Daughter Not Gaining Weight

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Good Luck,

B.

My daughter was born 5lbs 5 oz. She was tiny as a baby, she grew normally however in her height but has always been under 5% in weight and now just at 6 years old is in the 20% for her age. Have your Dr show on the charts her height as it has gone up. Some kids just are petite genetically. I think it is wise for your Dr to investigate other causes, if she is active, healthy and growing in height it just may be she is skinny. I have a friend whos son does the same thing in a growth spurt his weight percentile goes way down as he grows upwards.
My daughter is six, she is 42 inches tall and 40 lbs. She was only 18 lbs on her second bday so she has had quite the spurt in the past few years.

Her brother on the other hand was almost 9lbs at birth, is now only three and 41 inches tall and weighs 42 lbs.
So each child grows differently.

If you don't trust your Dr then go take her to another Pediatrician and bring her growth charts with you.
My daughter can still get in some 4T shorts she has. I was always worried and the Dr kept telling me as long as she is eating well, sleeping well, growing in height and active then I shouldn't worry so much about it.

I can say once we got my daughters tonsils out and adnoids out that she gained like three pounds in a matter of six months so that may have been a factor when she was younger. I know she had sleep apnea due to enlarged adnoids and that kept her from gaining the weight she should have I believe.

She hates her brother is as big as she is and I keep explaining all kids are made differently and someday she will be glad she is petite. She hates being one of the shorter kids in class too.

I don't overfeed her to compensate as I don't want her going the other directions out of stress or her thinking she needs to gain weight. She eats well balanced meals and is very active. I don't discuss weight with her around. I think that in girls can lead to a lot of issues down the road. I just keep reminding her God made her the way she is and to be proud of it.
Get another opinion to ease your mind. If it isn't anything then just try and do what you are doing now.

Does she look healthy and act healthy? She could just be small.

My son was on the low end of the percentiles but by watching and looking at him, you could tell he was a very healthy child so our doctor didn't think it was of any real concern. Now he's five and I'm amazed at the amount of food he can eat. He's still very healthy and very thin.

However, our doctor didn't think it was a bad idea to make sure he was on a high-calorie (but still nutritious) diet. He suggested things like lots of carbs and protein, give whole milk instead of 2%, put butter on his veggies and give him one Carnation Instant Breakfast as a snack each day (it has the calories and nutrition of an entire meal - just like PediaSure but tastes better and is cheaper). It did help him put on a few pounds over the course of a year.

Anyway, if you really think it's something else than her just being tiny, then make sure you follow through with getting opinions from doctors. But if she's otherwise happy and healthy, it may be nothing at all, she just doesn't conform to "normal" standards.

Has your daughter been checked for Renal Tubular Acidosis?

My son fell off his growth chart (for weight) between 6 months and a year. His height was fine and his appetite was amazing. Our ped. checked his blood also and found an out of balance with his PH. We also had an ultra sound of his kidneys to make sure they were developing properly.

Our son had Renal Tubular Acidosis (RTA), which basically is an imbalance in the blood. His Kidey's were developing fine (per the ultra sound), but working overtime to get rid of waste in the blood due to the imblance. Basically, they were flushing out the nutrients he needed to gain weight.

He was on Polycitra (an oral med) for 2 years. Blood tests every 3-6 months to make sure the blood was still in balance. Finally he outgrew it at 3 years old. YEAH. At 4 years old, he is still only 28 pounds, but gaining consistantly on a new growth curve.

Good Luck!

I have the same thing going on with my little boy. He is a little over 4 1/2 and is just tiny. He only weighs 28 lbs, and he is right about three feet tall. He eats and eats and eats, he just does not seem to gain weight. People often think my children are twins because they are the same size, but they are actually two years apart age wise. My daughter just seems to gain weight better. I have not personally taken him to the doctor about this at this time, nor has she said anything about it. I decided to try feeding him a lot of high calorie foods, as well as the fruits and vegis he needs, and I am keeping a food journal with his beginning weight. I am going to do this for about 6 months, weighing him every month just to see. Then if I feel I need to I will take him to the doctor. Your daughter may just be naturally small. Consider your size as well as her fathers size at her age and see if there is any resemblance.

I guess my only question is... Does she look like a stick? or have weak bones or look like she is about to fall apart? From all I have seen kids grow when they are ready, they gain weight when they are ready and they tend to lose it almost as fast. If she is very active she just may not be eatting anough to cover what she burns and needs to grow too. I would get a second opinion and also go to a more specialized hospital/doctor. Just my thought.

If everything checks out on the medical end and your child seems fine other than that I would suggest fresh goats milk. It is very high in fat and may help her. I know it can't hurt anything by trying it and it is all natural. Just be sure to suppliment with vitamins. Best of luck..it sure worked for our son.

My sister had the same problem with her 2 kids, and both have RENAL TUBULAR ACIDOSIS. He had to visit almost 5 diferents pediatric, all of them said something about food, but all of them said that everything was OK. She almost died when she knew that the problem was RENAL TUBULAR ACIDOSIS. They were 4 years fighting with that. They are living in Mexico City, and she found an excellent Dr THERE. Good LOOK. they find in facebook a lot of people with the problem.

I would have the doctor check her metabolism. My little brother was very small and skinny (although at an older age) and very active. He ate well, was happy, otherwise healthy, and did not want more food even when offered. My parents started giving him pediasure and ensure (he was 10 years old at that point) to help him gain weight. It turned out that his metabolism was just super high and he was burning off all the food he ate before it had a chance to be stored as muscle or fat. It could just be something as simple as that. Are you still feeding her whole milk? If not, that might help. If you don't like the doctor you're currently taking her to, definitely get a second opinion from another pediatrician. Good luck.

Remember the charts are adjusting for an obese nation. You might just have a genetically small little girl. Don't mess with happy.

My last son had a similar problem. He didn't grow as fast as my other kids and he didn't grow at the rate the Doctor wanted. My Doctor watched him closely and put him on a pedia-sure diet. I bought the Walmart brand because it was less expensive. You can just buy them by the baby food. He ate as usuaul I just gave him pediasure to drink. (It is full of vitamins and lots of fat!) It took him a year and a half to get to a point where he is now on the chart again. He never lost weight he just didn't gain it as fast as the Doctor likes. He is still a small kid (3 on Sunday) but his weight has gone up. If she looks healthy and is just small for her age I wouldn't worry to much. But if you have concerns and your Doctor might be right it wouldn't hurt to take her to a specialist. I know it is really hard and I worried about my son. He is doing great now. So hang in there. I am sure she'll be fine. As an Adult I wish I had that problem. :)

I too have an child who is very petite. At 4 1/2 she only weighs about 35 lbs. She has not been on the growth chart for about 2-3 yrs. I am not worried about her at all....because of a couple of the comments that have been made before me. I know that she eats well, she sleeps well and she is gaining weight, it is just on her own little curve. Her doctors were also worried about it but after a blood test they told me that medically she was fine. My DH and I just think that she has a very high metabolism rate. But for your DD, I would say that as long as she is eating and sleeping fine and growing (even at her own rate), I wouldn't worry about her. Like Sunny said before, she might just be a petite little girl. Don't worry, but if you are really concerned (and have the resources) by all means check it out and reassure yourself that nothing is wrong.
Good Luck
J.

It does sound like other causes of malabsorption should be explored. Does she have any other symptoms at all?
Have you ever noticed, when you kiss her forehead or something, that she tastes salty? Have they checked for cystic fibrosis?
celiac disease? food allergies? If you have reason to doubt the expertise of your child's doctors, don't hesitate to look further...if it were my child, I'd go to the GI specialist now rather than wait another month.
Also, I recommend the book "How Doctors Think" to anyone with a challenging health concern. It's very illuminating and it might be really helpful to you.

Your daughter sounds a lot like our son. Turns out it was just reflux. He did not fit many of the symptoms, but started gaining weight as soon as they started him on the meds. He was put on Xantac in the am and Prevacid in the pm. It was a very unconventional way to treat it, but he went from 6 months of gaining no weight to gaining over a pound in 4 weeks. Even just the Xantac am and pm is working well now. I would see if you could try it before having to do more tests, hard on mom and baby. It was an easy fix for us. Like your daughter, we had every test run that any doctor could think of other than a pH probe. I wish we could have just done the meds first. I know it's pretty scary. Our son is now above the 10th percentile after being below the weight charts for almost a year!