Jessy has fallen off her growth curve :(

Jessy was 10% for weight at 3yrs. We had them to a new doctor the 18th and she is at 5% for 3.75 yrs. Any experience with this? She is at 75% for height though. Jazzis 50% for weight and 90% for height.

 

My Meghan was in 1% at 2, in the 3rd percentile at 3 and in the first again at 4. Is she still gaining weight? Or has she stayed the same? Did you talk with the doctor about it at all?

 

I have one DD that goes up/down on weight---but up in height.

I think as she goes through growth spurts she gets taller and does not put on weight as quickly---then it evens out before she does it again. Also she burns more energy in the summer....

I wouldnt worry too much unless it is persistant and/or her height does not increase as well--or she is acting ill.

My smaller DD is 5 weeks from turning 4 and is 31 lbs 40 inches. Other DD is 35.5 lbs and 41 inches.

 

Jessy is 29 bs and 40 inches and Jazz is 36lbs and 41in. She has gained 1lbs in a year. I didn't talk to the new dr about it because it wasn't until I was looking at another post that I even thought about graphing it

 

my DD isn't on the growth chart for weight and is like maaaayyyybe 30 percentile for height - and the ped said its likely she may NEVER be on the chart - but she's healthy, active and eats well so he isn't concerned about it...at 3 yrs nearly 4 mos she's 27.4 lbs...

 

One lb. in a year is something I would definitely watch. Being small isn't a problem, dropping on your own curve is. I would definitely keep an eye on her, and maybe have her back for a weight check in a month or so. If she still isn't gaining, I would start looking into why.

 

When my niece stopped gaining weight and fell off the growth charts, they started assessing her for allergies. First they thought it might be dairy , then they went on to other tests. It turned out that she had Celiac disease (her body can't tolerate gluten) and it was causing her growth and developmental delays. (They found out around the time she turned 2). I would talk to the pedi about your concerns and go from there.

 

Since Maureen and Sharon brought it up, you might want to call the new pedi and say that you were looking at your notes and it looks like she hasn't gained much in a year. When I was very young I dropped off my growth curve and I was eventually diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Your little one might just be small, but for your piece of mind letting your new doc know your concerns is probably a good thing. GL!

 

One of my close friend's girls are barely on the growth chart. Her oldest is 5 and my girls are only about 5 lbs less than she. Although her husband and she are very tall, her mother is very tiny and her mom's side of the family is small. They are very healthy girls, just don't weigh much...hopefully the same case with yours.

 

A couple of thoughts come to mind.

When we had to monitor Tal's weight - going once a month to be weighed - there was suddenly what appeared to be a drop in her weight from 5 percentile to off the chart. The nurse doing the weighing had changed office in the meantime and had a different set of scales. On my insistence, the next time we weighed Tal on both the old and the new scales and found they differed significantly. So, a new ped may mean different scales which weight a bit differently.

Also, I've found with Tal that her weight does go up / down a bit. A couple of months after her 3 year check she'd lost a pound. This worried me enough to weigh her again a month later, when she'd regained the weight. It wasn't a tummy virus or any illness, I'm not sure what caused it, but maybe some random fluctuations in weight.

The difference between 5% and 10% at this age may be small enough to be accounted for by either of these factors. But it's still worth following up upon. Maybe you could return to the old peds' office just for a weigh-in?

Good luck

 

Our girls are small. Mia is our smallest and has always been less then 3rd percentile on the growth chart for weight. At her 3 year appointment she was only 23.5 pounds (her sister is only 5 pounds more). At one point, I believe it was her 18 month appointment, she feel off her curve so the doctor ran some tests and put both the girls on Pediasure once a day. By the next appointment they had gained and since Mia's tests all came back ok she decided that she was just small and we shouldn't worry about it.

I was worried about her three year appointment but the doctor seemed happy with her growth so I am not going to worry about it. She is happy, eats and is my crazy active climbing child so her small size isn't holding her back one bit!

 

It's not the scale because she weights about the same on our home scale. She is very petite. She also has been the twin with more health problems. I'll post some pics this afternoon

 

I definitely agree that you should bring this up to the ped and discuss any potential causes for concern. It certainly would benefit her to identify anything NOW that could cause problems later. However, that said, I've NEVER, EVER weighed "what I was supposed to." Nor has DH-- I can't count the number of times we've been told that we are underweight by nurses or whatnot. When we actually discuss it with a doctor, run the tests, etc... indeed, we are both perfectly healthy, we are just thin, as are our parents, siblings, etc.

A kind of funny, though slightly offensive story- we were at Disney World waiting in line, when this woman said to DH and I, "you must not be Americans." We of course told her we were (though we were wondering what on earth was she thinking?!?) She then responded, "OH! Well you're not fat!" :woah: Now the funny part is, judging by her accent, and her lack of tact, she was definitely not from the US, and she herself was quite a bit overweight.... So while I agree that you need to make sure there's nothing else going on, it's perfectly possible she's just a little, petite thing, and that's a-ok!

 

My mom was very tiny(short as well as skinny). She weighed around 25lbs going into kindergarten. Here is the address for the pics http://jessyandjazzy.shutterfly.com/

 

Tabbi - in looking at those pictures she doesn't look sickly or spindly - in fact she barely looks shorter and smaller than her sister!!! While maybe a few tests are in order from the ped to rule anything else - my ped has been assuaging my fears for the past 3 years by asking me 3 questions - does she eat? is she active? does she seem to be keeping up with her peers as far as intelligence is concerned? In our case at least the answer to all 3 of these questions is a resounding yes...she doesn't seem to get sick any more than her brother does, she out eats him, and is every bit as smart, curious and playful as he...is it possible that the new doctor's chart is different?

another thing the ped brought to my attention is the fact that she came into this world at 3 lbs 8 oz...and she just may be a petite child/adult...its funny because her torso is so long I have to buy 3T shirts to cover her belly but some 24 mo pants fall off her - and since she's now in panties I don't even have the diaper to help hold her pants up!

 

The answer to the 3 questions are:
1)sometimes
2) pretty but tires quickly
3) She's pretty smart. She sings constantly and has an excellent memory

 

Because we're doing this right now, I'd take her in and have her evaluated again. Falling off their own curve is not a good sign. Yes, she may just be small. BUT she fell off her curve. It's a great sign that she is growing in height. I assume her head size is growing too. Which means it's just weight. But a lb in a year isn't much at all. My GI wants my kids to be gaining 6-8 grams per day. For a 3 year old it may differ. You may just need to rule out certain things. We've decided to go back and have the CF test done anyway. Have you tried doing a food journal to count her calorie intake to see if it's up to par?

 

Schooldocuments what she eats so I know if she hasn't ate enough for the day. Here's what she ate Sunday: breakfast 1 smores poptart with water 200 calories. Lunch 1 bite of grilled cheese, some Tortilla chips and lemonade est calories 150. Supper 2 peanut butter sandwitches a few goldfishes est 320 calories. Snack monster cookies 60 calories. This was an extremely good day for her so a little over 700 calories.

 

So maybe calories could be adding to the issues. I know it is a problem with mine. But we've added more pediasure and now Duocal to try to help. How nice it is that you have a food count done for you at school! It was frustrating for us to do the food logs for the nutritionist. Have you decided if you will ask for more testing? (Not trying to be nosy, just curious. We are still waivering back and forth.)

 

Well I'm giving her pediasure at night and am calling tomorrow to see if they want to do another wellbaby when they are 4(oct) and see if she gains any. I'm going to get her records from the old pedi too. Jess was borderline failure to thrive when she was younger.

 

well good news is her feet are growing lol

 

Tee Hee, that's great! I'm constantly looking for any growth, even their feet. LOL