Weight - Auburn,WA

While it is important to make sure you son is getting adequate, nutritionally dense foods keep in mind that children's weight usually does slow down a bit while they grow in height up through 5 years old. At 5 your son will likely reach a point where his body fat % is the absolute lowest it has been and ever will be in his life. Things usually begin to level out in the years after age 5 though. Don't allow food/eating to become a power struggle...just continue to offer a few different choices on his plate each meal and round off his healthy meals with planned, healthy snacks (make sure his snacks aren't always just dry cereals, crackers or other carb-heavy, empty calories). Use nut butters, avocados, olives, and unsaturated or polyunsaturated oils to cook with. By all means, if you are unsure of how to continue see a nutritionist or dietician.

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The majority of fat consumed by any baby/toddler/young child goes to their developing neural system (which is made up largely of fat, conducts electricity well). So you always (with very few exceptions) want to keep their diet high in fat.

To build body mass there needs to be lots of activity and exercise coupled with high fat / high protein diet. If there's no allergy MILK MILK MILK instead of water or juice, and whole milk is best. If there's a dairy allergy a nut milk can be substituted, but mammal milk is best.

The activity (coupled with available calcium) will promote bone density, and (with available protein) will promote muscle growth. Muscle and bone weigh more than fat, and are overall, healthier... but he still needs a LOT of fat in his diet for the mylenization of his nerves until around the age of 5 just to be safe. (Studies also show that toddlers with high fat diets tend to be thinner, healthier adults that toddlers on "adult" type lowfat diets)

A lot, however will be based on genetics. My family is Scandanavian, Ds7 was 38 inches on his 2nd birthday... and is projected to be 6'4. We're a sturdy lot on my mom's side, and my Dad's side is willowy. Sigh. Mom's genes bred true. Good for the boys, a little hard on the girls.

Great neural/muscle/bone foods for toddlers:

- Whole Milk
- Eggs
- Cheese & cottage cheese (NOT american cheese, that's just cheese flavored jell-o)
- Yogurt
- Spinach (use spinach on sandwiches instead of lettuce, costs less and is better for everyone).
- Beans & Rice (a legume+grain forms a complete protein)
- Sandwiches with mayo/spinach/meat/whole grain bread
- Highfat meats (both healthy and "unhealthy" fats... so both red meat and fish)
- Sauteeing veggies in olive oil, salt, & pepper rather than boiling... or after steaming
- Cream based curries, we tend to go for Indian or Thai curries
- soups (soups are chocablock with trace minerals from the stock, and tend to be high in fat and proteins... homemade is fantastic -we do one homemade soup a week in the winter-, but we also have a shrine to campbells in the cupboad)
- Sushi (super high in proteins, trace minerals, & healthy fats)
- Dim Sum
- Meat or Seafood Pasta

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My son is a grazers. He loves to have small amounts to munch on throughout the day. Having healthy finger foods around for him to freely eat has increased the amount he eats and he has gained healthy weight. He has always been thin, so much so that when he was in second grade and I saw him on the soccer field I thought people would think I was not feeding him properly. (I was.)

Also, we follow the Eat Right For Your Blood Type Diet. Turns out he have different foods that are beneficial and I don't even like most of his beneficials, so I wasn't working with was works for him. Once I discovered the difference and got the food lists, it was a small adjustment to include his foods in my buying habits. By introducing foods that are on the beneficial list for him (not appealing to my tastes) he eats a lot more. IE: I do well on meat and he does better w/beans, I can not eat cheese and it works just fine for him. He loves his diet and is older and quite solid now though still a naturally slim person.

Be careful of the "give him anything he'll eat" temptation. It is not worth him developing bad eating habits.

Also, remember when you put pressure on yourself or him you are going to have opposing effect - so if it worries you that he does not eat...he won't eat. It's not him its how energy works. One energy must oppose the energy that is pushing. Moving with what is happening and looking with compassion for the answer you do not create that opposing force. Worry is fear and will always be met with resistance. Compassion is not pushing, it is seeing and flowing. This is the happier female response to energy = mom's can be very good at this when we don't get caught in our worldly energy and we choose to follow our internal, maternal compassionate compass.

Provide love and support and if he really is not eating enough then get yummy vitamins for him to snack on. Foods dense in nutrition...frozen blueberries, organic licoric, carrots in ranch, nut butters etc.

Sometimes you have to push a little, in a nice way, to get your doctor to do a blood test, but there are tests that run a vitamins/mineral panel and get a good internal snap shot of any defincenties. If one lab doesn't provide it, ask your doctors office to call a lab that does. Also, you should know your child's blood type for the diet and for "just in case".

One other mom here mentioned celiacs - it is worth testing him for this now. Finding out about it now makes the rest of his life easier and healthier.

Good luck, nature doesn't always work the we "think" it should, but if we slow down and look gently there is an answer right in front of us.

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I was concerned for many years about my son. He is tall and skinny. My husband and I are normal height, but our family history says otherwise...My bio-father is 6'2" and my husband had an grandpa that was over 7' - so the height is there. So is the slenderness too. I think it just depends on what the parents genetics are that contribute to the making of your child(ren). I didn't gain all of my weight until my early 20's. Before then I was really skinny and tall.

So, as long as your son is eating right and eating healthy amounts of food and getting all of the nutrition he needs I wouldn't worry to much about it.

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The easiest way to get your child to gain weight is to just give them a lot of high calorie and highly processed foods. Tha's not a good idea though. Provide healthy food options often and your son will eat what he needs. One idea I saw in a magazine recently (Parents?) is to set out a tray of healthy options and let your toddler graze as he wants. Put things out like hummus and pita, pretzels, sectioned oranges, carrots, broccoli, etc. Things that can sit out for a couple hours without spoiling.

Some of my daughter's favorite homemade recipes that I can e-mail you if you want:
lasagna
black bean soup
sloppy lennies
brinner (pancake, veggie sausage patty, hard boiled egg)
chili
baked penne
pizza
quinoa with feta, tomato, onions, peppers, and garlic
quiche or omlettes (same thing just cooked differently)
banana bread muffins (I leave out the extra sugar)
quesadilla (cheese, corn, tomato, salsa, tortilla)
black bean burgers
sweet potato fries
butternut squash soup
sweet potato and apple bake
veggie "chicken" nuggets
tofu sticks (just plain tofu. she likes to dip in ketsup)

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Is your pediatrician concerned about his stature? That would be my first question. We have a friend whose two boys are 18 months apart, and the younger one (18 months old) is already taller and heavier than his older brother. It's just a difference in their genes and who got Moms vs. Dads.

His weight wouldn't necessarily have an impact on his height. But, there are some hormonal abnormalities that can develop in some children that can cause them to be smaller. Your pediatrician should be monitoring this and should bring it to your attention if there is concern.

Do you know where he is on the growth chart?

Also what foods are you currently feeding him? A diet higher in fats/carbs will make him gain more weight because they are more caloric than protein, but they will make him gain fat, not lean body mass (muscle).

If you stay with healther foods (if he's OK with peanut butter, that's a great source of protein, fat and carbs), lean meats, lots of fruits/veggies (edamame is a GREAT source of protein, too), you may begin to see weight gain. It's tricky as he may be prone to being a smaller kid right now.

I wish my kids had that problem. They were both chunks for the first 2 years. Our son has trimmed down nicely, but I'd always have to ask the pediatrician whether I needed to reduce their food.

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H.,

32" is not short for a 2 year old. My daughter was pretty close to 36" at 2. Her dad's whole family are super tall, 6 foot or taller.

I wouldn't worry too much about his height. As long as he eats healthy, gets lots of play time, and is happy don't worry about it. Besides, it's much easier to pick up and hold a 20 pound two year old than a 35 pound two year old.

I just went looking at the height/weight for your son and it looks like he's about the 90th percentile for height and less than the 5th percentile for weight. Ok, that wasn't as helpful as I thought it would be but I still wouldn't worry too much about it.

Hope this helps,
M.

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Doesn't sound abnormal to me. I agree to check with your doctor but my boy was 23 pounds at 2 years but 35 inches, now he's 6'2" and 145 pounds at 17 years. I remember his weight because he gained one pound from 12 months to 2 years but grew quite a bit in height. They're all differant but if you think he's healthy I wouldn't change a thing.

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Hi H.,
I am not sure what your doc says, but that is actually a pretty good height for a child at his age. But something I was told when my older son was considered "under weight" was peanut butter...which was pretty helpful...It did help him gain a little weight, but for the most part, his height was not really affected...I think each child has times when they are having more growth spurts than other times. And your son may be just not having one yet...And two weeks from now, he may gain two inches...You never know...You have to take into account, both parents' height as well...That can be a major factor in how tall your little guy is going to be...As long as he is happy and healthy and you know he is safe, I would say, let him go and grow at his own pace... :) He will make it where he needs to go. :) Best of luck! :)

My daughter was skinny and tall for a baby. But my doc didn't worry about it because she was active and curious. She was just herself. So if your son is active and curious he is probably just his correct height and weight. Later on in life he will appreciate it.

I just want to reassure you that your child is most likely fine. My oldest (who is now 15, and very healthy) has always been on the small side, the low 10% to be exact. About 2 yrs old she finally hit 20 pds and fit into 18months perfectly. All her health exams came out healthy, she is just little. Now at the age 15 she is 5ft 2in and just over 100 pounds. Look back into both sides of your family (and her dads) to see if there are any short people, its most likely a family trait. In our case her dads grandmother was barely 5ft.
Please talk to his dr of any concerns you have about your child. Our advice and support is good but its always a good idea to run this by the dr.
Oh yeah, my daughter would snack all day and would never really eat a full meal, until she got older. Kids at this age are very active and curious. My 2 1/2 yr old went on an eating srike a while back and I started giving her half a packet of Instant Breakfast in her milk in the morning. There are the Ensure drinks for kids too. These work well for a supplement to get the nutrition they need when not eating right.

I would talk to his doctor and get a second opinion if necessary. How are his bowels movements? Is he having one a day? It is hard to want to eat if you can't get rid of it. What is he eating, processed food, junk food, or homecooked food? You don't talk about how tall family members are, taht is a big indicator as to if his growth is normal. At the bar minimum get them to do a blood panel to rule out anything that can be found with that. Oh was he a term baby? That can make a difference too. Good luck.

My son was really small and my Dr. had us go see a nutritionist. A few things the nutritionist suggested to us was to add calories where we can like instead of using water to make oatmeal to use whole milk, add powdered milk to whole milk ect.

What does your sons Dr. say?

The thing that has been the most help for me is Carnation Instant Breakfast. My 2 year old is a picky eater, but she loves milk & chocolate milk. She gets whatever she'll eat for breakfast, along with a Carnation instant breakfast. She's put on weight and I like that I'm not giving her hot dogs or some other super-fatty food.

H.

This is a medical matter. He needs to see a specialist. My oldest child weighed only 16 lbs at a year just double her birth weight. She had celiac which had gone undiagnosed all that time.
She gained only six lbs over the next year. But, as soon as she "outgrew" the disease (because I adhered to the diet she had to eat and did not veer off it) she began to gain weight. She grew to a normal height.

You need to know what is keeping your son from developing.

Actually, lack of weight gain isn't likely to stunt growth unless you have a malnourished child - which I doubt ;-) Most kids at that age eat what they need and grow and gain how they will, regardless.

My older daughter was in the FIFTH percentile for weight and the 95% for height. At six months old, she was wearing 18 month jumpers (for length) and 0-3 month onesies were loose on her. I tried and tried to get her to gain. When she turned four, she (without any significant change in the foods we normally eat and activities) went from being in the 5% to the 90% in weight in about one year. The people at WIC were horrified. Once she became height/weight proportionate, she settled in and stayed that way and is just a bit plump for her height now. (I'm now told her father did the same skinny baby/normal proportions switch when he was the same age.)

My younger daughter was above 95% for both height and weight at birth and has stayed that way ever since. She only slims for growth spurts.

If you are too concerned, ask what the doctor thinks. Otherwise, you'll likely learn what I did - they are just going to grow how they are meant to.

Good luck!!!

My son is small too for his age, but don't be too worried, the charts are for formula fed babies & throw people off a lot. I started giving my son coconut milk in his yogurt, etc & goat cheese everyday & that seemed to plump him up alittle. Good luck.

Well you can't force him to eat or poke food down his throat. You just have to encourage him to eat, make sure he has foods available all day long so he can grab it when he is hungry because he won't always want to eat when you do.
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS give him a vitamin every day. The gummy ones are good because they think they are candy. When he doesn't always eat right, at least with a vitamin he is getting what his body needs to grow. His brain is still growing and developing and he needs those vitamins to develop properly.
Other than that..... the rest is up to genetics. Some kids are born to be short, some are born to be tall, some grow fast, some grow slow. Don't worry about his statue. He will be just fine. Just don't forget the vitamins.