Slow weight gain in my one year old

[mouse]

Getting worried about very slow weight gain in my one year old, he has only just made 8 kg's gained only 2 kg's in the last 5 months, every time I speak to the baby nurse she says he is a very active baby ( arent they all ) and to keep offering all different food, but so far no good, 90 % of stuff just get spat back out at me. I went to see my doctor (who is useless, any one recomemed a good doctor in the westmead area, I have no car)
Breakfast is about the best meal, I can get him to eat close to 2 weetbix then the rest of the day its a battle at present he will eat a bit of pear and yougurt but it is getting to the stage he will only eat a handful of things, toast, banannas, yougurt, pear. Anything with lumps in ie pasta and veg type meals are spat back out, he seams to be getting worse. He is a breastfed baby and wont take any bottled milk, tried every type of fomula and cow, soy watered down straight just wont drink it so not sure how to or what to wean him on to. He has never been a great sleeper, and one of his breast feeds is at 4.30am just so I can get an hours sleep before his day starts at 5.30am.(on a good night) He is at child care 3 days a week while I work, and to be honest I am getting totally run down myself, he has picked up every bug going in the last couple of months which I know wont help his weight gain, but I am getting to wits end over how to get him to eat.
Totally stressed

[Chickadee]

Hi Mouse. Stressful isn't it? My dd was always a light weight and started on solids ok but then seemed to drop in how much she would eat when she was around 1 year. Toddlers really do live on air sometimes :rolleyes:

A couple questions come to mind. Was he always small & skinny for his age, in which case 8 kg may well be normal for him? Also if he goes to daycare 3 days what do they say about his eatting habits? Sometimes kids eat well when there are other kids, but refuse at home.

I found with my DD that on the days she was home I was so desperate for her to eat something, anything, that I was nearly constantly offering snacks. So she was never really hungry and would only pick a little at each one or at meals. Yet her carer didn't think there was anything wrong with her appetite. I finally read this page Appetite Slump in Toddlers (http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/Article.asp?articleID=1702) from the Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto Canada which helped me change my mind set. Basically I stopped offering so many snacks, only every 2 hours or so (including bottles in that schedule) regardless of whether she'd eatten the previous meal or not. I made snacks much smaller, instead of as meal replacements, I made meals smaller and let her ask for more instead of piling her bowl with too much, and I started eatting with her. I also made meals much simpler so I didn't feel like so much cooking effort had been wasted and for a while she went almost solely to finger foods: sandwiches, bits of boiled potato (lots of butter), slices of ham, pieces of tomato and cucumber, corn niblets, plain pasta on its own etc. In fact she still prefers simpler things like this to stew-type mixed dishes.

Some people say that kids may refuse a new food item up to a dozen times before accepting it, so persevere, but don't feel bad if most meals are just his favorites with maybe one new questionable thing offered.

[mouse]

Martha,

Thank you so much for taking the time out to write. I will have a look at web site, and take a look at his snacks, cause I have been offering so much trying to get him to eat something. He's never been massive friends and family are starting to mention just how skinny he is. I know I should take no notice but it had been playing on my own mind for some time. Day care have said that he eats ok while with them, next week I am going to ask them to write down just how much he is really eating.
Thank you once again this site is so good I would be lost without it.
Mouse.

[tickle]

Hi!
I don't know whether this helps or not but my ds weighed the same as yours at 12months and was a really good eater. I think they just eat what they need to but it can be really hard when they are picky. I know my sil has had heaps of problems with her ds but he is still a happy and healthy boy at nearly 3. He has always been in the bottom 3 percentile, I don't think those charts mean much anyway. Every child is different and I think all you can do is keep offering different things.

Good luck!

Ellen

[Chickadee]

Good luck with it Mouse, I hope things improve.

Another thing to bear in mind is your body type and his dad's. If you're both skinny and were like that growing up then your son is naturally going to be the same. Length to weight ratio is a much better indication of skinniness (and being underweight) than just weight on it's own. But if you're concerned then do try to find a better dr or get a referral to a paed, just to rule out any health issues that may be affecting his ability to gain weight and grow.

[Kassiasmum]

Hi there Mouse,
I know how you feel, my dd is 8.5kg at 19months. We have been to specialists and they have found nothing and finally agreed with us that there is nothing wrong with her just petite, maybe your son is the same. As MarthaM said, you need to consider your and your husbands builds or even immediate family's builds. I read somewhere that toddlers will never starve themselves and what seems like they are not eating much to adults it is enough for them, this is what keeps me going when dd doesn't want to each much some days. I also agree that yo should try and find another gp. Is your son following some sort of curve on the charts?

Take care and try not to worry too much
Tracey

[JanetF]

Hugs to you! Sounds like you could use a good multivitamin and some nurturing yourself :)

Your child sounds very normal to me. My son weighed less than 8kgs at one, barely ate beyond lots of boob and at nearly 2 only weighs 10 kgs. There are more important things than weight gain in baby's health and wellbeing. A bright, happy, inquisitive child who learns, interacts, plays and poos and wees plenty doesn't have any problems. I'm so glad you're boobing him because breastfeeding a toddler is the perfect way to get nutrition into them. Don't worry about feeding him other stuff just to make him heavier, it doesn't really matter what he weighs unless he has lots of things going wrong as well as poor weight gain. Remember those bloody charts at the MCHN are based on ff babies from the 1970s not bf babies so it doesn't apply to your child anyway!

Here is some very reassuring stuff that shows what a beautiful job you're doing. Of course if you feel in your heart that something isn't right you should follow up on it but your eating plan sounds brilliant to me!

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/bfextended/ebf-benefits.html
"Human milk expressed by mothers who have been lactating for >1 year has significantly increased fat and energy contents, compared with milk expressed by women who have been lactating for shorter periods. During prolonged lactation, the fat energy contribution of breast milk to the infant diet might be significant."
-- Mandel 2005
"Breast milk continues to provide substantial amounts of key nutrients well beyond the first year of life, especially protein, fat, and most vitamins."
-- Dewey 2001
In the second year (12-23 months), 448 mL of breastmilk provides:
29% of energy requirements
43% of protein requirements
36% of calcium requirements
75% of vitamin A requirements
76% of folate requirements
94% of vitamin B12 requirements
60% of vitamin C requirements
-- Dewey 2001


http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/toddler-foods.html
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T031100.asp
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/bfextended/toddlernursing.html

[mouse]

Wow thank you all for the tips, I feel much better about the whole feeding thing, even now as he has just refused to eat his much love weetbix!! Oh well will just keep offering different foods and hope he will eat when he is hungry. Monitor his food for a month and take it from there.
Once again Thank you all for taking the time to write, enjoy the rest of the weekend. :D