14 lbs at 16 months. Ideas?

amother

Tue, Jul 24 2012, 6:06 am

I'm posting this for my SIL.
Her son is 14 lbs and very short and he is 16 months old. Physically and mentally he is developing fine (walks, climbs, etc - but it is almost impossible to find shoes that are size EU 16.). He was born just under 5 lbs at full term.
She and her husband are short and skinny. My SIL weights 100 lbs when 7 months pregnant. So tiny does run in the family.
Until now her drs weren't too nervous because he was gaining, but slowly. The WIC doctors were concerned (they weren't looking at the whole family picture) so she has been giving him pediasure to help him gain weight.
He went for blood work and everything was good, a growth hormone was low, but nothing out of the ordinary.
But now he hasn't gained any weight in 2 months. It could be that he is very active and burning more calories then he is eating, but at his weight and age it doesn't look healthy. She has an appointment with a GI to see if there are any issues. Some people have mentioned celiac disease but that came up fine on his blood work.
Anyone have any experience here?

amother

Tue, Jul 24 2012, 6:23 am

My daughter was the same way. She was put on formula at 15 months bec of her slow/non-existent weight gain. She's 18 months and gained 2 pounds in the last 6 weeks for some odd reason but she definitely went through a time that she gained 1 pound in 6 months. We also did extensive bloodwork which all came back normal bh. The only real way to test for celiac is with a biopsy, bloodwork is not necessarily accurate. Good luck!

syrima

Tue, Jul 24 2012, 6:51 am

This age in toddlers growth usually slows down. Like you said, they burn more calories, etc.
If you have the bloodwork done, and go to a GI then you are covering your bases. Your Dr. may suggest a weighing every few months just to monitor. Obviously, if the kid starts losing weight then it is more of an issue. Hatzlacha!

ElTam

Tue, Jul 24 2012, 8:23 am

We went through this with my youngest. As soon as he started crawling, he dropped off the bottom of the charts for weight, and went even lower on the percentile after he started walking. (He is allergic to several foods, so that made it worse.)

What we did (after talking to the pediatrician) was to put oil in anything we could. If I baked something for him in the oven, I drizzled oil over it. If it could be baked or fried, I fried it. If he wanted to eat an entire bag of potato chips (after he had had a serving of fruit), I let him. I also gave him juice to drink at least once a day, which in my house we never had by my first two kids. He also got chocolate sauce in his rice milk (he's allergic to dairy) every day, which I never would have done with my older kids. We make sure we brush his teeth extra well!

We also, after speaking to a rav, added a supplement called duocal to his drinks, applesauce, etc. It doesn't have a hechsher on it (you can buy it on Amazon), but our rav gave us a psak that it was okay because it doesn't add taste, just calories and protein, and it is being given for health reasons, like a medicine.

Hatzlacha. It's very, very stressful. I would cry when we would go for weight checks and he had gained 1/2 an ounce in one month. B"H he's back on the charts now. I"YH it should all be good for your SIL and her family.

Liba

Tue, Jul 24 2012, 8:52 am

ElTam wrote:

We also, after speaking to a rav, added a supplement called duocal to his drinks, applesauce, etc. It doesn't have a hechsher on it (you can buy it on Amazon), but our rav gave us a psak that it was okay because it doesn't add taste, just calories and protein, and it is being given for health reasons, like a medicine.

Just so you know, Duocal is fats and carbohydrates, no proteins at all. According to the mashgiach at the OK (or was it the star k? I will have to ask DH if he remembers, it was 10 years ago), who checked it out, it was perfectly fine, all of the ingredients were kosher. Things may have changed, but not only does it have no odor or taste, it may well still have no kashrus concerns either.

saw50st8

Tue, Jul 24 2012, 9:00 am

My neice had small growth issues and it turned out she was allergic to a lot of things. Almost nothing showed up on her blood test. My sister did an elimination diet with her and discovered it was wheat, dairy, eggs, fish, nuts, and spelt.

simchat

Tue, Jul 24 2012, 9:34 am

My dd was always on the small/skinny side. I second eltam with the oil on everything - I just added olive oil or butter (lots of it!) to everything! Also, higher calorie foods, lots of fat... Avocados are great. Also, even though she`s older than 2, I try to get her to drink 2 bottles of full fat milk a day. I`m not really worried about it anymore - she seems quite tall for her age (same size as the 3 year old in her playgroup). She is quite skinny, but both DH and I are naturally thin, so if you say your sil and her dh are small, it makes sense... Also, as for the slowing down of weight gain, being more active is a factor - as well as the heat! Kids usually don`t like to eat in hot weather, so again, add as many calories as poss to the little they DO eat and maybe more higher calorie drinks (milk, juice), as that`s easier to get them to ingest in the summer

amother

Tue, Jul 24 2012, 10:01 am

Welcome to the story of my life. My daughter also was born under 5 lbs at full term and was growing nicely (still smaller than the lowest percentile but actually growing) while I was nursing and then stopped growing/gaining from 10 months till now that se is 19 mos. She's been on pediasure since then and I try to give her fatty foods but in the last 10 months she just gained 3 lbs. she is much more active now so she burns a whole lot of calories and somehow her appetite has improved tremendously but she is still small in the charts. Gi thinks she has acid reflux but nothing indicates so so I ignore her. And celiac also came back negative. Ad this time they teeth a lot so that adds to not eating. I would say that if the kid looks fine and Active despite the smallness there's not much to worry. If ur in ny try to get the kid nutrition through early intervention. Mine doesn't really help much. She gives me like 2 recipes a month for me to work on and some random ideas but still better than nothing.

cinnamon

Tue, Jul 24 2012, 10:26 am

o.k so this is exactly what I don't understand.
My 18 months old is also ftt but b"h her development is normal and her blood work is normal and she really does eat alot. The dietician I went to also told me to fry everything, give her juice to drink and pour olive oil over everything she eats, but whats the point of filling her with unhealthy fats, or even an access of healthy fats?
So what if she is small? how does gainning weight very slowly hurt her? She is off the charts in weight and in the 3rd percentile in hight but who cares as long as she is happy and healthy and developing normally in all other aspects no?
I asked both her dr. and her dietician and they both only said that she isn't growing and she will stay small so what? What am I missing here?

amother

Tue, Jul 24 2012, 10:42 am

Thanks for everyone's advice. I'll pass it on.

@cinnamon - her pediatrician actually told her no juice. He'd rather her not even do the pediasure, but she is doing it because WIC is pushing it. He feels like why should she fill him up with empty calories and junk. He would like lots and lots of whole milk and good fats like avocado.

amother

Tue, Jul 24 2012, 10:47 am

cinnamon wrote:

So you don't mind having a child who is in the 3d percentile for height her whole life? How do you think she will feel, that 97% of women her age are bigger than her?

cinnamon

Tue, Jul 24 2012, 11:17 am

amother wrote:

cinnamon wrote:

So you don't mind having a child who is in the 3d percentile for height her whole life? How do you think she will feel, that 97% of women her age are bigger than her?

No I honestly don't. My mom is very very short so she wore heals. My daughter might find it hard but thats life someone has to be the shortest. I will do my best to make sure she is confident and sure of herself despite her hight. But it has to be more then just the social aspect, I find it hard to belive that a dr. will get so worked up over how my daughter will feel in school. There has to be some health aspect to it no?

amother

Mon, Jul 30 2012, 9:17 pm

Height you have no control over.
Weight you do.
If the height to weight ratio is good thats what you need to look at.
If the head looks large in proportion to the body then the body isnt getting enough and is sending it all to the brain, most important, and not the body.
So these are the 2 things you should pay attention to. Not percentiles and pounds.