Growth question

Discussion in 'Childhood and Beyond (4+)' started by rissakaye, Jul 23, 2014.

  1. rissakaye

    rissakaye Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    The kids went for their yearly check-ups today.  Pretty much everything looked great except Sarah totally fell off of her growth curve. She went from the 25% (for many years) to 6%.  It also showed her losing weight (which could have been due to the last weight being in a season with jeans and sweaters and today being a tshirt and woven capris).  I'll admit, part of me wants to panic, part of me wants to downplay it.
     
    The part of me that wants to downplay it remembers that I was very skinny as a kid.  My mom would make skirts for my sister, and then when they got passed down to me, she had to take them in.  There is tall and skinny is in the gene pool.  My dad is 6'5" and about 170 lbs.  Sarah also rides bikes, climbs trees, swims and rides horses.  She's also a very healthy eater.  She literally gets excited about things like broccoli, asparagus, most fruits and veggies.  Sarah won't snack unless she's really super hungry and can't stand pop. (For the record, I take very little credit for her eating habits, she seems to have just come that way.)  She does have constipation issues and we don't let her drink milk except at someone's house.  We do let her eat cheeses and foods with dairy, just straight milk is usually too much.  That's also part of why I let her indulge her trends towards fruits and veggies.  It's either that or keep her on Miralax because when she's constipated, she'll barely eat. 
     
    The part of me that wants to panic knows she's a bit pickier about her proteins.  She has some meats she absolutely loves and tends to try to avoid the rest.  Like tonight, I know she doesn't really care for the smoked chicken I have going (which, of course, her brother loves).  So I can either force her to eat more of it, or offer cottage cheese with dinner.  Last night she didn't want the meat either but instead had baked beans for protein.  
     
    I'm torn because I've tried for a healthier eating house.  I don't want to start adding butter and sauces to everything because her brother and I can't have the dairy in them anyway, and I also don't want to introduce bad habits.  I wouldn't mind seeing her with a few more pounds, but I don't want it to cause eating issues later in life from bad habits.   We also don't do peanut butter because of her brother's allergies, but they both like the sunflower seed butter.  It's also hard to get too excited when I watch what she's eating.  For lunch today, she made herself 2 burritos with refried beans, a quinoa-black bean-pork filling, cheese and taco sauce on top.  I'm happy she eats like that.
     
    The dr. admits maybe her weight last time was off, but that still doesn't address dropping so far on percentiles.  He wants me to weigh her over the next 3 months and get back to him.  If she still drops weight, call him immediately.
     
    Marissa
     
     
     
  2. jjzollman

    jjzollman Well-Known Member

    I don't have any advice, but one of my 6 yr olds lost 2lbs since his March appt. His pediatrician said he's guessing it's a combo of wearing winter clothes and being more active in the summer months. He said not to worry about it at all.

    It sounds like your daughter has a wonderful diet!! I wouldn't stress about it, as hard as that is for us moms!!
     
  3. Katheros

    Katheros Well-Known Member

    My two fell off the growth chart years ago, I honestly don't worry about it.  I was very skinny growing up, even after having the twins I was a twig.  There's a lot of skinny on my Mom's side of the family.  As long as they're eating a well balanced diet and doing well developmentally, I don't worry about it.  We do move a lot and switch doctor's so sometimes I get into with random doctor's about this. 
     
  4. tarcoulis

    tarcoulis Well-Known Member

    If she's happy, alert, energetic and eating reasonable amounts of nutritious food (which it sounds like she is), just monitor and try not to worry about it.  Maybe it was the winter clothes, maybe she was in the 'putting on weight' stage of a growth spurt and hadn't gotten to the 'shooting up' part at the last weigh in.  Maybe the scale was misread.  So many perfectly reasonable possibilities.  This summer I've noticed several of our friends' daughters who seemed a little on the chubby side their whole lives, suddenly lose the baby fat and become willowy young ladies at 11 and 12.  
     
    1 person likes this.
  5. Fran27

    Fran27 Well-Known Member

    My son fell off the chart at his 6yo check up too. He gained 0.3 pound in a year or something. But I weighed him a month later and he had gained 2 pounds. Could just have been an off day too. Either way the doctor wasn't worried, he did a blood panel to check for allergies and that's about it. As long as they are healthy, active, and eat well, I don't think it's cause for concern really.
     
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