Do they ever catch up to their average-sized peers in weight? DS is still measuring really small for his age and I don't know what I can do about it. I feed him on demand until he indicates that he is full and he feeds often during the day. Hearing his percentile at his checkup today really took the wind out of my sails.
Post by winemaker06 on Sept 5, 2014 4:42:40 GMT -5
How old is he? My kid is 7 months and has never been on the charts. But he's following his own curve so the doctor has no concerns at all. He's happy and healthy and has more than enough dirty diapers! He was just under 14 pounds at 6 months. He was 5 lbs 13 oz at birth, so not ridiculously small.
Is your pedi concerned at all? I don't know how small you're talking, but if you have concerns definitely bring it up with them.
I'm trying to enjoy the fact that he stays in each size of clothes for a long time ! :-)
Yes, he is catching up. He was 5 lbs 13 oz when he was born and at his 4 month appt, he was 14 lbs, 8 oz. He is in the 30th percentile for weight, but his Dr commented that he is gaining weight really well.
He is 10 lbs even at 9w, which puts him in the third percentile. He dropped a lot of weight in the first few days after birth (he was down to 5 lbs 8 oz) and we've been playing catchup ever since. His pedi said he's on his curve but that third percentile number is killing me.
It depends why he was small. He might just be a smaller person. My sister went through a lot of grief with her first daughter, even gave up BFing, because everyone was trying to get her to pack weight on the baby. My sister is a bigger/taller framed person and her DHs side is full of petite people and the baby was just petite as well. Nothing wrong with her!!
Post by countthestars on Sept 5, 2014 6:07:15 GMT -5
If his pedi isn't concerned, I wouldn't borrow trouble. Someone has to be at the top and the bottom of every bell curve. I don't think newborn height and weight has a ton of correlation to adult size
Post by hokiegirl82 on Sept 5, 2014 6:23:09 GMT -5
DS was in the 2% range for his age/weight at his 2 month checkup, but the pedi says he is right on track. He was 5 lbs 11 oz at birth, and eats like a horse, and the pedi says he's growing at the right rate, he's just a little guy. I kinda like having a little guy, even still at 3 months old. Try not to worry about it too much - if the pedi says he's doing fine, I'd just KOKO.
Claire was 5lbs 9oz at birth (born at 37.5 weeks). I think she was in the 1st % for weight and 3rd for height. She has slowly been catching up at each appointment.
She is now in the 37th % for height and 16th for weight at 19 months.
Her twin sister is much higher up on the growth chart- the girls both eat the exact same things (in fact Claire tends to eat more than Audrey) Claire is just a petite person.
Post by karinothing on Sept 5, 2014 6:48:30 GMT -5
DS was 5lbs 14 oz and 18inches at birth, he was full term and not really on the charts for both weight and height. At 3, he is still below the 10% for height, but I think his weight is like 40% (he is a very solid kid). I am pretty sure he is never going to catch up height wise.
Nothing wrong with being small! I think the problem with the % chart is we here 5% or whatever and think it is bad. But it isn't bad at all. There is just a range of kids you know? It doesn't mean something is wrong with them.
Post by dcrunnergirl52 on Sept 5, 2014 7:29:31 GMT -5
My twins (DD and DS1) were born at 5lbs 4oz and 5lbs 14oz at 36w4d, and they both caught up. By 6 months, DS1 was up to the 66% and DD was at the 19%. By 3 years old, DS1 was in the 95% for height and weight and DD was in the 75% for both.
On the other hand, DS2, who was born at 37w6d and weighed 7lbs 8oz, is currently on track to be smaller than DS1. Kids just all grow at their own rates.
DD was 5lbs 14oz at birth (37 weeks) and she is catching up. But honestly, I never stress about weight gain unless the pedi is concerned. Some kids are just going to be small!
Ditto what others have said--someone has to be at the top and bottom of the bell curve and as long as they're growing along their own curve, it's not a problem. My baby was 5 lb 12 oz and remains in 3rd percentile for height and weight at 3 months old now. She's right on track with her weight gain and growth so I'm happy. If she jumps up in percentiles that's fine but this is just the size she is!
Post by loskadoodle on Sept 5, 2014 8:03:53 GMT -5
Ds was 6.15 at birth and got down to 6.3. He has never been more than 15% for weight and that was at like 1 month. He was 3% at his 2 year appt. dr is t concerned as he is meeting all of his milestones. Btw, I ebf til 5 months and he was fully in formula by 8 months and nothing changed.
Anecdote but my two were basically the same weight at birth (7lbs 10oz and 7lbs 11oz) but have had totally different growth curves. My dd is off the charts big, 50 lbs at 4 yrs and my ds is exactly 50% at every checkup. Easier said than done but if the dr isn't worried then I wouldn't stress over it.
My little 4 pound 4 oz. baby caught up. He is not a huge baby now by any means, but at 10 months he is 21 pounds and somewhere in the middle of the "normal range".
My oldest has stayed pretty small (0-5th percentile) She is 8, and a fiesty little thing. I'm 5'4 and DH is 6'. I predict she'll hit puberty a little later than her peers (heredity, yo) but still hit average height.
Thanks for the reassurances. Our families are all over the place in terms of height and weight so we don't really know where he's going to land. Small is cool, I can do small. Easier to lug him around.
I was induced at 38.5w because he had stopped growing in utero. I think there's some residual guilt there on my part - that he's small because my body couldn't accommodate anything bigger. I know I need to let that go.
bowies, ugh, there is so much guilt that comes with parenthood, isn't there? You birthed a healthy baby boy, and there is nothing wrong with your body! I have a bigger boy so don't have personal experience with this, but I agree that low percentile isn't problematic as long as he's gaining. I can certainly imagine how hearing "3rd %ile" would be upsetting, though.
On the other side of things, I had monthly growth u/s because my fundal height measurements suggested that M might be huge (he wasn't). OB said that if the u/s showed his weight >90th %ile, he would induce at 39 weeks. Apparently all fetuses in the top 10% are diagnosed with macrosomia? I was annoyed with this because, like small babies, 10% of babies have to be in the top 10%. LOL. Luckily he ended up being just a bit on the bigger side, so this didn't become an issue.
I think that we get hung up on percentiles because it makes us think of taking the SAT or something. everyone wants to be in the 90s, percentile-wise. You're certainly not going to a good college with a score at the 5th percentile haha. But size is meant to be a curve with no values attached to either end! Hugs.
Post by mainelyfoolish on Sept 5, 2014 9:01:40 GMT -5
My DD was 6 lbs. 2 oz. at birth and 18 lbs. at a year. She's been slowly, steadily increasing her growth chart position over the years to where she is a pretty average six year old.
ETA: I answered the question you asked, but it's not indicative of my parenting. My kids eat what they eat (my DS was also a small newborn; I just have small babies). As long as a child is keeping to a growth curve, be it 1%, 50%, or 99%, it's ok. Kids grow in all different ways.
Post by dragonfly08 on Sept 5, 2014 9:04:33 GMT -5
They can definitely catch up.
My oldest was my big baby...8 lbs. 6 oz. Her younger sister was the peanut at 6 lbs. 10 oz.
I don't remember how long it took, but definitely by 18 months if not earlier they'd settled into their "normal" growth pattern. They're 10 and 8 years old now, and #1 is 25th% while #2 is in the 95th% (height and weight). They're three years apart in age and almost the same size. :-)
E was born at 37.2w at 5lbs 1/2oz. She is 6 1/2 months and 12lb 5oz. She is tiny. Not even on the charts for weight and at 4% for height (24.5in now). She feeds on demand as well. We are continually labelled at "poor weight gain", but since she is meeting all of her developmental milestones, the pedi is not worried about it and we stopped weight checks at 5 months. Just keep doing what you are doing. As long as LO is meeting milestones, everything should be fine. Remember, percentiles always mean that someone has to be in the 1%. Some people are small and that's ok!
DD was a week and a half late and weighed 7 lbs, 3 oz., so not as small as your DS but on the smaller for her gestational age (we know the exact date of conception).
She had severe reflux which didn't help but she's also just a small kid. The only time our pedi was concerned was when she was dropping off her curve. So long as she was on her curve, the pedi was totally fine with her weight.
Some kids are just small It hasn't hurt DD, she's always been early for gross and fine motor skills and knew her whole alphabet (sing the ABCs and could independently name all uppercase letters without assistance...she spelled Target the other day, lol) and could count to 20 by the time she was 2. AND, bonus, we get to wear shoes and clothes for a LONG time
As long as a child is keeping to a growth curve, be it 1%, 50%, or 99%, it's ok. Kids grow in all different ways.
Our pedi keeps reminding me of this at each appointment, and it's so true. DD was 6lbs 9oz at birth and has stayed on the 10th percentile growth curve since then. It's important to compare her to her, not to the 99th percentile kid next door.
Is your baby ebf? If so, you should ask if they have the growth charts for breast fed babies. If they don't, it's not an accurate percentile anyway. I was surprised that my pedi office does not have them in their system, they are usually up to date with things! But, I do agree that all kids grow at their own rate and some are just small.
My 4 yr old was 7 lbs when he was born and at 6 months he weighed 19 lbs. I was nervous that I was feeding him to much, etc... Well, at his 1 yr he weighed 22 lbs. he is now perfectly average for height and weight. Try not to worry about it!
Post by hockeywife on Sept 5, 2014 11:50:10 GMT -5
DS was 5.2 and 18" at birth. Born at 36wks.
He has always been in the less than 1%tile for both height and weight. However, at his 6mo appt he was 13.9 and 25". Still less than 1% for weight, but a whopping (lol) 6%tile for height!
My middle son was not tiny but was smallish (6lbs.6oz. at birth, full term). He is still on the small side and smaller than my other kids at the same ages (my other boys were 7lbs.4oz. at birth and 7lbs.1oz., so none of them were huge). He is around the 25% now (at 4 yo) for height and weight. Conversely, my 7lbs.4oz. kid is now like 90% for height and 75% for weight.
My boys have stayed on the small end of the growth charts. 11th and 5th percentile. I worry a bit about them getting picked on. They take after MH, who is in marvelous shape and healthy. He doesn't gain weight easily either. Bad when you're young but nice when you're an adult.
Post by formerlyak on Sept 5, 2014 12:18:23 GMT -5
My older son was always between the 5th and 20th percentile. He just turned 8 and is now average for his age, so he did catch up eventually. He was 6 lbs 11 oz at birth.
My younger son was even smaller at birth. He was 6 lbs 7 oz at birth and 5 lbs 15 oz when we left the hospital. My dh is an engineer so I have an app to tell me the following. For the first month, all his weight measurements were under 10th percentile (at the 2 week appointment he was 4th percentile). He was sick this week, so he was weighed again on Tuesday at the doctor and his current weight put him at the 41st percentile so he does seem to be catching up a bit.
Post by hopecounts on Sept 5, 2014 12:26:25 GMT -5
DD, is petite, she was 6 lbs 8 at birth and has remained petite, height is starting to catch up but still on the short side. For her it is totally genetic, DH and our Donor are both on the smaller side so as our ped says 'I wouldn't expect a big kid with her genes' Ped only got concerned one time and that was due to her dropping off her own weight curve, we met with a dietician and did some tweaking and she got back on track. Since then she has remained pretty consistent in her percentile so no one is worried since she is consistently growing just staying on her natural growth curve.
My kids started around 50th from birth to 6 months, then trail down to 10th and hold steady. DS is still about 10th percentile at 3 years old. I don't expect him to catch up until he's about 20 years old based on his dad and uncles. DD is a bit taller, but she's likely to be "short" until puberty.
They're easier to carry, so it works in my favour.