Who has/had a low weight young baby?

[zeewifeandmama]

I don't know if this counts but my DS was 6lb 11oz at birth and just had his 4 month appt and was 14 lb even. He's growing for sure...most babies catch up by one year.

[karinothing]

DS was 5lbs 14oz at birth. I can't remember exactly where he was at each month, but I know for a while he wasn't on the chart adn then he was hovering just under the 5th percentile. Finally at this 12 month he moved up to the 10th percentile but the doctor isn't concerned. Someone has to be at the bottom end of the spectrum and it happens to be him. DS is also like 10th percentile for height so he looks pretty proportionate. He is 20.7lbs and 27 3/4 inches at 12 months.

[dcrunnergirl]

My babies were 5lbs4oz (DD) and 5lb14oz (DS) born at 36w4d. They were both caught up by about 3-4 months in terms of size (even earlier for DS--he seemed to grow overnight around 3 months).

By 6 months, DS was in the 68th percentile and DD was in the 39th percentile.

At 2 years old, DS was in the 97th percentile for weight and 71st percentile for height (he's shaped like a barrel like DH).

At 2 years old, DD was in the 75th percentile for weight and 71st percentile for height

In terms of milestones, they've always been on the slower end of normal, with DS having a speech delay that requires speech therapy, but he's almost all caught up. But, I don't attribute that to them being born a bit early or small. There's a good chance he would have needed it anyway. Neither DH nor I were particularly early on meeting milestones.

[crazygame]

My daughter has been less than 10% for weight her entire life. She was 6 lbs 8 ozs at birth. She is two years old and still in 18 month clothing. But she has always grown consistently and her pediatrician is not worried. He even gave us the okay to switch to 2% milk. She walked early and is way ahead in talking. She's just small. It makes it easier to lug her around now. No idea what I'd do with a 30 lb or bigger baby.

[pugz]

squirms was 5lbs12oz at birth and is now 13lbs3oz, she is 25th percentile for weight, I bet she'll catch up someday. I don't worry about it.

lightweight babies are so easy to carry

[redheadk]

DD was 7lb 3oz at birth. She has reflux and she was a slow gainer at first. She'll be 4 months on Saturday and is probably about 11.5lbs at this point. She is still firmly in 0-3month clothes.

She's petite all over, though, so the pedi isn't concerned. Her length/weight ratio is something like 21% which doesn't sound as bad as the 8% or whatever she was for weight last time. She has good muscle tone, some little fat rolls on her arms and legs and never.stops.moving. She's perfectly healthy, just small.

[Deleted]

DS has slowly sunk on the chart - started off around 50th percentile, crept down to about 25th at 6 months, and now is closer to 10th.

I don't think the goal is to "catch up". At least not until growth slows as a toddler. It is nice when he wants to be carried around that he's only 22 lb.

[frlcb]

DS was 6lbs13oz at15 days late, so he has always been small. He is 4.5 and is in the 4% for height and weight, he is just 30 lbs. To put it into perspective my 19 month old daughter is 24 lbs, so they will likely be the same size sooner than later even though they are 3 years apart in age.

[eddy]

Leo was born at 36 weeks. He was 5 lbs 12 oz. At his 4 month appt he was in the 15 percentile for weight and 3 percentile for height. Our ped told us by age 2 we will never know he was an early baby size wise. It just takes some time for them to catch up.

Developmentally he is right on target.

[liveintheville]

Eh both of mine are on the small side. Kid 1 was 5lb 12oz and Kid 2 6.5lbs.
They're both under 3% still at 5 and 2. But they're staying on their own curve. We saw pedi GI and a nutritionist when they were younger. But now that they're 5 and 2 we don't.
Oh the 5 year old is 33lbs and the 2.5 year old is 25lbs. They'll probably always be small.

[Deleted]

DD was 5 lb 12 oz full term (40 weeks 1 day and I am 100% sure my dates were accurate). I don't remember her weights during the first year but I know she was under 10% for the first 6 months and under 25% for the last 6. I never worried about it, somebody's got to be on the small end of the growth chart. Having a 5% baby is no weirder than having a 95% baby. She is now closer to 70% for height and weight.

The only thing that really sucked was that we had a longer separation after the birth so they could do some extra testing on her due to her birth weight. They also had to give her formula in the hospital because she had low blood sugar, and I overreacted thinking she was DOOOOOOOOOOMED to never breastfeed because of it. (In reality, she actually never took a bottle. Crazy.)

They do want to do some extra growth monitoring toward the end of this pregnancy just to see what is going on in there and try to prevent me from having another teeny tiny baby. Honestly I wouldn't mind having another tiny one except for the separation after birth and the blood sugar worries. We'll see what happens.

[w2w]

My child was 10 weeks early and teeny tiny (not even close to on the chart). He is now over a year and in the 60th percentile for his actual age.

[mie]

My oldest and youngest are on the smaller side when it comes to weight and my middle child is probably more on the "normal" curve. The doctor has never been concerned because they follow their own curve and they meet milestones.

[atouchofklasse]

My kid was 5/13 at birth and 8/8 at two months. He's now 98% height and 76% weight. He's huge.

Don't worry.

[Deleted]

This post makes me said. It's making me realize that my preemie may never catch up size wise. Developmentally he is right on track though.

[ijack]

Nov 14, 2012 16:46:04 GMT -5 vigurl said:

This post makes me said. It's making me realize that my preemie may never catch up size wise. Developmentally he is right on track though.

mine hit the weight chart at 3. and really that's only because the chart levels off - it's kind of funny to me that 31lbs at 4.5 years is "on the charts."
The goal isn't really for them to catch up (this is directed at Starry too), it's to have them follow the same growth pattern. A big weight gain or loss usually isn't healthy, so really you just want them following their curve.

[karinothing]

I ditto the no need to catch up. People come in all shapes and sizes. Nothing wrong with being small. As an adult I would probably rather be in the 10% for weight than the 90th

[sewpinkgal]

I'll echo the others that you just want them following their curve. Somebody has to be on the low end of the charts and my son is there (btwn 3-8th percentile for weight depending on the appt). I get being a bit confused by a smaller baby if you were a big baby - I was over 10lbs at birth, took J 12 weeks to hit my birthweight I was all kinds of worried about it when he was a bit younger, but have gotten much better at just accepting it. He's meeting milestones, so it's all good.

[pamela]

DS was 6lb 9oz at birth. He then proceded to gain 4lb in his first 4 weeks. Holy crap.

But like ijack said, it's a pattern that matters, not just the percentile.

[mellymel]

DS was 5 lbs 9 oz and was born at 38w1d, so technically full term. I was shocked at how little he was. Everyone in my family has big babies, we're talking 9, 10, 11 lb-ers! And I have this little 5 pounder. He was perfectly healthy though

He is currently 18 months old and 23 lbs, 31 in tall. He's perfectly fine. He was just in the lower percentiles and that's OK - he followed a normal growth curve. He actually seems so big to me now!

[Here]

My kid is consistently in the 5th percentile. Doctor is not concerned because she is gaining. I was a small kid too...not sure how I stacked up,as a baby.

She eats a lot!

[drloretta]

So not an issue. Generally speaking, as long as they're gaining or maintaining, it's nothing to worry about.

DD was 6 lb 12 oz at birth. At 2 months she was 10.5 lb. By 6 months her dr predicted she'd be "petite". She comes from pretty short stock, so I'm not terribly surprised.

She gained absolutely nothing between 9 months and 15 months. I chalk that up to her learning to walk in that interval, and more or less burning off everything she ate. She's now a petite almost-3yo and no one has batted an eye. Like the pps said, as long as they stay more or less on their own individual curve (even if on the low side) it's NBD

[mrshandy]

I was a pretty tiny baby at 5lbs6oz, my twin sister was 5lb5oz.

My mom is shocked when I tell her about DS' weight. I don't know if I ever caught up.

I'm 5'2" at a normal weight. Maybe she will just be a short person. Nothing wrong with being short.

[Deleted]

DS was 5 lbs 8 oz at birth and 5 lbs when we left the hospital. He was 10lbs @ 8 weeks and kept growing from there.

He is now 38lbs and 41 inches as a 3.5 year old.

[frlcb]

Nov 15, 2012 9:01:58 GMT -5 incogneato said:

My DD has never been above the 3rd percentile and I really don't get the upset that so many people feel about this. Being small isn't bad! I'm a smaller person- 5'2" and I like it. My DD is about 21 pounds at 2 years old. She's smart, active, and eats well. She's just petite. IMO it just makes her even more lovable and easy to carry around.

Growth charts are not a test. You don't do "well" or "poorly" on them. They just tell you how big your kid is. It's a curve. Some kids are huge, some are small, most are somewhere in between.

As my pedi says: "Somebody has to be the smallest!"

So no, DD never "caught up" but I don't expect or want her to. It's not a race.

Edited to add: DD was 5lb, 4oz born at 36 weeks and 16 or 17 lbs at a year.

I would feel differently if I had a daughter that was that small, but it is my son and I do worry about it for him. It is much more difficult to be a small man than a small woman.

[dumbledore826]

Don't worry. As long as the ped is happy with the growth rate, your LO is okay.

My DS was born at 5lbs15oz and 19 inches at 38w5d. Due to many issues, he didn't get back to his birthweight until 1 month old (literally, he was 6lbs even at his 1 month). At 2.5 months, he was still around 9lbs and in newborn clothing.

At about 6 months he hit just about 50% on both charts. Now, at almost 19 months (don't know exact bc he still hasn't has his appointment), he is probably close to 30 lbs, 30+ inches tall and is starting to outgrow 2T clothing.

Granted, I am 5'7" and DH is 6'4"

Also, my uncle (who is in his 50s) is currently 6'6" tall........he was born (full term) under 6 lbs.

Please just try not to worry.......as long as your LO is eating and gaining consistently, they will be JUST fine.

[karinothing]

Nov 15, 2012 9:48:11 GMT -5 frlcb said:

Nov 15, 2012 9:01:58 GMT -5 incogneato said:

My DD has never been above the 3rd percentile and I really don't get the upset that so many people feel about this. Being small isn't bad! I'm a smaller person- 5'2" and I like it. My DD is about 21 pounds at 2 years old. She's smart, active, and eats well. She's just petite. IMO it just makes her even more lovable and easy to carry around.

Growth charts are not a test. You don't do "well" or "poorly" on them. They just tell you how big your kid is. It's a curve. Some kids are huge, some are small, most are somewhere in between.

As my pedi says: "Somebody has to be the smallest!"

So no, DD never "caught up" but I don't expect or want her to. It's not a race.

Edited to add: DD was 5lb, 4oz born at 36 weeks and 16 or 17 lbs at a year.

I would feel differently if I had a daughter that was that small, but it is my son and I do worry about it for him. It is much more difficult to be a small man than a small woman.

I don't think that is really true. I mean my husband says he is 5'6 but I am guessing he is 5'4. He played baseball and football in HS and he didn't even reach 5 feet until his sophmore year. He continues to play sports to this day and really excels at most of them. He blames it on his low center of gravity And of course he married me and I am wonderful. My dad is also under 5'6 and he married my mom who was 5'11 or so.

There are a lot of people out there who could care less about someones height and honestly the people who do are not worth knowing. And honestly, height shouldn't stop your kid from doing anything they would do otherwise. Except maybe reach the top shelf without a stepping stool.

[aspentosh]

DD was 5lb 13oz at birth. Now at 10months she is ~15lbs. That's 5th percentile for weight. I worried for the first 2-3 months (she was EBF) but then stopped. She's doing fine and hitting milestones early or on time.

[cinco]

My oldest DD has always been tiny. 6lbs at birth, and then stayed right around the 5th percentile. At 6, she is still tiny. My other two kids are on the other end of the spectrum, holding strong in the 90th percentiles. I did nothing different.