Re:Dietician visit pending for low weight toddler ... (P.S.)

[Guest guest]

Catherine,

 

This reminds me of one more thing. My son was in the 50th percentile for size

until about 18 months, when he fell off the charts to about the 3rd percentile.

Given the size of his parents, it is not surprising about his small size. But it

was a pretty dramatic change, and worrying to his pediatrician. Since then, I've

learned that might many babies start life along a different growth line, and

normalize to their regular pattern around a year and a half. Possibly, that is

what is going on with your son.

 

-Sharon

 

, Kari Whitney <whitney.kari wrote:

>

> Good luck at your meeting. I would second educating yourself (and printing out

copies) of information from La Leche and other sources. Is the weight the only

concern that you and your doctors have about your baby? Is your son meeting his

other milestones? If he is then weight shouldn't be an issue, he just might be a

small baby. Also, is he losing weight or has he been gaining weight and just not

at the " normal " weight for other kids his age? Are you concerned with his

weight?

>

> My son nursed exclusively for the first 12 months of his life and then after

that breast milk was the main staple in his diet and he would snack on other

foods. My husband and I were vegetarian for years before I became pregnant and

then when my son was 6 months old we went vegan and we are all vegan today.

Another source of information would be Vegfamily.

>

> Good luck and go with your gut!

>

> Kari

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks Sharon, that's reassuring.

 

Thank you, everyone, for all your comments - I didn't expect to get such a

heartening response.

 

In response to a couple of people - yes, our son has been reaching

developmental milestones in a normal fashion (he's been literally running

about today, and trying lots of new words out etc.) and seems generally

healthy.

 

Both my partner and I are fairly slim and I suppose our boy takes after us.

We haven't been to see our health visitor recently and I'm not sure what his

weight is now - I can see he's pretty thin compared to most children his

age; I am sure he's gaining height though. I do wish he would eat more

generally - however some days (today, for example) he eats really well,

quite unpredictably.

 

I'm going to have a proper and detailed read of all your replies as there

are some very useful ideas and info there.

 

Catherine

 

 

On 6 May 2010 15:33, strauss_sharon <sstrauss wrote:

 

>

>

> Catherine,

>

> This reminds me of one more thing. My son was in the 50th percentile for

> size until about 18 months, when he fell off the charts to about the 3rd

> percentile. Given the size of his parents, it is not surprising about his

> small size. But it was a pretty dramatic change, and worrying to his

> pediatrician. Since then, I've learned that might many babies start life

> along a different growth line, and normalize to their regular pattern around

> a year and a half. Possibly, that is what is going on with your son.

>

> -Sharon

>

> <%40>, Kari

> Whitney <whitney.kari wrote:

> >

> > Good luck at your meeting. I would second educating yourself (and

> printing out copies) of information from La Leche and other sources. Is the

> weight the only concern that you and your doctors have about your baby? Is

> your son meeting his other milestones? If he is then weight shouldn't be an

> issue, he just might be a small baby. Also, is he losing weight or has he

> been gaining weight and just not at the " normal " weight for other kids his

> age? Are you concerned with his weight?

> >

> > My son nursed exclusively for the first 12 months of his life and then

> after that breast milk was the main staple in his diet and he would snack on

> other foods. My husband and I were vegetarian for years before I became

> pregnant and then when my son was 6 months old we went vegan and we are all

> vegan today. Another source of information would be Vegfamily.

> >

> > Good luck and go with your gut!

> >

> > Kari

> >

>

>

>

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

One of the things I was told when my children were toddlers was to look at

toddler eating in weeks not days. A toddler might not have a balanced diet on a

daily basis but over a week long period they should. I did see trends in my

kids at that age - a day when they would binge on things like fruit or a certain

veggie, and other days where it was hard to get those things into them. That

helped me worry less.

 

On May 6, 2010, at 6:35 PM, Catherine Guy wrote:

 

> Thanks Sharon, that's reassuring.

>

> Thank you, everyone, for all your comments - I didn't expect to get such a

> heartening response.

>

> In response to a couple of people - yes, our son has been reaching

> developmental milestones in a normal fashion (he's been literally running

> about today, and trying lots of new words out etc.) and seems generally

> healthy.

>

> Both my partner and I are fairly slim and I suppose our boy takes after us.

> We haven't been to see our health visitor recently and I'm not sure what his

> weight is now - I can see he's pretty thin compared to most children his

> age; I am sure he's gaining height though. I do wish he would eat more

> generally - however some days (today, for example) he eats really well,

> quite unpredictably.

>

> I'm going to have a proper and detailed read of all your replies as there

> are some very useful ideas and info there.

>

> Catherine

>

> On 6 May 2010 15:33, strauss_sharon <sstrauss wrote:

>

> >

> >

> > Catherine,

> >

> > This reminds me of one more thing. My son was in the 50th percentile for

> > size until about 18 months, when he fell off the charts to about the 3rd

> > percentile. Given the size of his parents, it is not surprising about his

> > small size. But it was a pretty dramatic change, and worrying to his

> > pediatrician. Since then, I've learned that might many babies start life

> > along a different growth line, and normalize to their regular pattern around

> > a year and a half. Possibly, that is what is going on with your son.

> >

> > -Sharon

> >

> > <%40>, Kari

> > Whitney <whitney.kari wrote:

> > >

> > > Good luck at your meeting. I would second educating yourself (and

> > printing out copies) of information from La Leche and other sources. Is the

> > weight the only concern that you and your doctors have about your baby? Is

> > your son meeting his other milestones? If he is then weight shouldn't be an

> > issue, he just might be a small baby. Also, is he losing weight or has he

> > been gaining weight and just not at the " normal " weight for other kids his

> > age? Are you concerned with his weight?

> > >

> > > My son nursed exclusively for the first 12 months of his life and then

> > after that breast milk was the main staple in his diet and he would snack on

> > other foods. My husband and I were vegetarian for years before I became

> > pregnant and then when my son was 6 months old we went vegan and we are all

> > vegan today. Another source of information would be Vegfamily.

> > >

> > > Good luck and go with your gut!

> > >

> > > Kari

> > >

> >

> >

> >

>

>

[Guest guest]

I have read that you should peal a child's fruit because the extra fiber is too

filling and he/she will eat fewer calories.

One of my sons was very thin. The dr was concerned at every visit. After an

extended visit he realized that my son was just VERY active and VERY healthy. He

still is at age 22.

 

Linda in Chehalis

[Guest guest]

I find it weird that with the problem of obesity, doctors are concerned with low

weight. It should seem if the child is healthy, then their weight should not be

a concern unless it is affecting them in some negative way. I have struggled

with my weight a little over the years, but both my younger children are slim

like their father and his side of the family. My children are active and though

they are on the lower side of the charts, the doctor has not showed any concern

because they are in good health otherwise. She said sometimes kids will just do

that, go from one extreme to the other.

[Guest guest]

We saw the Dietician yesterday......

 

and it was fine.

 

She did think Alfred was a bit on the small side, but not too small, just

that he's a little chap. She said that developmentally he seemed perfectly

ok.

 

She said we should try to increase his calorie intake a bit, but didn't

suggest that giving up on veganism was needed to achieve this.

 

She wasn't worried about him being vegan. The tables she had for food groups

he should be eating had beans, lentils, tofu, soya mince, soya milk, etc. on

them so being vegan fitted in ok with those.

 

We talked a bit about vitamin supplements (we take Veg 1, designed for

vegans) and the benefits of calcium enriched soya milk (which is what we

use) and she was satisfied with all of that.

 

I think that basically, the " Health Visitor " is a professional interfering

busy body who knows less about nutrition than we do, where as the Dietician

knew a lot more about it and was open about there being more than one way to

go about things.

 

The Dietician also had an active academic interest in her subject and

thought that if there was something she didn't know about our diet it was an

opportunity for her to go away and look it up, rather than be dismissive of

what we thought or had read.

 

Thanks again everyone for all your input and advice about this.

 

Rob (and Cat)

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Yay!!!! So glad things went as well as they did! What a relief for you! Marilyn

 

 

 

 

 

 

Catherine Guy <applemoy

 

Wed, May 12, 2010 3:18 pm

Re:Dietician visit pending for low weight toddler ...

(P.S.)

 

 

 

 

We saw the Dietician yesterday......

 

and it was fine.

 

She did think Alfred was a bit on the small side, but not too small, just

that he's a little chap. She said that developmentally he seemed perfectly

ok.

 

She said we should try to increase his calorie intake a bit, but didn't

suggest that giving up on veganism was needed to achieve this.

 

She wasn't worried about him being vegan. The tables she had for food groups

he should be eating had beans, lentils, tofu, soya mince, soya milk, etc. on

them so being vegan fitted in ok with those.

 

We talked a bit about vitamin supplements (we take Veg 1, designed for

vegans) and the benefits of calcium enriched soya milk (which is what we

use) and she was satisfied with all of that.

 

I think that basically, the " Health Visitor " is a professional interfering

busy body who knows less about nutrition than we do, where as the Dietician

knew a lot more about it and was open about there being more than one way to

go about things.

 

The Dietician also had an active academic interest in her subject and

thought that if there was something she didn't know about our diet it was an

opportunity for her to go away and look it up, rather than be dismissive of

what we thought or had read.

 

Thanks again everyone for all your input and advice about this.

 

Rob (and Cat)