To all preemie mommies who are worries about weight/height

[lanaross]

We went for our 9th month check up the other day and our doctor said that DS is on 97+ percentile height/75% weight. I triple checked since I didn't believe it at all. He was really tiny for height - completely off the charts and below 3% for weight, how did that happen?
So for everybody who needs some reassurance as I know I did at the time -- it will happen, they will grow big and smart (DS is way ahead of DD who was full term -- standing, almost walking, clapping when I ask him to, trying to talk, extremely social, as in he wouldn't sleep even if it's been five hours if he sees somebody is there to talk with but that's another problem).

Just want to tell you ladies that there is hope and all will be ok

 

[Jes.shortcake]

My LO just went for his 9 month check up and his length is catching up but his doctor wants him to put on more weight. So we're gonna try to fatten him up by his 12 month check up. He doesn't act small though! He's a fast little one and he's trying to climb on everything! lol

 

[lanaross]

My LO just went for his 9 month check up and his length is catching up but his doctor wants him to put on more weight. So we're gonna try to fatten him up by his 12 month check up. He doesn't act small though! He's a fast little one and he's trying to climb on everything! lol

I would think it's too late now to put on more weight since they start moving around and can't sit still anymore. That's when my DD stopped gaining (gained less than a pound in three months) and she was much much much less active than DS. Today we even got our first bloody mouth/first real tumble - somebody decided he was big enough to figure out how to sit himself on the chair (soft baby chair thank god

 

[RcdM]

My dd was born at 30 weeks at 2lbs 11oz. Today she is almost 27 months old and weighs 21 lbs LOL. She is small. She still wears like 12-18 months clothes.

But our doctor isn't concerned because she's always had steady increases. Sometimes at appointments her weight wouldn't increase but her height would. So he said as long as she's growing, they are fine with it. I think she'll start to catch up soon. Right now she's in the 5 percentile for weight and like just under 10 percentile for height, but she's my little girl and I love her! And it's saved us tons of money on clothes because she's worn the same size for almost a year, LOL!

 

[Jes.shortcake]

And it's saved us tons of money on clothes because she's worn the same size for almost a year, LOL!

Tell me about it...my 9 month old is almost 13 lbs and still in 0-3 month clothing. And that's the size I got the most of at my shower! Plus I was given a lot of size 1 diapers and he's just growing out of those now.

 

[misspriss]

My LO fell off the charts for weight at his 12 month, but he came in for a follow up 6 weeks later (on his iron levels) and he'd gained over 2lbs. I guess growth comes in spurts. We have his 15 month coming up soon and I can't wait to see how much he's grown.

He stayed in 3-6m clothes FOREVER. He was in 6-9 for a little while, but already moving up to 9-12.

 

[Dinah93]

DD is 27 months and in 18-24 month clothes mostly - but that's more wishful thinking than because they fit her best! She still has a couple of 3-6 month skirts that about fit her around the waist finally, but they're quite short now. She's 21lb at 27 months which barely even puts her on the growth chart. At one point we were up to the 25th centile but she's slid down again due to a few episodes of teething, colds and hay fever putting her off her food. Some preemies do brilliantly at catching up in size but it's fair to say plenty of them just stay quite small.

 

[sunnylove]

My little 26 weeker is 1 year old now (9 mos adjusted), weighs 19lbs and is in 9 month clothing. Yeah, I was definitely one of the preemie moms that freaked out over his weight. He was 2 lbs 7 ozs when he was born and when he came home around his due date he was 8 lbs 6 ozs but he slowly gained weight after that. Thankfully he caught up!!

 

[rbourre]

My dd was born at 30 weeks at 2lbs 11oz. Today she is almost 27 months old and weighs 21 lbs LOL. She is small. She still wears like 12-18 months clothes.

But our doctor isn't concerned because she's always had steady increases. Sometimes at appointments her weight wouldn't increase but her height would. So he said as long as she's growing, they are fine with it. I think she'll start to catch up soon. Right now she's in the 5 percentile for weight and like just under 10 percentile for height, but she's my little girl and I love her! And it's saved us tons of money on clothes because she's worn the same size for almost a year, LOL!

This is almost exactly what I was going to say. My daughter (born at 29 weeks) was 2lbs 2oz and now at almost 22 months is about 22 pounds and 31" tall. She's a bit small for her age and mostly wears 12-18 month and some 18-24 month just for the height. Her first pediatrician used to say she was only gaining the minimum amount and had me worried, but we moved and switched doctor's and the second one was great. He wasn't worried at all and neither is the neonatal follow-up team she sees. I stopped worrying about it because there is nothing that can be done. Maybe she's just meant to be small and I am fine with that.

 

[Farzana]

My 34 weeker is now almost 19lb at 6 months! She was 6lb at birth so was never really a tiny baby tbh. I've been told by the health visitor that she looked "very healthy" at the baby clinic yesterday 😂 she even went as far as to tell me to limit her weaning to 2 tiny meals a day only.. 😡 Yeah right! Dd only drinks the minimum amount of milk for her age and has porridge for breakfast and veggies for lunch and dinner.

 

[vermeil]

My son was a severe case of iugr; at 27 weeks he was the weight of a 22 weeker at 1lb4oz. He just stopped developing due to almost no blood flow. Even that tiny our bodies are amazing; he went into 'survival' mode, shutting down everything but heart and cerebellum development. Because of it iugr babies typically stay on the small side for longer. My son is now 6 and still wears size 3 or 4 clothing; he floats in 5+ heh. He is below 10% for weight and height and was always behind 6-12 months in development even with corrected age. We saw it at all levels: physical, emotional, social, cognitive etc. But he was constantly at the same spot on the charts, at the limits of normal. When I get discouraged I look at his results for children a year younger and he's spot on or ahead so ha :laughs:

What matters is he's a bright, healthy, happy 6 year old who will eventually catch up to his peers, like most preemies it just takes him a bit longer to get there. I get discouraged sometimes as some friends have 4 year olds that are bigger and seem more mature buuut they all develop at their own rythmns preemie or no!

I recall sharing my concerns with his pediatrician because he wasn't walking at 15 months. He casually replied ' will he walk when he goes to school ? Probably ? Then what's the problem, why the rush?' he was rather blunt but right



(yikes sorry for the novel!)

 

[Peanut112]

My grandfather who was born at 1.6lbs is just over 6ft tall and became a VERY sucessful surgeon.