26 Months and Only 19 Pounds.

As long as she is hitting her developmental milestones and has had no significan illness then I wouldn't worry too much about it. My youngest is 2 and 9 months and weighs 22 lbs, my almost 5 year old weighs 28 lbs And my 6 year old weighs 37 lbs. Some kids are just built small.

First off what does the pediatrician say? If not too concerned just continue the high calorie foods, not junk though. You can give her a big spoonful of peanut butter before bed, make sure she has @ least 2% milk, & add avacado into lots of her food or by itself. You can easily add extra calories to all of her food w/ cheese, olive oil, things along those lines....but of course I'm just an educated woman, NOT a dr so first make sure she doesn't have a medical issue. Way to go for 17 mths of bf....I'm at almost 8 & weaning very soon!!!!

Sounds like my son. I don't recall exact weight/ages but even now at 8 1/2 yo in 3rd grade, my son is the lightest skinniest kid (he's probably hm I think 35 lbs?) I just had to make peace with the fact that he was going to be a little kid (my husband and I both were through grade school so why do we think we'd have a big tall heavy kid?!) and, this is important:

As long as she is eating a healthy selection of foods and growing normally (developmentally) and active, engaged, able to do things, and her weight (even if slowly) increases, and there is no *unexplained* weight loss or lethargy, then she's fine. Repeat: she's fine!

She'll just be a little thing which is a refreshing sight with a huge majority of kids being overweight. Be thankful too when you need to pick her up, that she's 20, not 40 lbs!!

Oh yeah,the pedi told me to put butter on his foods when he was a baby/toddler. That backfired on me because if I touched his bread or toast or pancake with butter, he would not eat it!!! I figured a half slice of bread eaten without butter was better than one bite with butter eaten. Ever so slightly I would take things to the next level (little bit of melted butter onto hot pancakes for example) and now he eats butter fine on anything. He could do without, but doesn't fuss or reject if I add butter.

Also, he would NOT eat peanut butter when he was a toddler! When he went to Kindergarten and had the last lunch shift (they had snacktime mid morning) I didnt feel comfortable sending cold cuts sandwiches, and he wouldnt eat peanut butter, so I got Nutella (oh that stuff is yummy! but it was for him, not me, I certainly dont need it now!) and he willingly ate it. So as the year went on, I gradually mixed more and more peanut butter into it. By 1st grade he was fine with PB sandwiches. (Now as a 3rd grader who wants to sit at the peanut-free lunch table with his friend, argh! I'm having a hard time getting nourishing, filling, nutrient-dense foods into him again!)

One more thing - foods are so much more appealing when eaten with dipping sauces - ie ranch for veggies, syrup for french toast/pancake strips, yogurt cream for fruits, etc.

My baby girl had low weight at one year and my pediatrician worried because if they don't have enough fat when they hit a grow spurt then their organs will suffer. It is very important for babies through age 5 to have some fat readily available to support quick growth. My pediatrician recommended that I put real butter on everything to greatly up her calorie and fat intake. It worked perfectly. There is also the concern that if she ever gets really sick she will not have the stored energy to fight an illness.

If she's eating, peeing, pooping, sleeping, meeting her milestones and seems like happy healthy kid ,then don't worry! My daughter is small, she will be 4 in April and is only 27lbs. :)

My sister's daughter is tiny. Not just her weight, her frame is tiny. She wore size 3 diapers into toddlerhood! She has a hard time finding clothes to fit her because now she is tall (she's 4 1/2 years old) but still has the tiny frame. She has tried a lot of things to get her to gain weight.

Not all fats are the same. I highly recommend avocado for healthy fats. You can also add coconut or almond oil to foods. I know they say not to give children over the age of 2 whole milk, but if she drinks milk, she should have whole milk. WIC gets on to me about that, yet my inlaws get onto me for having thin children. LOL It's like WIC looks at the national obesity average and harps on the juice and higher fat milks without looking AT THE CHILDREN. If the child has drunk whole milk for 8 years and is still thin, the child is not going to suddenly get fat by drinking it. heh

Anyway, you can also get the pediasure shakes, though they have a lot of sugar in them. If you qualify for WIC they can give them to you with a script from the dr I think.

Hi T..

Rule of thumb for me. If the doctor isn't worried, I'm not going to spend a lot of energy on worrying. If you trust your doctor and feel that he/she has good judgment, I would trust in that.

I have a child who has not been on the growth charge at all. She is healthy, eats well, is beautiful, smart, etc. When she turned a year old, she was 14 pounds. Now she is 2 1/2 and she weighs 23 pounds.

We are blessed with petite girls. In the society in which we live, it's probably quite a blessing to have a good healthy metabolism. Also, if you are comfortable with her size, then she will learn to be comfortable with it too. Too many women out there have eating issues, so let's celebrate who our daughters are and enjoy the development.

Hope this helps...

My son is the same way. He just has his father's metabolism (lucky!) and a slight build. He's healthy as a horse, tho. We give him the Pediasure-type milkshakes before bed, and feed him as much as he'll eat. His younger brother weighs more than he does, and I would much rather pick up the lighter fella! ;-)

Don't worry. If she is meeting milestones and otherwise developing normally, then she's fine. A lot of kids grow taller around 2 and thin out. Do you and/or your husband have a smaller build? Two of my 3 sons have never been on the growth chart. My oldest is 5.5 and 34lbs, my middle son is 34 months and 24lbs, and my baby is 6 months and 14lbs. My oldest son definitely takes after me. I am petite--5' 2" and 100lbs.

What does your pediatrician say?

Is she otherwise healthy and on track for milestones and not lacking nutrients? Then look at your family and your husband's. Are people in those families (not necessarily you and your husband) slim? Too often families and doctors forget to look at the genetics. She may have a fast metabolism and may be tracking just fine for her genetic predisposition. I wish our godson's parents had been told this by doctors years ago -- they were worried sick that he was "failing to thrive" because some doctors were urging them to take him to special clinics, etc., when finally one doctor really just looked at the boy's father --who is very, very slim, short stature and still eats all he wants. Finally the doctors "got" that the boy just had dad's metabolism. Do keep up with your doctor's advice but ask him or her if it could be that your child is simply slim because of her genetics,and don't hesitate to ask for another doctor's opinion. Oh, and someone suggested giving her a "big spoonful of peanut butter" but that can choke a young kid! Spread out any nut butters on bread, don't give them in big spoonfuls!

Like one of the other mom's, I don't remember specifically what my daughter's weight was at 2 years old, but she was in the 75th percent for height for her age & the 17th percent for weight. Her pediatrician had me practically force-feed her high-calorie foods for 6 full weeks & bring her in to get weighed every 2 weeks. It was torture for all involved as she's just a picky eater & stops eating the instant she's full, always has been that way and still is today at the age of almost 10 years old. Anyway, at the end of the 6 weeks she had gained precisely 2 ounces so the pediatrician came to the conclusion that she's just tall & skinny which was what I had been saying from the get-go. The whole scenario made me feel a little like they were thinking I was neglecting or abusing her by withholding food, but if you look at my son who is a mere 17 months older than her, he's consistently been off the charts in both height & weight, he's just a big kid & she's just not.

They do need fat but kids are all different. If you and your hubby were both plump babies, I might try harder to get her weight up. My first child didn't hit 20lbs until after the age of 1. We caught up though. If she has been growing consistently, according to the doctor's growth chart, I'm sure she's fine. To get her calories up, you can make her smoothies, add protein powder and avocados. Maybe even some olive oil. When you give her bread, add butter (it might be more desirable to her if you melt it first and then smear it on). Just a couple of ideas.

She is just a thin girl...don't be worried. God made us all different. I bet she has a very high metabolism like my son!