My daughter hasnt put weight on in nearly three months..

[AJRussell]

My Daughter has just turned 1 year old, and she has had a problem with her food since she was about 8 months. She has always been early at everything, crawling from 7 months, walking at 10 months. Since March she has found it very hard to put on any weight, she has not got above 19lb’s. From around 8 months old, she has refused to eat unless she could feed herself, if we tried to spoon feed her, she would spit it out, throw a huge tantrum and generally make you feel like scum for even trying to feed her. And when she did feed herself, she would not eat much.

Most of her friends are around 22 – 23lb mark. But they are no where near as developed as her (walking etc…) most of her friends have only just started to put weight on there legs if parents hold there hand. She is breastfed, and has properly been on formula a total of 10 times during her entire life. She is an extremely active little girl – always on the move, she doesn’t sit in front of the TV – she is not interested in anything except running around and playing. She sleeps through the night, never seems low on energy or any signs that she is hungry.

She has started to eat in the past couple of weeks, but I am wondering if there could be any underlying problems, or maybe she has just got a lot of energy and is burning it up faster then she can turn it into fat? I find it very hard to put weight on myself, if I don’t eat I can lose half a stone in a couple of days, I have a ridiculously fast metabolism, could she of got this from me?

 

[AJRussell]

Just to add, she eats a lot of pasta pesto - proberly her favorite.

We feed her lots of fish, chicken and vegtables. Im reluctent to give her sausages that often because of saturated fats, but the health visitor has advised my partner to just give her fatty food, and things we wouldnt dream of eating because of the fat content.. which i believe is pretty stupid advice, as im now more worried about her little body getting too much saturated fats!

She has an alergy to tomatos - so we have to be very careful on what she eats.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Andrew

 

[vicky]

does ur daughter drink alot off juice??

my daughter is 2 and a half and she weighs 23 lbs 10 she did drink alots of juice until i took her beacker now she drinks out of a cup, but still goes a couple off days without eatting much. as long as she is happy i wouldn't worry hun

 

[AJRussell]

She does drink a lot of water now - she did used to drink a lot fruit juice, Innocent smoothies? As we thought it would be a good source of fruit for her. She doesnt drink much of that anymore - just water or fruit juice, apple juice etc...

She seems fine, just interested in knowing if anyone elses experiance, i find it reassuring that your little one is twice as old as my daughter but only a few lb's more - how tall is your child in comparison to other children her age?

 

[marley2580]

My sister's wee one is also an early walker (9 months) and is underweight for his age (17 months) and puts weight on really slowly. The HV says that because he's more active than other kids his age, it's to be expected as he burns the calories so fast. If your daughter is healthy and happy, I really wouldn't worry. Health and growth is about much more than gaining weight.

 

[vicky]

my daughter is smaller then other children her age, ella lauz daughter is taller then kacy by a couple of inces. she is going to be a shorty, but she will take after her father then, he was only 5ft until he left school.

 

[Caroline]

Just to add, she eats a lot of pasta pesto - proberly her favorite.

We feed her lots of fish, chicken and vegtables. Im reluctent to give her sausages that often because of saturated fats, but the health visitor has advised my partner to just give her fatty food, and things we wouldnt dream of eating because of the fat content.. which i believe is pretty stupid advice, as im now more worried about her little body getting too much saturated fats!

She has an alergy to tomatos - so we have to be very careful on what she eats.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Andrew

Don't get me started on some so calld health professionals & under weight children.

My son was v underweight, & our old health visitor reffered to paed & dietician. Thankfully I was working, & my husband took him as I woukd have been done for GBH. Was like you told to fatten up using chips, burgers, yorkshire pudding, mashed potato with loads of cheese & butter, and to give ice cream & cream for pudding. Basically lectured to get fat, then give "healthy food". This lecture was finished off by them stating 'cos I worked F/T I didn't cook "proper " meals. If junk food is a proper meal then no I don't cook proper meals, we have a junk" meal of fully cooked from scratch meals.

My son was actually slow to meet all milestones, still incredibly skinny, there is not an ounce of fat on him. In fact you can actually count his ribs.
He is now just 3 stone, and will be 7 at the end of next month ( my soon to be 4 yrs old weighs the same nearly!).

The paed was uncornced, he just siad some kids are just skinny, as my mum, g'dad, can eat anything without putting on any weight, and as children my OH & FIL were stick thin, he said it was just genetic.

My new health visitor is unconcerned, just says he's tall & skinny & not to worry.

I think if you/health visitor are concerend, i would push for refferal to paedaetrician just for peace of mind.

My youngest is plodding along lower centile for weight, so although she is now 15 months I still try to get her weighed every month. Health visitor happy so long as she stays on the line, says just like her bro.

I'll go get her red book and let you know what she weighrd last time she was weighed.

 

[Caroline]

So @ 12 months old she was 19.8lbs
When she was weighed 3 months later ( a bit long but had dd with chicken pox, then 2 weeks later this lo got them so we couldn't get to clinic, and also only 2 clinics a month) she weighed 20lbs.

This lo is not walking yet, but crawling everywhere, & and eats like a horse.

I would say if happy, content ( as well as a frustrated toddler can be), and meeting milestones ( which lo seems to be doing), then not to worry.

However for piece of mind it may be worthwhile asking for a referral.

Good Luck, & try not to worry.

 

[AJRussell]

Thanks for the replies, it reassures me that what both myself and my partner think, thats shes just an active little one with too much energy to burn! We were concerned when she didnt eat for such a long time, but she is just little miss independent! She is eating now, so dinner times are no longer like a scene from a horror movie..

Health Visitors would appear to be some kind of scare monger, and the advice that our local clinic have been giving out is rediculous - we are both very weary of what our daughter eats, and to be told "give her lots of fatty food!" is awful advice. I'm aware that she needs good fatty food for her brain to develop, but im not prepared to shove tons of crap down her just for the sake of a little graph...