Late term preemie underweight at 10 months... need advice

[mamaduke]

DS2 was born at 37w even, but his pediatrician mentioned he came out closer to 36w, as he was on the small side. At his 9 month well visit, his pediatrician ordered some blood tests, as DS2 hadn't gained weight between November and January. He finally gained 1lb 4oz in February, bringing him up to 17lb 4oz. However, he's still classified as underweight and in the 3rd percentile for weight. We also discovered that he's anemic, so now he's upping his iron intake.

DS2 eats a lot - he loves meats (sausages, chicken, ground beef), fruits, veggies, cheese, yogurt... and he also takes 6-8oz bottles at meal times and 4-6oz bottles at snack times. His bottles are soy formula (Gerber GoodStart Soy). He's also on-the-go, learning how to walk and crawling and wall-surfing everywhere.

Are there any other mamas with late term preemies that happened to come out small and stay small? Any have late term preemies who are anemic and small? Any words of advice?

 

[Twinmum87]

Argh tried to write 3 times and everything keeps freezing and loosing the post so not tyoing it all again! I was advised to put double cream and cheese into everything I could do and avocado is supposed to be good too but she didn't like that. Managed to have her back on a normal diet at 3.5 yr old without her weight gain stalling.

 

[kanga]

My son is 13m and was 3lb 10 at birth (35w) and about 16lb now. He was FTT in December having not gained weight for 2 months and nose diving away from his line.

Is your son dropping centiles?

We put double cream, skimmed milk powder in jersey cream milk, and olive oil in his food. Butter everything including vegetables. He's been on iron supplement since dec. he has started gaining again now but still v small.

I also add Puréed tofu to a lot of things as a way of getting more protein in. Have you seen a dietician?

 

[misspriss]

DS was not as late term, 33 weeks, but he has stayed in the 1-2%tile his whole life. He did not gain much from 9 to 12 months and was discovered to have fairly severe iron deficient anemia (preemies are higher risk) and was put on iron supplement for 6 weeks and gained 2lbs by his next appointment 6 weeks later, and grew almost 2 inches. I would see if supplements might be in order rather than just eating iron rich foods?

 

[sethsmummy]

ds1 wasnt preemie BUT he was small for gestation 5lb 14oz at 40+6.. and now at 5 years old is just 32lb) and has always struggled with weight gain. He sat on the 0.4th centile for a long long time before recently going up one.

As others have said, full fat creme in mash is good, full fat milk, avacado, lots of cheese.. anything you can thats fatty. Fried foods should be as greasy as possible (extra callories).

sometimes they are just naturally small

 

[lozzy21]

Is he underweight or is he just not gaining as fast at they would like? If it's the latter tell them to get lost. For there to be a 50th centile there needs to be some one on the 1st, 2nd and third.

My daughter was born at 35 weeks weighting 8lb15 ( yes that's not a typo lol) she lost quite a bit but was back up to birth weight by 3 weeks old and only ever put on a lb a month if that. At one she was only about 20lb. She's now 4 and a half, she weighs about 36lb and is still really skinny. It's just the weight she's built.