk would be a lot worse. you could try giving him smoothies made with fruit and almond or coconut milk (if he's not allergic to tree nut) and my kids like baked fries. I buy frozen potato strips, douse them with a little oil, and bake them at 425 for about 20 min.

Julia - posted on 06/07/2011

my oldest son is 4 and is 34Ibs, he hasnt gained a pound in a year, our ped isnt conserned just yet..but i am lol...and his little brother will be 2 in 3days and he is 22Ibs...we are trying to figure him out..and pediasure would be awesome..but hes allergic to milk.

Karen - posted on 06/07/2011

I wouldn't worry too much. My son is 7 1/2 and has not broke 40 pounds. He's healthy. I think there are so many overweight kids that the "average" keeps going up. She is still gaining weight. They don't seem to gain it fast. Usually it is tapering off by four years old. Talk to her pediatrician if you are concerned, but I would suggest making sure she takes a daily vitamin with iron.

Ykeshia - posted on 06/07/2011

No don't worry about that! My four year old is very skinny and she even lost four oz and her pedi was concerned. I went to the store and purchased her those gummy fintstone vitamins. Because she is always running around barely eating and so just to be safe than sorry I got the vitamins!

Danielle - posted on 06/07/2011

IF you are worried; multivitamin's are a great way to make sure she is getting all she needs for an active child.
Also, in Australia we have child health books given to us when our babies are born - and they are grouped into a 'percentile' at birth based on their weight, age, height (length) ... these are obviously just guides but there is a line graph that your child would follow based on their 'percentile ranking'.
My first born was right on the 50% line, and has followed that line as she has grown older - both in weight and height (n average) - She is now 6.
My second born was ranked on the 97% line and has also followed said line, she is now 2.

Hope this helps somewhat?

Marci - posted on 06/06/2011

My son is incredibly small, and has eating issues. Every 3-6 months my pediatrician writes a prescription for his Pediasure, so that he gets it from WIC. Because of his eating issues we get 96 bottles a month, but your doctor could even give you like 30 bottles so that she gets one a day. My son gets 3 per day, which makes up 3/4 of his nutrition. We also supplement with vitamins. Also if you get Pedaisure you can get whole milk, which helps too.

Melisa - posted on 06/06/2011

I wouldn't stress too much about the weight. If she looks in proportion then you have nothing to worry about. I was always a dangerously underweight as a child. But I was also a very active child. You may need to get her on some iron supplements or change the diet to add more leafy greens for the iron. But if she is healthy and you can't stop her from moving. Short of nailing her down to the floorboards, of course She is what you would call a "normal child".

Jada - posted on 06/06/2011

My son is 31/2 and only weighs 27 lbs he has weighed that since before he turned three

Carla - posted on 06/06/2011

not sure about the iron but my daughter is almost 3 1/2 yrs and she STILL under 30lbs her ped. says shes fine an he knows our medical history very well(he was my ped. way back when) we even put her on pedisure an that didnt work shes just always running around

Cheri - posted on 06/06/2011

I have low iron too. I took iron pills but for a child try to look on the back of food most cereal and bread has iron in them. You just have to look for it. Also my daughter is 5 and 35 lbs which is under weight and my son is 2 which is 34 lbs. Which is over weight. They eat the same meals. So when it comes to toddlers I wouldn't stress about it unless they are extremely over weight

Cheri - posted on 06/06/2011

I have low iron too. I took iron pills but for a child try to look on the back of food most cereal and bread has iron in them. You just have to look for it. Also my daughter is 5 and 35 lbs which is under weight and my son is 2 which is 34 lbs. Which is over weight. They eat the same meals. So when it comes to toddlers I wouldn't stress about it unless they are extremely over weight

Nikita - posted on 06/06/2011

ok well im from New Zealand, we have something like WIC called Plunket, they told me that i have the opposite problem.... my son is rather big for his age, and despite what they told me " you're feeding him too much" which in actual fact i wasnt feeding him enough. He was and still is extremely active, hes now 5 (and the size & weight of the average NZ 8-9year old) and excelling in school like there is no tomorrow, so what im trying to say is that, Plunket - or WIC, only base there info on the average child, they dont differ to suit every type of child.
If she's happy then leave her and keep doing what you are doing, the iron thing, well if you are worried i suggest a multi vitamin, it will give her that little extra :)

Rachel - posted on 06/06/2011

My daughter has always been on the "light" side as well. I myself am not tiny, but not overly obese either. my daughter on the other hand is small in height and very petite. Her DR.s have tried to tell me she's not eating enough and I needed to change her diet. I didn't. My kid will eat anything you put in front of her, is always hungry, just doesn't gain the weight like most do. I'm not too worries about it now, she's still young and extremely active, like yours runs, skips, hops, etc all the time and I can't stop her, nor do I want to. Too many kids just sit in front of the TV and gain so much weight it's a little unnerving. In the years to come if it becomes more of a cause for concern I will look into what I need to do, for now, we are happy. Oh, and try having her take some childrens chewable vitamins. my 3 year old daughter takes them every day. research the different ones and pick the one you are most comfortable with. hope this helps!

Dina - posted on 06/05/2011

Most children should take a mutlivitamin (eg.flinstones) just to ensure they are getting the right amounts of what they need :)



As for the weight I had this problem for years (still do actually and my son is now 6)....My son is very tall for his age. He usually fell in the 95% for his height, while his weight was around the 40%...my son is super active, but eats ALOT for a child his age. Its just his body and metabolism. The doctors and nurses always say they would like his weight to be closer in % to his height to show he is in propotion, his current doctor even had me track what he eats, and when he realized how much he actually did eat he just stopped mentioning his weight.



My son is 6 years old the average height of a 9 year old and the average weight of a 6 year old...I can't do anything about his height he is just tall :) His doctor said they would monitor his height more when he was a teenager to ensure there is no over active glands but till then he is perfectly fine and healthy.

Ashley - posted on 06/05/2011

she sounds a little anemic, that's not a huge deal. just give her some flintstones vitamins daily and you'll probably see her iron levels improve soon.

Charity - posted on 06/04/2011

If your daughter is staying within her growth and weight curve it shouldn't be a cause for concern. Wic is a great program, but they are not doctors. I'm not bashing the wic program, but I am saying they don't know your child or her growth patterns. My sister was told her son was too tall, like there was something she could do to make him shorter! Ten years later he is still very tall, but then so are his parents. The people at wic go on averages. Worry about what you doctor tells you. The last thing you want to do is start making your child gain tons of weight just because the people at wic said she was too small. I did it when I was pregnant with my first, they said I wasn't gaining weight fast enough. Fast forward eight years and I am still struggling with the weight I gained unnessasarily.

Alison - posted on 06/04/2011

My 19 month old is very active, eats well, and has only been in the 10th percentile for her height/weight ratio for the last year.As long as her growth is consistent, I would not worry at all. as far as iron goes, give her iron fortified cereals and more whole milk, etc

Dalya - posted on 06/04/2011

i have 2 girls. 1 is 2 1/2 years old and the 2nd is 13 months old. they are both small and don't weight much! neither of them eat much at meal times and if given a snack in-beetween they will carry it around with them but won't eat it. they only go up like 10/20oz a month and i used to have to take them to be weighed once a month. for my 1st daughter we were recommended to go and see a child nutritionalist but nothing helped. she told us to add butter and fatty things to her meals but she would taste it and then refuse to eat it or eat some of it and then throw up. she doesn't like change in general and specifically not in her food! in the end nothing that anyone told us to do had any effect and we came to terms with the fact that she was going to be small and have poor weight gain (at the age of 2 she weighed 10kg which is what she should have weighed by the age of 14 months....) my husband and i are not tall and hes really thin so our lucky girls take after him-i wish i could be that thin without watching what i eat!
as for the iron levels the scale for children is very different as to that for adults. my girls have low levels too but they are (just!) on the scale. i think for children the scale is between 10.2-12.4 and for adults is 12.7-14.3 or something like that. i give my girls iron drops from the chemist and vitimin jelly sweets to help with everything else.they are both active and happy so im not worried about them!

Christina - posted on 06/04/2011

wic is concern about my 3 year old son they told me ask my doctore to write a precription for pedicure bc its on wic and it has all the proteins and nutrients in it that my son needs to help him gain weight its like chocolate milk on the baby isle so maybe that can help his 19 month sister is only 2 lbs away from him they said he is under weight he only gain 1lb last 3 months so i know how u feel

Annah - posted on 06/03/2011

My kids' pedi wanted them on iron drops from the time they came off formula since I couldn't breast feed. Iron drops can be bought over the counter and it is the same as an adult taking vitamins, her doctor will probably suggest that for her. As far as her size, I doubt you should worry much since she takes after you. Now if both sides of her family were all over 6ft and 200lbs then maybe. But my first daughter was born with a huge belly and she was just little bitty and every nurse and family member kept trying to tell us we were over feeding her but she is 2 1/2 now and still has a big belly but now it is more proportioned. I would worry more if she started losing weight.

Cass - posted on 06/03/2011

Orange juice and iron fortified gummy vitamins worked for my son. Just watch for constipation and see if giving her apple juice helps, or try to give a little prune juice. Iron is best absorbed by acid, so an empty stomach is best and the OJ ups the acid in the stomach, if she needs something in her tummy to take the viatmins try oranges, but whatever you do DON'T give iron with milk, it neutralizes the stomach and hinders the absorbtion

Cari - posted on 06/03/2011

She could be anemic, I was anemic with both my pregnancies and they got concerned with my kids at WIC when they do the hcg tests on them because of me being anemic, since shes old enough to take the childrens vitamins you should start giving them to her, it will help :)

Jody - posted on 06/03/2011

you can buy little cookie cutters, they help!

http://www.cookingwithkids.org/Making%20...

http://curiousphotos.blogspot.com/2008/1...

Karen - posted on 06/03/2011

those are great ideas. never thought of making her food like that. The mini meatballs sound great too because they told me red meat is good for iron.

Jody - posted on 06/03/2011

since they are concerned about her weight too have you tried something like pediasure? A meal suppliment for kids who are picky eaters to help keep their diets/nutrition more balanced. It would help fill in any nutritional gaps and give her extra calories while you work on the iron.
Another thought that you may or may not have tried it making her food into little animals or shapes to mak eit more interesting. even doing things like mini meatballs, stick toothpicks in them and give her dip, make her dinner look like a spider or a clown face.
It could also be that your little one is more of a all day grazer than a meal eater so encourage the healthy snacks and let her eat them whenever she is willing, even if it's just a few bites. It's all more work, but :D what we won't do for our kids right :)

Tara - posted on 06/03/2011

I don't have experience with the iron part, but my daughter has ALWAYS been small. Doctors were always concerned with her weight and we constantly had to remind them that she was only 4lbs 4oz at birth (she was a preemie) and that I'm a very small person myself. It took a while, but they finally stopped worrying about her weight. She's 7 and a half years old now and only weighs about 40lbs, but she's tiny and will always be tiny (no matter what she eats). For about a year and a half, she didn't grow at all, which they didn't like, but not much you can do about it when the child is just small.

Now, our son takes after my husband (who is a bigger guy), and he weighs as much if not more than his sister (he is 5 and a half years old). He's still not huge or anything, but he definitely has more meat on him than his sister :)

Karen - posted on 06/03/2011

Wow I wish I had seen all of this when I was prego w/ my first one. I would actually black out because my iron was so low. All I have ever been told was take prenatals, iron pills, and eat salty snacks a few times a day. If i missed one of those things I was blacking out. Very helpful information. Thank you all.

Jennifer - posted on 06/03/2011

Oh, yeah, the thing about the vitamin C and iron absorbtion is absolutely legit! With both of my pregnancies I became anemic, which I hated because I was tired much of the time (iron deficiency was a huge cause of that), although the second time around it seemed slightly less severe in some areas, such as walking up the flight of 16 steps didn't leave me feeling like I'd been running lol the second time around.
My OB is actually the person who told me about that because I didn't want to take the pills due to what happened when I tried to take them with my first pregnancy (got only about 3 digested and on the third one it eventually made it so I'd technically only had 2 and the taste lingered in your mouth for a while no matter what you ate or drank). So he suggested eating foods high in fiber, saying for instance with breakfast the pork patties have iron and to drink orange juice (which just so happens to be a not so fave of mine lol) to help my body absorb it.
Lol that's pretty much all I wanted to say. If you're anemic then you might want to think about also doing that for yourself (: Somehow my younger daughter's iron increased at our last WIC appointment and I hadn't even rememebered it had been low. You'd of never known. But they were now happy with it lol.

Jody - posted on 06/03/2011

I had major issues with iron and b12 defieciency during my pregnancy because I didn't react well to vitamins with iron in them, they upset my stomach etc so I was sent to a nutritionist who mentioned the vitamin c thing, she also mentioned that pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds were high in iron so if your little one is a trail mix person you could make a personal mix with nuts and seeds and even dried fruit (like apricots) that are all higher in iron

http://www.ironrichfood.org/iron-pumpkin...

since you said you have iron issues as well you can try introducing these foods into your diet as well which might help get her to eat them too "monkey see monkey do :D"

http://www.ironrichfood.org/iron-in-bean...

the links here are to a good site with info about iron in a variety of foods and how they interact, they note that grain can inhibit the absorption of iron depending what type and how it has been prepared/processed. It's also important to note that to avoid anemia you must have good iron but also things like B12, B6 and folate because they are all needed to form red blood cells which are vital to growth, repair and overall good health and energy. You would have to consult your doctor about anything for children but for adults there ia a pill called "easy iron" it has iron, vitamin c, b12, b6 and folate in one pill and is a different form of iron that is supposed to be easier to absorb and gentler on the tummy, I found it was better than regular pills for sure, not perfect on my tummy but much better (and I took it with a glass of orange juice ;)

good luck

Karen - posted on 06/02/2011

Thank you so much. Wic was telling me to focus on her weight and make her drink milk at meals, but having low iron myself I know how important it is. She never mentioned vitamin C and I haven't heard it either but it sounds legit. I will definitly try upping these things. thank you again.

Jody - posted on 06/02/2011

About her weight, probably not but as for the iron, there is some cause for mild concern since iron is very important to her development. It is probably diet related and if she often eats like a bird you will have to try to focus her diet to more iron rich foods. Meat has the best iron and is best absorbed, certain foods affect the absorption of iron, vitamin C increases the absorption especially of plant based iron to things like fruit juice with meals helps but apprently a child who drinks a lot of milk reduces their iron. I have put links with iron information and foods
http://www.babycenter.ca/toddler/nutriti...
http://pediatrics.about.com/od/nutrition...

Good luck!