My 18 Month Old Is Underweight

Contact ECI-Early Childhood Intervention. In Round Rock it is called PRIDE and is located at the Bluebonnet Trails MHMR building on Georgetown Street, off of 79. I do not know the number, but you could Google it. ECI comes out and evaluates your child for free. If she qualifies for services, then a trained professional comes out to your home and helps you help her. If she is not growing, there may be some other physical delays. The payment for services is based on a sliding scale.

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My son is nearly 3. At 15 months, 18 months and 24 months, his pediatrician told me she was worried about his weight curve and that he had plateaued. She suggested pediasure and a high fat diet. I bought the pediasure and I sometimes give him half, every other day. I am a firm believer that he can "feed" off of what worries me. So I just keep offering him great-tasting healthy choices. I put cream cheese or peanut butter on his toast or crackers. A mom once suggested putting protein powder in his cereal milk. He loves nuts and he also loves dipping anything. So ranch dip mixed w/ yogurt or sourcream is great for pretzle sticks or matchstick carrots.

He really started to plump up when he went to Granny's house and was allowed ice cream after a good lunch and a good dinner!

I suggest just relaxing and model good eating habits. You need to show your child that you eat healthy too. We want a healthy kid, but certainly not a kid that is force-fed or that has an unrealistic view of eating habits once they're adults.

She sounds like a normal 18 month old to me. My daughter is also very small for her age...2 years and 20 lbs. Kids are smart about eating, unlike most of us, they eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full. If she is hitting all her milestones and is still growing, then I wouldn't worry about it. Some children are just smaller then others, kinda like some kids walk and talk at a different time then others. Not every child will weigh the same.

Contact Shriners Hospital..
there is one in Houston...they are AWSOME.
if you can't pay or your insurance won't pay...they cover it...
http://www.shrinershq.org/Hospitals/Houston/

apply for care on their website...
Keep on it...there is something in you telling you to go further, a mothers instinct is never wrong...
go with your gut.
Sorry I don't have more than that. but I will keep you and your daughter in my prayers...let us know how she is doing...
God Bless

My first daughter was similar to your but not quit as low in weight but very thin and wouldn't eat. She would drink though. I think part of her not eating was not liking the texture but would eat Cheerios and thing of that sort. You might look in to that. I know now that there are children who do have this problem and they have therapy that helps with this.( I didn't know at that time other wise I would have looked into it) Just a thought. I used Carnation Breakfast and pedasure as well. I also would make yogurt and milk shakes in the blender and amazingly she would drink V-8 and tomato juice. She would eat peanut butter because it was creamy so I would put it on everything to give her calories and to get her to try other foods with it. I also tried having her make food with me and cooking with me. It seemed to help her to want to try it. I also made faces out of her food or a animal, something for it to be more fun. I also would puree vegetables and cook it in what ever she would eat.Say a muffin or if she will eat toast try making homemade bread with some puree in it.I also found that she couldn't handle eating as much food at one time so I had her eat more offten.I feel for you. I know how hard it is to want your child to be healthy and you feel as though you are doing everything you can but with no good outcome. Over time my daughter got better. Still very thin but healthy. I don't know that I helped much but thought if one idea helped a little it would be worth writing.

Just do your best! My son is super tall, I mean off the growth charts so I am always working to make sure he eats enough. I do some things like make toast and put real butter on it. I might spread an avocado over it or shred up cheese and melt it on the toast. He likes toast, so we have all kinds of varieties of toast. Whatever toast I give him though I always put butter on it first for some additional calories. If he isn't in a mood to self feed, I will break it up and put the little pieces in his mouth. Whatever it takes baby! It sounds like your daughter drinks so what about yogurt? I get this LaLa yogurt and spin it in the blender because the fruit chunks are so big and my little man loves it. It is a nice calorie boost and almost like a drink. I have heard of some moms who make smoothies for their kids. Like maybe banana, yogurt, wheat germ, and some sugar. She may go for applesauce if she likes liquid as well. I would say don't even worry about rules or what she should be able to eat as far as finger foods etc. If her weight is suffering just get out of the box mama :) Give that girl yogurt, or smoothie, or really mashed bananas. If she will eat blenderized green beans, meats etc, just do it. She will eat more chunky solid food eventually. I think that getting her weight up is a top priority. Just my opinion, I hope I was able to give you some ideas that help! :) Best wishes to you!!

My son was a very picky eater too. At 9 months he stopped eating baby food and went on a "hunger strike". All he would eat was cherrios and puffs. We tried the Gerber graduates and stuff like that but he hated it. I tried it and it had no flavor.
I began sprinkling everything I fed him with cheerios. He would try to pick up the cheerios and would get a handful of the food that they were stuck to. That's how I got him to eat spaghetti-os with meatballs. At first he would just pick out the cheerios, but he started to like the sauce. Then he tasted the noodles that looked like cheerios and began to like them too. Now he picks out all the meatball and eats them first, he can eat almost a whole can by himself now, at 21 months. I don't feed him that for lunch all the time now, maybe once a week if that, but for a while it's all he would eat. It's fortified with nutrients has servings of vegetables in the sauce and iron from the meat, so it's pretty god for him.
He also loves yo baby yogurt. It's organic whole milk yogurt. The vanilla is his favorite and it kinda tastes like frosting.
He likes steamed veggies with butter and seasoning.
Also, I make homemade banana muffins and zucchini bread that he loves. I mix whole wheat flour in with the white flour so he gets his grains.
We bought him his own table when he was about 16 months and he eats his snacks there and enjoys it. He sits at it and eats the muffins and zucchini bread. He also likes to snack on cheerios and goldfish at his table while he plays.
He's about 24 pounds at 21 months, and it took us a while to get past 20 pounds also. If you'd like my recipe for the banana muffins or zucchini bread my email is ____@____.com
Good Luck,
W.:)

When by daughter was 18 months she was the size of a 6 mo old and would not eat. But we later found out she was so allergic to alot of foods and was associted it is stomach aches and diahrea. Until we gave her food shots she continued not to eat (sometimes 3 days at a time) we kept her on baby foramula afor about 5 years. At least she was getting nutrients in that. She did eat watermeon alot and loved it. That is mostly water but good also. We would also give her peridiate alot.
See an allegist for testing.

My daughter was diagnosed with failure to thrive also. she is a 19 month old who ways 17lbs. She is very long though. We went to a specalist and they told me to put her on pediasure because you get all the neccisary vitamins and minerals even though they are not eating solids. he also told me to try everyday something new so she can get use to texture. It could be a testure problem for you also. good luck!!

Sounds like she's just a small person. My child is small framed but tall & that's just her stature, does it REALLY matter how 'large' she is? For one thing medical experts are not really expert on everything, especially how 'large' a child is supposed to be because they usually don't take in consideration or account that child's family size history or how small/large their frame/bone structure is. They usually only refer to a chart that's given to them. Obviously, there's someone down the line that must've been small framed or perhaps your child's father's family if you two are not. For example take me for instance, I'm 5'8, I went to school with two other girls who are also 5'8. You now have 3 people, all 5'8" one is small boned/framed, one is broadly built/large boned/framed & I'm technically medium framed (pre-baby & hypothyroidism). We are ALL the same height but need to weigh different amounts. Take me, the medium built person, I should actually weigh between 135-155 but can weigh up to 165 for a little padding but the smaller person (someone I went to school with) should only weigh 105-115 & the broad built/larger boned girl weighs over 160 to about 175 so if I (the medium built person) were to actually weigh as little as my former school mate (the small framed person), I'd actually be anorexic or sick in the hospital from malnutrition. The least I've weighed as a grownup was probably around 132-135 & wasn't eating hardly ANYthing & really wasn't hungry to eat a whole lot & although I looked VERY tiny I was healthy, plus I was getting a lot of exercise too. If I weighed as much as my larger boned former schoolmate, I'd be overweight & pudgy so bone structure/frame size DOES matter. Just because your child doesn't weigh as much as another the same height doesn't mean they're underweight, it just means that's the way they're made. Just because your child is one who eats small amounts doesn't mean there's something wrong, my child eats very little, so does my neice & they're fine, in fact my neice is a bit on the pudgy side but she's always been pudgy, even as an infant so it may be her bone structure making her that way too, my two cousins are complete opposites. One is tall (5'9"), blond & thin, looks like a model & the sister is shorter (maybe 5'5"), redhead & always been pudgy, even as an infant. Why are you so concerned at such a young age (less than 2 yrs old) that she's eating as much as an older toddler should? I wouldn't worry about it. A child will only eat as much as they want or need, I would stop trying to force them to eat more than they want or apparantly need. Do you feed a pet such as a dog/puppy or cat/kitten more than the package says? They're just like people, you put out a lot of food, they're either going to eat too much & get fat, especially if they don't get much exercise or most likely only going to eat what they need or want, especially if they're on the active side. I wouldn't worry about it. The tests are negative, plus as long as your child is eating 'right' & gets some form of exercise, that's all that matters.

My daughter did the exact same thing at about the same age. My daughter was and still is at about the 5th percentile in the weight for her age when she is eating well. In the height category she is in about the 25th percentile. When she went through the period where she was under the growth chart, we also had to give her the pediasure daily and track her eating habits. She drank pediasure for about a year. Like you, there was really nothing I could do but continue to offer healthy choices and try a variety of foods to see if there was something that might interest her. It was very stressful at the time, but she eventually outgrew the phase of not wanting to eat and is now a very healthy eater. She is still a small girl, but she eats well. Good luck to you. My biggest piece of advice would b to not let food become an "issue." It is food, not a reward or a bribe or anything to get worked-up about. Your daughter will eat. You've had her tested and so the issue, most likely just as it was with my daughter, is merely that she is interested in other things, is a small girl, and food is not the most important part of her life. You've heard it before, but it is true... she'll grow out of this.

Hi R..

This is coming from a mom who was in the same boat and this in going to be blunt. You need to do exactly what the nutritionist is telling you to do. By omitting the pediasure because your daughter gets too full and doesn't eat is completely defying the purpose of the pediasure. Pediasure is one COMPLETE meal which has all the vitamins, proteins, and minerals she neds for that meal. The reason you were referred to a nutritionist is because what you are doing is not working. If you continue to do what you are doing instead of following the orders from your pediatrician and your nutritionist, your next referral will be to a pediatric gastroenterologist who will have to surgically insert a PEG tube directly into your childs stomach so that you can syringe to feed her PEDIASURE. Now, wouldn't you rather her drink it than have to go through an envasive pocedure?

I would see another pediatrician from another office for a second opinion - have any other children in the family been this way?

Failure to thrive is serious and caused by different things. Trust your instincts.

Good luck, you are doing the right thing to keep after this to find out what (if anything) is wrong. It sounds like the issue lies with her appetite, but I know that is hard to control. Keep after the doctors until they give you a better answer - you are right, you can not force a child her age to eat something so you need more help. Let the doctor know what the nutritionist said and that your child won't eat those things, so what now?

Take care, and keep working on your baby and take care of yourself too.

I honestly really don't know what advice to give you other than if she's healthy and the doctor doesn't find anything wrong with her, then she's just a petit person. My almost 6 year old was diagnosed with the same thing and very much like your daughter, didn't eat. We basically did the same thing you're doing now, giving her the Carnation Instant Breakfast. She will be 6 in one month and she only weighs 34 pounds. Last year, she was the smallest in her entire kindergarten class and was always asked if she went to pre-k, LOL. She didn't like that, but she's healthy and happy. The only problem I've had with her is during winter months finding her pants that won't fall off her waist that are long enough and don't look like she's waiting for a high tide!! Just bear with her and keep trying to offer her new foods. My daughter only recently started eating better. BTW, one of my best friend's daughters was also diagnosed with failure to thrive and she just so happens to be the TALLEST kid in her kindergarten class!!!

Have you had her checked for juvenile diabetes?
My little sister was diagnosed with it when she was three and it hit us like a ton of bricks. We had no idea why she was not gaining weight (even though she ate like a little bird, she should not have been THAT small) and NO ONE had any answers for us until she slipped into a diabetic coma and almost died in the emergency room.

Good Luck!!
S.

Hi R.,
i say back to the DR and a specialisist ,there ia a reason she is not eating or gaining weight they just hav'nt

found it yet keep up the faith they will ,there are many thingsi'm sure that can cause this
good luck L.

I hate to offer advice in case something really is medically wrong with your daughter - but here I go, anyway :). A couple of my kids have been small. My youngest followed the exact same route as your daughter. Almost identical weight and age - we practice attachment parenting and extended breastfeeding (I breastfed him until he was 3). Anyway, the pediatrician I was seeing was doing all of these tests (all of which came back negative) and finally he told me to stop breastfeeding. He told me to do the ensure stuff. Breastfeeding, he said, was preventing the child from eating. Wouldn't the ensure also prevent him from eating, by filling him up? When I asked that, the doctor stumbled and muttered as if he had never considered that. Luckily, this is my fifth child and so I simply went to see another doctor. He said my child was obviously healthy and fine and kids come in alls hapes and sizes. He said it was normal for kids that age to eat very little and not to worry about it, and said, "At least you're still breastfeeding him. That is great." My little one is now 4-years-old and is probably still considered small for his age....but he is a little powerhouse of activity and definitely thriving - even though I know that if I were to take him back to that same pediatrician, he might tell me he is failing to thrive. So my advice is to follow your instincts: if your child seems healthy to you, he probably is. I'm guessing he binges every now and then....also normal for kids that age. See another doctor. It could make all the difference. Also, I know that there is a lot of concern sometimes that these difficulties will carry over into adulthood - but I truly think for the most part that most of these things resolve themselves naturally, without intervention. I don't know any adults walking around with "texture" issues (even though I imagine there are some) but there are a TON of kids with food texture issues (I hear it all the time from friends). So that seems to indicate that this is not all that abnormal and it does usually go away.

There are a couple of things that might be helpful. When I worked with a toddler with failure to thrive, his feeding pattern was changed and he did well.

Before, his mom would feed him early, before the rest of the family (he was child number 3)would eat. She put him in his high chair and spoon fed him. If he insisted to feed himself, she would only allow dry foods.

After recommending that she allow her son to feed himself and for him to eat with the rest of the family, he began to eat more and more regularly. Turning mealtime into a family event might have helped him. Also, he would eat what everyone else was eating rather than a prepackaged "graduate" meal (another change).

Or maybe he just got through it on his own.

Either way,here are a couple of suggestions that might help.

are you giving her regular milk? when my daughter was about 18 months old she had similar symptoms. all she would do was drink milk, so that is what i gave her, but sh got thinner & thinner, and they determined she was allergic to milk, so my remedy to get her to eat was making her sicker. ask your doctor if you can have her on formula to help her gain weight. that episode scared me to death and i was very worried and thought she was dying. almost immediately after switching her to formula, she was up and running again and began to gain weight.

Try not to let this worry you too much. My daughter, now one month from being 10 yrs old, only weighs 54 lbs. She still wears size 6x-7 in pants and shirts. when she was 5 yrs old she could still wear 6 month shorts and 12 month - 3t shirts and 2T- 3T pants. Her doctor never worried about it and told me to make sure she drank plenty of fluids and just let her eat what ever and when ever she would. and there were times she barely ate or drank anything and times when her appetite would pick up just a little bit. She is just going to be small until and if she hits a growth spurt in her teens.

I haven't read through all of the posts, but I agree with some of them I've read that said to get a 2nd opinion. My uncle was always small for his age & had lots of health problems, so when my youngest bro started following that path, my dad had serious issues with it. My parents went through 3 or 4 different docs not knowing what was wrong, until they finally found the one that my sis still takes my nieces to now, who said that he's just fine. He's just a bit smaller than other kids his age & will eat when he wants to. They had ruled out all other issues with the tests the other docs had run. All of us were really small framed, but he was really tiny. When my hubby & I started dating, my bro was 11, but James thought he was about 5- he was that small!! Once he hit his late teens, he finally hit a growth spurt & is now about average size at 5'8" and 120 lbs. He's been perfectly healthy all his life, just rather small for his age.

I also had a close friend who went through the same thing with her son. She was freaking out b/c he was so small & wouldn't eat and the doc didn't help either (this was her first child also!). When she finally just let it go & he figured out he couldn't get the attention from stressing Mommy & Daddy out, he started eating. He's now 4 and just fine- healthy appetite & all!

I'm sure it will straighten itself out. I believe in letting nature take its course if you've already ruled out any major medical issues.

Blessings to you & your little one!

I will say a prayer for your little bit. It might just be the food she is given she dosent care for the taste?!? I would try to feed her things other than carbs prehaps. Is she the age where she can eat finger foods. Trying gerber stage approperiate foods. Also a book called Deceptivaly Delishous by Jessica Seignfeild ( Jerry Siegnfeild's wife) looked like it would be a good book. She puts pureed food into chicken nuggests, mashed potatoes, cookies and other foods. I saw it at SAM's for about fifteen dollars. Also try having food avalible to her all the time till she fattens up. Our son just had his check up and he is a wopping 22lbs at 6 1/2 months and the doctor said we dont have to put him on a diet yet. Perhaps our kids are just growing at different rates. Mine is huge and yours is tiny. Dont fret too much and leave it up to God to guide you to figuring out the best thing for your child. Sorry your going threw this with her. God bless your little one!

Ask your pharmacist to suggest a natural appetite stimulant for your toddler.
There are appetite stimulants available on script from your doctor, but they do have side effects.
Perhaps you could consider keeping a food diary of what your toddler actually consumes in a day and then returning to the doctor with this information. He may decide to refer you to a nutritional expert.
Ensure that she is getting a daily paediatric vitamin supplement (Vit B is a good appetite stimulant actually), not snaking between meals with sugary things which would suppress her appetite for proper food and disguise her food - i.e. mash carrot into mashed potato, give her french toast to get her to eat eggs...etc. You'll have to be creative and even use sprinkles over veggies!

Hello. My almost 2 year old is also very underweight. I think he was 16lbs 10 oz. at a year and 18 lbs at 18 months. We finally were able to turn him around in his car seat at 21 months. I think he has finally had a little growth spurt and is 21 or 22 pounds but we will see at his 2 year check up in a couple of weeks. We were never given a diagnosis of failure to thrive, even though his weight has not been on the charts since he was about 6 months old. Our pediatrician just seemed to think that his metabolism is high and he burns up everything he eats. He is also a very active little guy and did everything early and never stops moving. He is also, a picky eater and we have days, where I wonder how he is still bouncing off the walls without any calories. Our pediatrician suggested continueing to give him the one pediasure per day, but only right before bed so it doesn't interfere with his meals the rest of the day. If your daughter has been tested and everything seems to be ok, I wouldn't worry about it so much. Especially, if her energy seems to be fine and she's really active. Hopefully, she will get a little less picky as she gets older. Hope this helps.
Good luck with everything.

Hi R.,

It is very hard dealing with a child who just won't eat. When my son was born he barely weighed 4lbs and I have had a constant battle to get him to eat. I have managed to incorporate extra calories into his diet since he has been on solid food by giving Grapeseed oil in a syringe. I started off with 2ml a day and slowly progressed until he was getting one tablespoon, each table spoon of the oil provides him with 120 extra calories. I mixed it with pureed fruit and gave him a little at a time. Increase the amount slowly as she could get a runny tummy if you increase it too fast. Grapeseed oil is high in omega 3's which is very good for brain development and is pretty tasteless. You can mix it in anything she enjoys eating. He is now almost 2 and weighs about 26lbs.

It is hard work and very frustrating. I had the most success by syringe feeding him until his body got used to the extra calories and started demanding more food. Now I just add it to his dessert at night :)

Also try feed her something small every hour during the day. Don't just wait to feed her at lunch time. See if she will eat any small cube size pieces of cheese (About 0.25 inches square.) You can also squish cheese into the center of the cheerios and you could also put peanut butter in the middle :)

Hang in there. It does become easier

I hope this helps. I'll keep you in my prayers.

My daughter was deemed underweight by her pedi at 15 months, although never in a percentage anywhere close to 'failure to thrive'. Her pedi even told me I was feeding her too healthy and I needed to up her milk fat and calories even if that meant putting her more sugar in her diet. So I never gave her any food plain... jam, butter, or PB on her bread/toast, butter on noodles, sugar cereal mixed in with plain cheerios, ice-cream after every meal, American cheese for every snack, melted on vegetables or bread. If I found something she liked, I offered it to her every 2 hours (or told her daycare to). She was offered a bottle 3 times a day (yep bottle until she pushed it away at 18 months, because her pedi told me that our focus was not to disruhpt her eating or the way she was used to eating). Ha, tere was one night I made mac & cheese with creme fraise and whole milk (OMG, it was really yummy!) My husband told me that she was either going to gain weight or have a coronary...!

Next time we went to her check up, I was feeling optimistic from all my attention to her diet. No change (except that she had gotten more congested and had several sinus infections during those months). I felt so down on myself. It turns out she has an allergy to cows milk... And there I was feeding her as much dairy as I could!

Assuming your daughter doesn't have any milk/food allergies, I would up her icecream, butter, cheese in take and see if that makes a difference. Failure to thrive is serious.

I'm sorry i dont have any advice to give you but i just wanted to let you know that you're not alone. My aunt has a daughter who just turned 2 on the 21st and she still weighs 17 pounds. They have done a million different tests and just like ur baby everything came back normal. My aunt has been asking me what to do and i have no idea what to tell her. Her little one will barely eat and is just not growing. Well just thought i'd let ya know you're not the only one out there dealing with this. Good luck i hope you get some very good advice and if you do come across any good advice plz let me know so i could tell my aunt. Thanks and may God bless you and your family

I am so sorry for your troubles. Have you tried sweetening things with honey or adding peanut butter? Have you tried sweet fruits? I hope you find a solution.

My nephew was diagnosed with FTT at 8 months. His Pedi sent him to a Speech Therapist, they are the ones that work with kids that are "picky eaters". Often these children have issues with the texture of different foods. It is very important that you get a second opinion or a prescription to go to a specialist. My nephew is getting better, but he goes to therapy twice a week. My mother is a nutritionist and says that food aversions in children should be resolved as soon as possible...as it often will continue to be a problem for a lifetime if left un-checked.

Get that second opinion...and try any food that your child is interested in. Best of luck.

R.,

For what it's worth, both of my girls are/have been less than the 3rd percentile on height and weight. My 2-year old still is, and my oldest finally jumped up on the scale when she hit 3 or 4.
I discussed it with my pediatrician, and explained that I'm only 5'2", and my grandmother was a whopping 4'10". My girls are not going to be AMAZON Children. (She laughed and agreed.) They are also VERY active, so they've always been very lean.

My two year old was 21 pounds at her checkup earlier this month (and BARELY has any hair, to boot!), and her pedi commented on her size. . . that she's considerably larger than her sister was at this age. (I don't remember the exact numbers, but I THINK she was probably about 19 pounds at her 2-year checkup.)

I've always been a very instinctual parent, and will tell any mother - go with your gut. If YOU think that your daughter is doing just FINE, but is just petite, then don't sweat it. If you do still worry, then get a second opinion. Just be sure and offer her a good variety of healthy foods, and don't feel compelled to force feed her, just to make her grow. She'll get there in her own time.

And don't forget - every child is different. My niece and nephew were always well above the 90th percentile. ;-)

Best wishes!
M.

My daughter was also diagnosed as failure to thrive at 18 months, weighing less than 17.5 pounds. An x-ray diagnosed her with rickets (vitamin D deficiency). Have you had her checked? Apparently, 40% of all Americans across all age groups are now being diagnosed vitamin D deficient due to our skin cancer concerns (lack of sunlight without sunscreen). My daughter was put on a vitamin D supplement and has gained 2 pounds in the last 3 months! A blood test will confirm lesser deficiencies and is probably worth a check.

I'm just the old grandma, but some times I think that the growth charts main purposes is to freak out moms. Have the dr.s taken into account your family history of body size. If your child is doing things like walking and talking at appropriate times, is that being considered? My grandma always said that "you don't get big plow horses from shetland ponies" Some children are just small. Use common sense and don't make food an issue. Offer as varied diet as you can and if you find something she likes let her have as much as she wants. She probably gets supplementsl vitamins that will take care of any small deficiencies in the short term. Save your grocery money for the time she figures out food. Good luck