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Add me to the list of moms of bean poles
After the car seat vs booster seat post last week I suspected as much, but today's well child check up confirmed N is only in the 10th percentile for weight and he has only gained 2 pound in the past year. At this rate he won't be legal to move to a booster seat until second grade.
It's not that he's a picky eater, he just doesn't want to be bother with
having to stop to eat. He'll eat at least a bite of everything he is
given but that's often all he'll do. I gave him a chocolate smoothies
with Greek yogurt and bananas for breakfast this morning and he took one
sip and declared he was finished. Good news is he hoovered down 3 helpings of Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy for dinner tonight, but that is so rare for him.
Ideas to get him to eat more?
Re: Add me to the list of moms of bean poles
He's 35.4 pounds and 42.5 inches. His height is 40th %. I'm 5'9 and X is 6'3 so how we ended up with a kiddo who is so small is beyond me.
Our DS sounds like yours--he doesn't want to slow down to eat. He is kind of picky, though. What helps is when I say he has to stay at the table until we're all done eating. If he can get up and go play, he will. If he stays sitting, he'll eat more. I also stopped letting him snack outside of regular snack time so he comes to the table hungry.
I don't really think you need to get him to eat more, though, unless your doctor is worried. Some kids will just be small. He probably eats what he thinks he needs. I've also heard that most kids will eat a lot at lunch and breakfast, when they need the energy, and less for dinner.
I wonder if the % are becoming more skewed because of the high rate of childhood obesity in our country. Meaning 10th % in weight now isn't as small of a child as 10th % in weight would have been 20 years ago. ??
I'm by no means an expert, but I'm friends with people who are :-)
From what I've gleaned from listening to my colleagues, Ellyn Satter is a good resource for good feeding practices. She calls it Division of Responsibility in Feeding. Basically, as a mom, you are responsible for when, where and what. N is responsible for how much and whether. There's a lot more as well (she also has several books), including structuring meals to decrease grazing, since grazing is actually the enemy of good eating practices (according to my colleagues. Again, not an expert!).
Here's the link for the division of responsibility (and it changes with age of the child):
http://www.ellynsatter.com/ellyn-satters-division-of-responsibility-in-feeding-i-80.html
I think I'm destined to join you all too. DD is 10th percentile for weight and 85th for height. Sheesh.
I wouldn't be too worried. He might just have a slender build. My kids have always been below the 10th percentile. E is a little over 4 years old(Oct) and he weighs 31lbs. He's also about 38-39inches tall. Poor kid will never get out of a booster.
I was shocked when the ped told me baby was in the 60th% for weight. I have never seen that before. She likes her milk.
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Tizzle 10/07 ~ Boppy 7/09 ~ Chicken 1/12
2014 Reading Goal: 85
This is my vote too.
Dylan is a serious bean pole. One of my friends actually gasped when he took his shirt off at the pool and she saw his ribs. He looks like a concentration camp victim.
The catch?
He eats like a line backer. Seriously - he eats more than my 16 yr old at most dinners.
It's just his metabolism.
I tried keeping him on whole milk because it freaks me out that he's so skinny and his pedi told me that with my family history of heart disease, high cholesterol and diabetes I'm doing him a disservice by trying to fatten him up with high fat foods. He's staying steady on his own curve. He was born long and lean. Heck... they even yanked him early because his abdomen was measuring in the 4th percentile, head was in the 98th percentile and they thought there was a problem. Nope. Big head, skinny kid. Born that way, still is today.
Look back into your family tree and DH's. Chances are there's someone somewhere that he's mimicking. Dylan is a carbon copy of my brother when it comes to body type and he's just like the majority of my DH's family on his Mom's side metabolism-wise. They always eat a full meal before going to dine at a restaurant or a friend's house because if they don't they will embarrass themselves with their gluttony. Oh yeah.... every single one of them is thin as a rail. I'm more than a bit jealous.
Total score: 6 pregnancies, 5 losses, 2 amazing blessings that I'm thankful for every single day.
We just feed her when she's hungry and don't put much of a limit on milk. She still gets whole milk at this point and I don't plan on changing it anytime soon. I also try to get her to eat what we are eating, but if she tries it and doesn't like it I will make her something else.
Our new pedi focus's more on BMI than %. Her BMI says she is under weight so we go by that.
Having seen him, I wouldn't worry too much - he doesn't look too skinny to me at all - looks like a normal 5 year old. You have seen K, and she hasn't made it above 4% for years. She eats a ton, she just has a metabolism that doesn't stop. I wish I had that problem
I think as long as you are offering him good choices and he isn't dropping completely off the charts (that's when Dr. Bosley told us he gets concerned), I wouldn't worry too much or try to force too much on him.
I was talking to someone at a x-mas party. She had small kids and mentioned she was from Europe- the percentiles are different there b/c we're larger people than the Europeans. I don't know how true this all is, but it made me feel better about my super skinny kiddos.
Pedis here even have 2 charts they typically use. One is the CDC chart with American babies who tend to be more formula fed, and more overweight, one would assume ("corn-fed American kids" is how my pedi put it). The other is the WHO chart which is international and also tends to be more breastfed. The weights are definitely lower on the WHO chart.
Well they can throw that direct cause & effect theory out the window because N was entirely FF.