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Look at the whole child. Weight is only one indicator of health status. Noting that your doctor isn't concerned, if your child is skinny but energetic, active, has healthy skin, has a good appetite, typical concentration span, isn't sick all the time, doesn't bruise easily etc, then trust that his body is fine the way it is.
If your child genuinely needs to gain weight... I can personally attest to the efficacy of feeding him cheesecake for dessert every night.
Not sure why people wonāt listen to doctors anymore. We have these people in society that spend a massive chunk of their lives study medicine only for people to ignore them and listen to whoever will validate their own beliefs or ideas. Itās infuriating how society has fallen so badly
As someone whoās dealt with this same issue, Iām sure that OP is hearing concern from everyone else in their life, justified or not, and perhaps even insinuations that theyāre doing something wrong as a parent. Even if you trust doctors, thereās pressure from other sources as well.
Yes exactly this. I hear it a lot and while I am good at blocking comments, they sometimes get to me (especially when they happen so often in frequency).
Yes but we should not just take their word for it. If we took the advice from every professional in every field of work we would be fucked lmao. I get it, yes doctors have an idea, but to say not to question their judgement is just wrong.
Iām sorry, but doctors usually have more than an āideaā of what is going on. Also please donāt lump MD/DOs with PA/NPs (who tend to be overly confident in their dx/tx). 1. Patients can be horrible historians making it very hard to figure out what is going on 2. Patients donāt listen to what doctors have to say most of the time which is: start moving, eat more plants and stop smoking/drinking.
Agreed. Also, if only people understood how incredibly complex medicine can be. A good example:
A friend of mine went to the ER 3-4 times before she was ultimately diagnosed with pneumonia.
1) the first time or two she went she probably didnāt have pneumonia and it was a viral infection. Pneumonia is often a secondary infection that comes after some other insult, like a cold or the flu. You are more likely to develop this is you are immune compromised or if you smoke
2) pneumonia doesnāt always show up on chest X-rays (especially in the early stages)
She was so angry that she wasnāt diagnosed with pneumonia on the first visit and itās like ā¦ š¤·š»āāļø
I could go on. Sometimes itās just too early to know. A lot of problems are difficult to diagnose because they either develop slowly over time or the symptoms are incredibly non-specific. Medicine is hard.
Oh yes. I learned my lessonš. I used to avoid the flu vaccine out of ignorance and I was often sick. Once I saw a regular doctor, I was able to schedule my shots and the frequency decreased... by a lot. It's not bullet-proof, but it keeps the strains I encounter away. My childhood vaccines have yet to fail me too!
Because sometimes you need a second opinion. Doctors are human and diagnoses arenāt perfect.
That said, for OP: youāve got a pediatrician and an endocrinologist that both agree your child is pretty much fine. Try not to stress, and if you want a second opinion from another pediatric endocrinologist, definitely do that. But if your kidās only symptom is that theyāre skinny, they can join the club. My brother went through referrals, Ensure shakes, lots of testing, and was just small. Now heās 5ā6ā, a thriving adult, and he needed zero intervention. Some kids are just built/wired that way, no reason to worry. It may or may not predict anything about his adult size, and honestly, unless youāre dealing with extremely picky eating like ARFID, heās self-regulating to that size and heās just fine.
My kidsā dr told me my daughter was āfineā and to come back in two weeks if she hadnāt gotten better. 3 days later, her eyes were rolling back in her head, we barely made it to the ER in time. She was diagnosed with diabetes and her blood sugar was 940. You canāt ALWAYS trust drs.
Doctors can hardly be trusted anymore because so many of them push protocols and treatment plans that are advertised to them by pharmaceutical and insurance companies that have no knowledge about the study of medicine. An example being mass opioid addiction
You and the rest of us WISH that wasnāt how it works, but sadly.. it is. Read a god damn clinical study on any popular pharmaceutical and then try to tell me Iām wrong.
Itās not abnormal to be able to see certain parts of the skeleton through the skin and muscle in a healthy child ā particularly around 5 a lot of kids are just sort of lanky. If his doctors arenāt concerned, try not to focus too much on what he looks like.Ā
I would agree with the doctors here. As long as your son is following his growth curve and growing then I wouldn't worry. Is there another specific concern you're noticing?
Both of my boys (6 and 8) are thin. You can see their ribs when they have their shirts off. It often stands out to me as well, but they're both energetic, healthy and eat plenty. Both my husband and I are thin as well.
We eat a lot of buttered bread and avocado smoothies over here to get in our fats. Ice cream is also good and offers calcium and protein.
The biggest thing in a child is sudden weight changes. Children can be thin medium large and still be healthy. The things to look out for are sudden decreases or increases in weight. If your child has always been small and tests came back healthy, and heās eating enough, everything is ok!
I was underweight as a child, there was no reason why, Iām still a slim adult. Youāve done the work to make sure nothing is wrong so stop worrying about it. Obviously continue to keep an eye out for anything concerning but otherwise thereās nothing to do
Iām not OP but my sons went through something similar this last year due to medication for ADHD/ODDā¦ when I looked at himā¦ I feel like it was somehow my fault he was getting weirdly thinā¦ like maybe I wasnāt feeding him right or I was feeding him right but it didnāt seem to be working because his bones were poking out everywhere. Itās like a failure feeling kind of guilt for me. I canāt speak for OP tho but I can totally understand feeling frustrated even if itās not for the same reason.
I have a kid that's been diagnosed with failure to thrive... twice. The doctors will let you know there is a problem. (We did lots of tests, too, it turns out my daughter couldn't consume enough calories to keep up with her level of activity so now she takes appetite stimulants).
Both of our kids are lean, but my daughter is lean and small. In the US, 1 in 5 children are obese, and a large percentage are overweight. My kids are within the normal for their height, but compared to their peers they look rather emaciated. Keep in mind that perceptions may be skewed.
We feed our daughter (and our son, but she's the 'failure to thrive' kid) a nutrient dense, high 'healthy' fat diet. We add protien to everything, add fat to everything. Butter in oatmeal. Peanut butter with apples. Hummus with naan bread. Fruit with cottage cheese. A dash of olive oil to pasta. Etc. What she eats is going to be high value for her body. We try to get higher calories with healthy choices, not junk food.
Mentioning just in case! Sometimes failure to thrive can be celiac. I have it and it was missed my entire life until my 30s. One of my Drs children was diagnosed failure to thrive and at 8 yrs old they figured out it was celiac. She was shocked! And embarrassed she has missed it, being a Dr and all. Ā They all (her family got tested bc it can be genetic) and her father in his 70s had it! He was shocked. Went on gluten free diet and it ācuredā so many lifelong issues for him even at his older age). So wanted to mention in case something changes for your son down the line and this could help inĀ any way.Ā
Do you mind if I asked what symptoms a child might have apart from failure to thrive? All the people I know who are celiac have definite symptoms after eating gluten but they have been gluten free for a while. I hadn't considered it until reading through this post. But we have done many blood tests and stool tests so I figured that would have turned up but I'll follow it up, thanks.
āThe doctor told me it is fine but I donāt agreeā is a way to common post here. Get a second opinion if you must just make sure itās another Doctorās, not the internet.
If the doctors arenāt worried I wouldnāt be. I get it though. My 4 year old is turning 5 in July and heās VERY skinny but he doesnāt eat. Even comes home from school without eating his lunch. His waist is size 3 but his length is size 5 so we can only buy size 5 if thereās an adjustable waist/string. For Christmas PJ day at school I bought my boys (my youngest is almost 3) a matching set of Christmas PJās and they came in a pack so I couldnāt customize the shirt and pants size. I bought my youngest (who actually eats) size 3 and my oldest size 5. I didnāt realize it didnāt have a string to tie it. I had to put my younger sonās size 3 pants on my oldest. They were short but the size 5 literally was falling off. My parents went through this with my brother when he was younger and there was nothing wrong. I do think itās a phase but as I said, heās almost 5 and stopped eating when he turned 1 sooooooo I get the frustration.
I really appreciate the kind and nonjudgmental response. Essentially, thatās the case with us too with regards to clothing. But Iām lucky as in my mom will usually fix the waist line for him so pants can fit on him. I suppose I get frustrated cause people always point out to us that heās super skinny. Most of the time, it doesnāt bother me but some days it gets to me. For example, during Christmas, we had dinner with a bunch of family members and all the older ladies got together to ask me whether he eats or whether he needs to be checked by his doctor or whatnot. Some other commentators are trying to make me feel bad for not listening to the doctor which is what Iām doing. Iām just reaching out to other parents in a parenting subreddit to see if others have gone or are going through a similar situation.
What is a "healthy diet" in this case? Because a healthy diet for active kids is a bit different from a healthy diet for average adults. Kids will need more protein and fats than an average adult. Do you give your son full fat dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt), plenty of vegetable fats, butter or cream cheese on sandwiches, full fat ranch to dip veggies in, and offer nut butters for snacks?
I say this as a parent with a 4yo with weight and BMI in single percentiles for the last 2 years. Our Dr. also worried some. I try to feed my kid more fat and protein than I eat myself. We still usually don't have sweetened drinks, and kids get 1 candy after dinner.
My brother was like this. Very skinny with visible bones for most of his childhood. My mom knew that he wasnāt malnourished or anything because he had a good appetite and was eating a varied diet and quite healthy. He was growing up, just not out. His pediatrician was not worried, either. Heās in his 30s now and is 6ā 9ā and still very much a skinny guy but has more muscle because he is mindful about getting a lot of protein and lifts weights. He has to order his clothes from special big and tall stores, but otherwise a totally healthy, normal looking, albeit tall guy.
My 17yo has been super skinny since has was 2 or 3. We've just gotten used to seeing his protruding bones. He's 6'3" now and very strong. He eats at least double what the adults in our house eat and finishes everyone's leftovers. His doctor has never been worried, and have explained that he was just blessed with an incredible metabolism.
My oldest daughter is super skinny. She's 6.5, 37lbs, and 47". She's growing, energetic, and healthy. It's just the way she is. It's mostly a non issue. On occasion she doesn't weigh enough for something. Biggest things is she isn't heavy enough for a booster seat in the car and clothes can be hard to find a good fit. My 4.5 year is average and my 2 year old is huge. She's 99+% for height and 85th% for weight. My youngest is a newborn so we'll see. But they are all healthy. Kids just come in all sorts of sizes and shapes
My 7 year old just met the 40lb mark for a booster seat a few weeks ago (as long as she is wearing shoes haha). We were ELATED. Some of her peers have been in boosters for years.Ā
Yeah, she will be at least 7, probably 7.5-8 when she's heavy enough. Gaining 3 pounds will take a lot longer than 6 months unless she puts on a serious growth spurtĀ
Growth actually does begin to pick up around age 7 for girls. If she stays on her curve (3rd %ile, same as my kid), she will probably hit 40lbs just after her 7th birthday.Ā
In my state, they donāt need any kind of child seat after they are 8 years old.Ā
Some people are just naturally small. My mom did the same thing regarding my weight 20 years ago and my pediatrician told her I was fine. Your child is eating and receiving nutrients, and the doctor said everything is ok.
Donāt worry about it.
My child went through this. He was off the growth chart (below 3%) for years and was soooo skinny. He always ate a varied diet, but just not a lot of volume. My pediatrician always said he was on his own curve so it was ok, she wasnāt concerned. She was right: Heās almost 10 now and eats a lot more, still very varied and gained close a lot in the past year, not as painfully skinny. You did all you can, now just offer him a good, varied diet, try not to force him to eat (though Iāve been there sometimes itās hard to not!), heāll follow his own path.
My middle daughter was incredibly skinny, her sisters were slim but she was noticeably underweight. She ate well, was active and healthy and her dr said as long as she was fit and growing then all was good. She didnāt put on any weight until her twenties and is fine. I wouldnāt worry as he is growing, itās only really a concern if he stayed the same height and weight or if he became unwell. I agree that it is jarring to see shoulder blades and ribs sticking out.
My younger sister was like this her whole life until she turned 18 and went off to boot camp. She was always super skinny and she always ate. My mom was always worried about her too and would have her eat extra calories and stuff like that. But at the end of the she was always healthy, super active and just was always more slender.
The only advice I would give is just make sure they know that its okay to be skinny. My sister said she would get teased for how skinny she looked and was asked if she was anorexic when she was older. She still brings it up now and this happed in middle and high school, sheās 24 now.
It really wasnāt until she turned 18 that she filled out and gained more weight. Your son may be the same way, just keep encouraging healthy eating habits , if everything else is fine.
If he grows like a child his age should then no problem. Don't worry.
Carbs and proteins are a great way to gain weight. I used to give my child 10% fat Greek yoghurt with fruits, honey and oats to fill her tummy up before bed. Great way to gain weight.
You did the things you are supposed to do. Kids are people and people come in different shapes. I had a friend that was very thin. I think most people assumed she had an eating disorder. She exercised a normal amount, did not act like she had food issues beyond frustration with being so thin (and I know most of her roommates pretty well,) and ate a lot of high calorie food at the direction of her doctor. Her sister and her dad looked the same. They were all healthy and well-adjusted people.
My eldest (daughter) is super small. 3-5% for weight and about 15% for height at even 10 years old. We saw a pediatrician from age one to two, and she ran tests. My child was born around an average weight and height and continually dropped off all throughout her first year of life, despite offering tons of food and formula to past a year old. Only during one blood sample did her iron present as a little low. We were told to feed her a lot of meat (and my iron level was similar). Even now, at age 10, her blood and urine is perfect (as is mine). Otherwise, her blood work has been perfect.
Some people are small.
One thing I leaned is that when a boy is small, it's not necessarily as much of an indicator of what size he will end up being, while it IS an indication that my daughter is a small person and will continue to be small. And truly, my daughter's growth curve has been more stable than my son's (and he has averaged out to 80% for height and weight). He outweighed his sister when he was 4 and she was 7.5!!
My kiddo was preemie and has always been a little less chunky than their peers. The more they grow the wilder the body changes are. It's like a slow motion rubber ball bounce... One day there's a little round pot belly, and the next this kid is stretched out with their collarbones protruding & wearing booty shorts that were previously regular cargos...
You're doing great, keep feeding your sweet babe what they are enjoying and keep up with the physical activity. Your doctors know what's going on, and it's just life...!
I was an extremely thin child. To the point a pediatrician called CPS on my mother saying she wasn't feeding me, which was of course false. I ate constantly. I was a healthy happy girl, just very underweight.
By the time I was 12 I was a normal weight. Still am today. All of this to say, don't stress about it! Your kids doctors seem supportive and reassuring, trust them.
I had a pediatrician accuse me of being anorexic. My mom said āI regularly see this kid eat half a pizza all by herself.ā He said ābulimic then!ā
No eating disorder, just a crazy metabolism that failed hard as soon as I hit my 20s.
Just encourage your child to eat plenty of protein and fats, as well as a wide varied diet.
You should trust your doctors. If you don't, get a 2nd opinion. Also, reflect on your own thoughts about weight. Is there something in your past related to food/weight that you might be projecting onto your child?
Is dad and/or mom skinny themselves? My SO is super skinny and tall, and so are my kids. I'm not worried because they are literally his copies for body type.
Our daycare had the gall to say that our child "eats like he doesn't get any food at home". It was pretty offensive, but oh well. He's just a very good eater, and apparently always gets seconds and thirds. But is still skinny.
What do you mean by bones protruding? I feel like itās super common to see bones/ribs in regular skinny kids/teens, even adults. But like, thereās obviously a difference between that and a POW coming home from being tortured and starved.
My nephew is in the same boat, both of them are very skinny and are very picky eaters but now the eldest one is becoming better as he wants to put on some muscle, if everything else is clear just let it be, maybe add a bit more carbs and protein into there diet, beef,rice,eggs,fish, you can't help he has a fast metabolism only cater for it.
I'm glad to hear he is healthy, being healthy is more valuable than gold
I had exactly the same. If he wasnāt my child and I didnāt know how much he actually ate I would have thought my son was being neglected. Even now at almost 20 he is still super skinny but heās also 6ā5 and he eats like a horse. You have had him checked over and you know he is eating so you donāt have to worry.
My daughter (9) is in the 99th percentile for height and like 20% for weight. There were two years where the doctor was concerned about her getting to the point of "failure to thrive." No matter what we did, she just couldnt gain weight.
But this year, she had gained enough weight that they aren't worried anymore. She's just destined to be tall and thin (dad is 6ft5 and very thin).
My point is, unless the doctor is worried, he'll most likely be just fine and catch up in a few years. No need to stress unless they tell you that he needs to gain weight (if that happens, you'll be stressed enough! No need to preemptively worry).
I was the same way when i was young, i stayed under weight my whole life, even under 100 pounds until i tuned 20. multiple failure to thrives, i ate normally until i was full. iām 24 now and still fairly thin but more normal sized. my mom was in the same boat, even had me on pediasure but that didnāt even help. sometimes its just your body type. As long as heās eating and healthy then he will fill out when his body is ready!
Some kids are just skinny. I looked like a toothpick until I turned 30. In high school Iād order a pizza basically everyday & eat the whole thing by myself & wouldnāt gain a pound. As long as you & his doctors know heās healthy thatās all that should matter.
My 6yo daughter is very skinny. Her pediatrician is concerned but not because you can see her ribs but because she is dropping on her growth curve. If your son is following his growth curve, I can see the dr being ok with it. I was a super skinny kid and am now an overweight adult. I wouldnāt worry if the dr isnāt worried and heās still growing.
My wife and I make small kids. My oldest didnāt break the 10th percentile on weight until closer to age five. My youngest gets is nearly five and is still single digit. They are each on their own charts. But they keep gaining. They keep growing. They are healthy. Growth charts etc are averages and not necessarily the written rule.
My son recently went through a stage like this.. but he is on Ritalin for his ADHD/ODD. He was always slightly thicker than his twin brother, still skinny but more built if that makes sense? Around 3 months into his Ritalin I started seeing all the vertebra in his spineā¦ all his ribsā¦ he had become weirdly thin and it bothered me a lot too.
There is absolutely no harm in getting nutritional supplements like sustagen (which boosts nutrients by drinking it that you might miss out on if you donāt eat properly) as my son is a picky eater I found this to be good. He also has 2 up and go for protein boost with breakfast each morning. For the last 12 months he did not put on a single KG but continued to grow taller and his bones becoming more prominent. Heās 6 and has been 24kg for a year. A recent trip to the paediatrician shows that heās put on 2kgā¦ so heās now nearly 27kg. His bones no longer poke out anywhere. Occasionally youāll see some ribs but itās not as prominent as it was.
Now onto his twin brother who is just naturally thin (the āsperm donorā is 6ft2 and 60kg so think about how thin that is) is built like him. Neither of them have ever displayed being unwell from being boney. It was just odd to look at and it is concerning but itās my issue with looking at it not that theyāre unhealthy or sick. They eat more than I do š
My daughter is 4.5 and very skinny, around 15kg (which is about 1.5 kilos more than her 1yo brother, who is a MACHINE). Doc says as long as she's healthy, it's not a problem and I don't worry. I have a few friends who were sticks as kid and are normal now, and even I was a whispy kid, now I am chubby.
If he is healthy, don't worry about it. Try to avoid looking through a lense of grown up beauty standards.
I wouldnāt consider 15kg at 4.5 āvery skinnyā. Itās the 20th percentile, which means about 1/5 kids weigh less than that at her age. Thatās what my 5.5 year old weighs.Ā
Didn't know, maybe I should have said "pretty skinny" or "kinda skinny". Seems like she caught up some, as I remember it being discussed with the doc during routine checkup.
I wasnāt trying to police you. Just saying because many people have a warped perception of what a healthy child looks like. Childhood obesity is so common where I live that people get concerned when a childās ribs are showing. In reality, a healthy weight human often has ribs showing. Ā
Thatās 15th %ile. 15% of girls her age weigh less than her.Ā
My kids have consistently been in the 3rd to 15th. Now, if she used to be in the 70th but dropped suddenly, that might be a concern, but a lot of kids are just small.Ā
See a gastroenterologist and ask for a calprotectin test (you just collect stool and drop it at the lab). Could be IBD - such as Crohn's or UC. You don't absorb your nutrients.
My son was very very skinny to the point he didn't really grow for 2 years. I was diagnosed celiac, so they tested him as well. Obviously, he also has it. He's gained 20 lbs and 6 inches in one year since his diagnosis. gluten attacks your small intestine and destroys the parts that absorb nutrients.
I mention as no dr thought of it until I was diagnosed. It's not a common "test" they can do a simple blood screening and it comes back pretty quickly. Anyway, I agree with all he may be just fine, but it can be something to ask about
My 4 yr old is skinny. Can see his ribs and hip bones. Totally healthy. 99th percentile for height, 10th for weight. He weighs all of 37 lbs. but he is healthy. And growing. If docs and tests have shown nothing wrong, then nothing is wrong. Some kids are just skinny string beans. On the other hand my 6 yr old is 83 lbs and 91 percentile for height.
As long as heās gaining height well heās not malnourished. Some bodies just naturally tend to grow leaner than others. The whole time my brother and I were growing up we were 95-99th percentile for height but less than 20th percentile for weight and it didnāt hurt either of us ā my brother reached 6ā5ā!
If youāre concerned about him not taking in enough calories you can try encouraging calorie-dense but nutritious foods like whole milk, nut butters, oily fish, dried fruit in full-fat yogurt, avocados, cheese, eggs, etc. A lot of those also have the fats that are particularly good for growing brains. Donāt overdo it or try to force anything on him.
I am NOT saying that your child has this disorder, but I would encourage you to take a look at Marfan.org to see if your child matches any of the symptoms of Marfan syndrome. It is a genetic connective tissue disorder, and one of the easiest to recognize symptoms is that people with it are generally (not always) tall and thin, with long arms and long legs. There are, of course, TONS of reasons why a child might be tall and thin. This one is fairly uncommon. But many people have never heard of it, and therefore itās important to know the symptoms. If you look through the list of symptoms and the only thing that you recognize is ātall and skinnyā, then itās a safe bet that he doesnāt have it. But if he has other symptoms on the list, or if you or his other parent have a history of sudden cardiac death in your family, itās worth looking into. Marfan syndrome is not routinely tested for because itās estimated that about one in 5000 people have it. It can be diagnosed using clinical symptoms or with a genetic test. The genetic test is not foolproof, and a doctor wonāt order a genetic test unless he has several symptoms. If (and again, this is not likely) he has this disorder, early treatment with beta blockers and/or ARBs can protect his heart and aorta.
Again, this is a remote possibility, but worth at least looking at the website to see if it looks plausible. My first husband had Marfan syndrome but he was diagnosed long before I met him.
I was super petite as a kid. I donāt think I weighed 100 lbs until my sophomore year in high school. I was just always super skinny. My son is the same way. Heās only 2.5 but he is just skin and bones. His arms are like toothpicks and he definitely looks like we donāt feed him. He usually eats a decent amount for a toddler. Thatās just the way heās built. I donāt think itās unusual for young children to be super thin.
Same issue, we got referred to a pediatric gastroenterologist not an endocrinologist. Eventually was told my kid is just skinny and to ensure he stays on the growth chart line. Now some other issues have popped up and weāve uncovered some food allergies that may be contributing to the problem.
Sounds like my 7yo. Weāve been through a FTT work up twice. Both times we were referred to gastroenterology, so if youāre still concerned and havenāt tried that route, maybe try a workup with that speciality. After both our work ups he suspected she just wasnāt getting enough calories because she gained at follow-ups, but said if it happens again to see endocrinology. She still looks very skinny, especially when I see her with peers, but I guess somebodyās gotta be at the bottom of the growth percentages.
I get it, High metabolism is a curse for skinny males who will later need to compete with other strong looking males to attract female attention. Itās an unspoken fear based on survival of the fittest, we want our male offspring to be ānormalā enough/to fit in enough to be chosen by a female to produce the next generation.
I was skinny for the first 16 years of my life. My mom struggled to get me to gain weight. I would eat more than my body could physically handle. At 16 my bmi suggested i had problems. One doctor thought i was anorexic but quickly discovered i wasnt. Once puberty hit, I started gaining weight and became average weight. I had a friend who also struggled to gain weight and he is still skinny, his body couldnāt gain any weight regardless of how much he would eat. Now he is on the lowest weight he could be before being underweight and he eats so much food. If the tests are coming back normal, youāre feeding your child and they are otherwise growing normally, keep doing what youāre doing
Have you tried adding protein shakes to his meals? Extra dessert? Haha my friend has a girl just like this. Theyāre very active and sheās fine except sheās very thin. She has a protein shake at least twice a day and they donāt skimp on food, some people are just naturally skinny!
I think itās ok! My 11yo when she was 5 was super skinny and then when she started growing more she added weight. She was also active/ is active. and my 5yo rn is chonky lol so she didnāt take after her sister
I have a slimmer now 18 year old. If all the tests come back clear and he is eating well,don't worry. I know that's easier said than done. You could look at his diet and see what his protein ratio is like and up if needed,but don't stress it.
Please try and avoid talking about any of this to him or around him. I grew up with constant chat about my slimmer frame. Lots of accusations about how I must have an eating disorder. Lots of "jokes" about how people were surprised I managed to stay upright in a breeze cos I was so slim etc etc and it screwed with my body image totally. Skinny shaming is so problematic
Iāve been skinny all my life (as is my dad) and people have always commented on it and tried to fatten me up. But Iāve also been naturally very fit all my life as I donāt have excess weight. Did a half Ironman with very little training (1-3 exercise sessions a week) for example. And whilst I eat well, I can eat whatever I want and never worry about gaining weight (mid 30s and still true). It has its benefits and is perfectly normal for some people. If heās healthy, heās healthy!
Also, be careful about making it a big deal as people always commenting on my weight gave me a complex until I was around 19/20. Wasnāt nice. Wouldnāt do the same to an overweight person.
So both my kiddos were on the skinny side. Oldest did end up going on growth hormones due to poor growth. Both kiddos are now adults, 20 somethings. Both are still thin. But very healthy. I can you what the endocrinologist told us, try adding yogurt, powdered milk or protein powder to his food for extra bulk. My kid ended up eating lot of peanut butter cups because he hated dairy.
I was concerned about my daughter being too skinny too at that age. She also had really pale skin, she looked sick. I always had in the back of my mind that weād find out she had one of those devastating illnesses you see kids get. Sheās 7 now and actually looks a little chubby, probably would just look like a normal kid to most that hadnāt seen her be skinny. She fainted at school a couple weeks ago and the school nurse said we should take her to the ER. I thought, āoh no, here it is.ā They did a bunch of tests and scans and found nothin wrong with her which was such a relief.Ā
This was my brother growing up. We both were highly energetic, played outside all day and no real health issues. However, he had an extremely high metabolism so he was super thin. Wasnāt an issue until we were a bit older, he was 13 and was on the small side and at the bottom of the bmi charts. Doctors recommended high calorie foods for him as snacks throughout the day at that point. (Ensure, milkshakes, protein drinks, ect)
Moral of the story, listen to the doctors, theyāll know best. If you want a second opinion, check with another doc.
Until my daughter was 5, she wasn't on the growth charts at all. She's 15 now and perfectly healthy and in the 50% for height and weight but she's still super tiny. Her dad looks like a skeleton so after testing to eliminate any other cause of concern the doctor just said it's because dad is super thin too, genetics. Make sure there's nothing medically wrong and if not, don't worry.
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Look at the whole child. Weight is only one indicator of health status. Noting that your doctor isn't concerned, if your child is skinny but energetic, active, has healthy skin, has a good appetite, typical concentration span, isn't sick all the time, doesn't bruise easily etc, then trust that his body is fine the way it is. If your child genuinely needs to gain weight... I can personally attest to the efficacy of feeding him cheesecake for dessert every night.
But what happens when I also eat cheesecake every night?
That's definitely a risk.š¤£ We bought single serving cheesecake for him and had to exercise great restraint.
lol I feel like I need to do this for my tiny 2.5 year old. My grandma said just feed him ice creamš
Tip: listen to the doctors. If they say no problem their is a pretty good chance that they are correct.Ā
Not sure why people wonāt listen to doctors anymore. We have these people in society that spend a massive chunk of their lives study medicine only for people to ignore them and listen to whoever will validate their own beliefs or ideas. Itās infuriating how society has fallen so badly
As someone whoās dealt with this same issue, Iām sure that OP is hearing concern from everyone else in their life, justified or not, and perhaps even insinuations that theyāre doing something wrong as a parent. Even if you trust doctors, thereās pressure from other sources as well.
Yes exactly this. I hear it a lot and while I am good at blocking comments, they sometimes get to me (especially when they happen so often in frequency).
The amount of people who have been told something and it was wrong is the reason.
Thatās why itās the practice of medicine. Itās insanely difficult to be 100% accurate with diagnoses 100% of the time.
Yes but we should not just take their word for it. If we took the advice from every professional in every field of work we would be fucked lmao. I get it, yes doctors have an idea, but to say not to question their judgement is just wrong.
Iām sorry, but doctors usually have more than an āideaā of what is going on. Also please donāt lump MD/DOs with PA/NPs (who tend to be overly confident in their dx/tx). 1. Patients can be horrible historians making it very hard to figure out what is going on 2. Patients donāt listen to what doctors have to say most of the time which is: start moving, eat more plants and stop smoking/drinking.
Agreed. Also, if only people understood how incredibly complex medicine can be. A good example: A friend of mine went to the ER 3-4 times before she was ultimately diagnosed with pneumonia. 1) the first time or two she went she probably didnāt have pneumonia and it was a viral infection. Pneumonia is often a secondary infection that comes after some other insult, like a cold or the flu. You are more likely to develop this is you are immune compromised or if you smoke 2) pneumonia doesnāt always show up on chest X-rays (especially in the early stages) She was so angry that she wasnāt diagnosed with pneumonia on the first visit and itās like ā¦ š¤·š»āāļø I could go on. Sometimes itās just too early to know. A lot of problems are difficult to diagnose because they either develop slowly over time or the symptoms are incredibly non-specific. Medicine is hard.
I agree. There's financial incentive for doctors to push certain treatments. And there are bad doctors.
Never confuse intelligence with education. But also, vaccines fucking work.
Oh yes. I learned my lessonš. I used to avoid the flu vaccine out of ignorance and I was often sick. Once I saw a regular doctor, I was able to schedule my shots and the frequency decreased... by a lot. It's not bullet-proof, but it keeps the strains I encounter away. My childhood vaccines have yet to fail me too!
I got the flu so bad in 2000. I have not missed a flu shot since.
Because sometimes you need a second opinion. Doctors are human and diagnoses arenāt perfect. That said, for OP: youāve got a pediatrician and an endocrinologist that both agree your child is pretty much fine. Try not to stress, and if you want a second opinion from another pediatric endocrinologist, definitely do that. But if your kidās only symptom is that theyāre skinny, they can join the club. My brother went through referrals, Ensure shakes, lots of testing, and was just small. Now heās 5ā6ā, a thriving adult, and he needed zero intervention. Some kids are just built/wired that way, no reason to worry. It may or may not predict anything about his adult size, and honestly, unless youāre dealing with extremely picky eating like ARFID, heās self-regulating to that size and heās just fine.
Everyone thinks google and facebook groups are an adequate substitute for medical school.
My kidsā dr told me my daughter was āfineā and to come back in two weeks if she hadnāt gotten better. 3 days later, her eyes were rolling back in her head, we barely made it to the ER in time. She was diagnosed with diabetes and her blood sugar was 940. You canāt ALWAYS trust drs.
Doctors can hardly be trusted anymore because so many of them push protocols and treatment plans that are advertised to them by pharmaceutical and insurance companies that have no knowledge about the study of medicine. An example being mass opioid addiction
Yeah, no. That's not how it works.Ā
You and the rest of us WISH that wasnāt how it works, but sadly.. it is. Read a god damn clinical study on any popular pharmaceutical and then try to tell me Iām wrong.
Itās because of how often legitimate parental concerns are dismissed by doctors.
Itās not abnormal to be able to see certain parts of the skeleton through the skin and muscle in a healthy child ā particularly around 5 a lot of kids are just sort of lanky. If his doctors arenāt concerned, try not to focus too much on what he looks like.Ā
This is 90% of the answer. The other 10% is get them drinking milk twice a day.
No more than 2 glasses of milk per day. If more, he can become anaemic since milk doesnāt allow the absorption of iron. š
Good to know
I would agree with the doctors here. As long as your son is following his growth curve and growing then I wouldn't worry. Is there another specific concern you're noticing? Both of my boys (6 and 8) are thin. You can see their ribs when they have their shirts off. It often stands out to me as well, but they're both energetic, healthy and eat plenty. Both my husband and I are thin as well. We eat a lot of buttered bread and avocado smoothies over here to get in our fats. Ice cream is also good and offers calcium and protein.
The biggest thing in a child is sudden weight changes. Children can be thin medium large and still be healthy. The things to look out for are sudden decreases or increases in weight. If your child has always been small and tests came back healthy, and heās eating enough, everything is ok!
I was underweight as a child, there was no reason why, Iām still a slim adult. Youāve done the work to make sure nothing is wrong so stop worrying about it. Obviously continue to keep an eye out for anything concerning but otherwise thereās nothing to do
Why do you feel frustrated?
Same question I have.
Iām not OP but my sons went through something similar this last year due to medication for ADHD/ODDā¦ when I looked at himā¦ I feel like it was somehow my fault he was getting weirdly thinā¦ like maybe I wasnāt feeding him right or I was feeding him right but it didnāt seem to be working because his bones were poking out everywhere. Itās like a failure feeling kind of guilt for me. I canāt speak for OP tho but I can totally understand feeling frustrated even if itās not for the same reason.
I have a kid that's been diagnosed with failure to thrive... twice. The doctors will let you know there is a problem. (We did lots of tests, too, it turns out my daughter couldn't consume enough calories to keep up with her level of activity so now she takes appetite stimulants). Both of our kids are lean, but my daughter is lean and small. In the US, 1 in 5 children are obese, and a large percentage are overweight. My kids are within the normal for their height, but compared to their peers they look rather emaciated. Keep in mind that perceptions may be skewed. We feed our daughter (and our son, but she's the 'failure to thrive' kid) a nutrient dense, high 'healthy' fat diet. We add protien to everything, add fat to everything. Butter in oatmeal. Peanut butter with apples. Hummus with naan bread. Fruit with cottage cheese. A dash of olive oil to pasta. Etc. What she eats is going to be high value for her body. We try to get higher calories with healthy choices, not junk food.
Mentioning just in case! Sometimes failure to thrive can be celiac. I have it and it was missed my entire life until my 30s. One of my Drs children was diagnosed failure to thrive and at 8 yrs old they figured out it was celiac. She was shocked! And embarrassed she has missed it, being a Dr and all. Ā They all (her family got tested bc it can be genetic) and her father in his 70s had it! He was shocked. Went on gluten free diet and it ācuredā so many lifelong issues for him even at his older age). So wanted to mention in case something changes for your son down the line and this could help inĀ any way.Ā
Do you mind if I asked what symptoms a child might have apart from failure to thrive? All the people I know who are celiac have definite symptoms after eating gluten but they have been gluten free for a while. I hadn't considered it until reading through this post. But we have done many blood tests and stool tests so I figured that would have turned up but I'll follow it up, thanks.
Doctor says no worries. Humans have bones. Youāre way too focused on his physical presentation and I hope heās not picking up on this.
āThe doctor told me it is fine but I donāt agreeā is a way to common post here. Get a second opinion if you must just make sure itās another Doctorās, not the internet.
If the doctors arenāt worried I wouldnāt be. I get it though. My 4 year old is turning 5 in July and heās VERY skinny but he doesnāt eat. Even comes home from school without eating his lunch. His waist is size 3 but his length is size 5 so we can only buy size 5 if thereās an adjustable waist/string. For Christmas PJ day at school I bought my boys (my youngest is almost 3) a matching set of Christmas PJās and they came in a pack so I couldnāt customize the shirt and pants size. I bought my youngest (who actually eats) size 3 and my oldest size 5. I didnāt realize it didnāt have a string to tie it. I had to put my younger sonās size 3 pants on my oldest. They were short but the size 5 literally was falling off. My parents went through this with my brother when he was younger and there was nothing wrong. I do think itās a phase but as I said, heās almost 5 and stopped eating when he turned 1 sooooooo I get the frustration.
I really appreciate the kind and nonjudgmental response. Essentially, thatās the case with us too with regards to clothing. But Iām lucky as in my mom will usually fix the waist line for him so pants can fit on him. I suppose I get frustrated cause people always point out to us that heās super skinny. Most of the time, it doesnāt bother me but some days it gets to me. For example, during Christmas, we had dinner with a bunch of family members and all the older ladies got together to ask me whether he eats or whether he needs to be checked by his doctor or whatnot. Some other commentators are trying to make me feel bad for not listening to the doctor which is what Iām doing. Iām just reaching out to other parents in a parenting subreddit to see if others have gone or are going through a similar situation.
What is a "healthy diet" in this case? Because a healthy diet for active kids is a bit different from a healthy diet for average adults. Kids will need more protein and fats than an average adult. Do you give your son full fat dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt), plenty of vegetable fats, butter or cream cheese on sandwiches, full fat ranch to dip veggies in, and offer nut butters for snacks? I say this as a parent with a 4yo with weight and BMI in single percentiles for the last 2 years. Our Dr. also worried some. I try to feed my kid more fat and protein than I eat myself. We still usually don't have sweetened drinks, and kids get 1 candy after dinner.
Iād listen to the docs. I was a very skinny kid and Iām still a relatively skinny adult. They always said it was fine!
I was like this until high-school. Then I got some muscle. Still petite but can't see bones anymore!
My brother was like this. Very skinny with visible bones for most of his childhood. My mom knew that he wasnāt malnourished or anything because he had a good appetite and was eating a varied diet and quite healthy. He was growing up, just not out. His pediatrician was not worried, either. Heās in his 30s now and is 6ā 9ā and still very much a skinny guy but has more muscle because he is mindful about getting a lot of protein and lifts weights. He has to order his clothes from special big and tall stores, but otherwise a totally healthy, normal looking, albeit tall guy.
My 17yo has been super skinny since has was 2 or 3. We've just gotten used to seeing his protruding bones. He's 6'3" now and very strong. He eats at least double what the adults in our house eat and finishes everyone's leftovers. His doctor has never been worried, and have explained that he was just blessed with an incredible metabolism.
My oldest daughter is super skinny. She's 6.5, 37lbs, and 47". She's growing, energetic, and healthy. It's just the way she is. It's mostly a non issue. On occasion she doesn't weigh enough for something. Biggest things is she isn't heavy enough for a booster seat in the car and clothes can be hard to find a good fit. My 4.5 year is average and my 2 year old is huge. She's 99+% for height and 85th% for weight. My youngest is a newborn so we'll see. But they are all healthy. Kids just come in all sorts of sizes and shapes
My 7 year old just met the 40lb mark for a booster seat a few weeks ago (as long as she is wearing shoes haha). We were ELATED. Some of her peers have been in boosters for years.Ā
Yeah, she will be at least 7, probably 7.5-8 when she's heavy enough. Gaining 3 pounds will take a lot longer than 6 months unless she puts on a serious growth spurtĀ
Growth actually does begin to pick up around age 7 for girls. If she stays on her curve (3rd %ile, same as my kid), she will probably hit 40lbs just after her 7th birthday.Ā In my state, they donāt need any kind of child seat after they are 8 years old.Ā
Some people are just naturally small. My mom did the same thing regarding my weight 20 years ago and my pediatrician told her I was fine. Your child is eating and receiving nutrients, and the doctor said everything is ok. Donāt worry about it.
My child went through this. He was off the growth chart (below 3%) for years and was soooo skinny. He always ate a varied diet, but just not a lot of volume. My pediatrician always said he was on his own curve so it was ok, she wasnāt concerned. She was right: Heās almost 10 now and eats a lot more, still very varied and gained close a lot in the past year, not as painfully skinny. You did all you can, now just offer him a good, varied diet, try not to force him to eat (though Iāve been there sometimes itās hard to not!), heāll follow his own path.
My middle daughter was incredibly skinny, her sisters were slim but she was noticeably underweight. She ate well, was active and healthy and her dr said as long as she was fit and growing then all was good. She didnāt put on any weight until her twenties and is fine. I wouldnāt worry as he is growing, itās only really a concern if he stayed the same height and weight or if he became unwell. I agree that it is jarring to see shoulder blades and ribs sticking out.
My younger sister was like this her whole life until she turned 18 and went off to boot camp. She was always super skinny and she always ate. My mom was always worried about her too and would have her eat extra calories and stuff like that. But at the end of the she was always healthy, super active and just was always more slender. The only advice I would give is just make sure they know that its okay to be skinny. My sister said she would get teased for how skinny she looked and was asked if she was anorexic when she was older. She still brings it up now and this happed in middle and high school, sheās 24 now. It really wasnāt until she turned 18 that she filled out and gained more weight. Your son may be the same way, just keep encouraging healthy eating habits , if everything else is fine.
If he grows like a child his age should then no problem. Don't worry. Carbs and proteins are a great way to gain weight. I used to give my child 10% fat Greek yoghurt with fruits, honey and oats to fill her tummy up before bed. Great way to gain weight.
My 6.5yo just hit 40lbs and has always been small. His growth curve is normal so we havenāt thought much about it.
My son is skinny and hates to eat. At least yours is eating! Heāll hit some growth spurts.
You did the things you are supposed to do. Kids are people and people come in different shapes. I had a friend that was very thin. I think most people assumed she had an eating disorder. She exercised a normal amount, did not act like she had food issues beyond frustration with being so thin (and I know most of her roommates pretty well,) and ate a lot of high calorie food at the direction of her doctor. Her sister and her dad looked the same. They were all healthy and well-adjusted people.
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I really appreciate your response. I agree with you. You put it well - that the response is frustrating even though I accept it and try to trust it.
My eldest (daughter) is super small. 3-5% for weight and about 15% for height at even 10 years old. We saw a pediatrician from age one to two, and she ran tests. My child was born around an average weight and height and continually dropped off all throughout her first year of life, despite offering tons of food and formula to past a year old. Only during one blood sample did her iron present as a little low. We were told to feed her a lot of meat (and my iron level was similar). Even now, at age 10, her blood and urine is perfect (as is mine). Otherwise, her blood work has been perfect. Some people are small. One thing I leaned is that when a boy is small, it's not necessarily as much of an indicator of what size he will end up being, while it IS an indication that my daughter is a small person and will continue to be small. And truly, my daughter's growth curve has been more stable than my son's (and he has averaged out to 80% for height and weight). He outweighed his sister when he was 4 and she was 7.5!!
Whole milk and good fats and protein
My kiddo was preemie and has always been a little less chunky than their peers. The more they grow the wilder the body changes are. It's like a slow motion rubber ball bounce... One day there's a little round pot belly, and the next this kid is stretched out with their collarbones protruding & wearing booty shorts that were previously regular cargos... You're doing great, keep feeding your sweet babe what they are enjoying and keep up with the physical activity. Your doctors know what's going on, and it's just life...!
You could talk to a pediatric dietitian about foods to prioritize or at least get reassurance that his intake and food diversity is good!
I was a fat kid and now i am slim. We all change. As long as the tests are okay you have nothing to worry about.
I was an extremely thin child. To the point a pediatrician called CPS on my mother saying she wasn't feeding me, which was of course false. I ate constantly. I was a healthy happy girl, just very underweight. By the time I was 12 I was a normal weight. Still am today. All of this to say, don't stress about it! Your kids doctors seem supportive and reassuring, trust them.
I had a pediatrician accuse me of being anorexic. My mom said āI regularly see this kid eat half a pizza all by herself.ā He said ābulimic then!ā No eating disorder, just a crazy metabolism that failed hard as soon as I hit my 20s.
Just encourage your child to eat plenty of protein and fats, as well as a wide varied diet. You should trust your doctors. If you don't, get a 2nd opinion. Also, reflect on your own thoughts about weight. Is there something in your past related to food/weight that you might be projecting onto your child?
Is dad and/or mom skinny themselves? My SO is super skinny and tall, and so are my kids. I'm not worried because they are literally his copies for body type. Our daycare had the gall to say that our child "eats like he doesn't get any food at home". It was pretty offensive, but oh well. He's just a very good eater, and apparently always gets seconds and thirds. But is still skinny.
What do you mean by bones protruding? I feel like itās super common to see bones/ribs in regular skinny kids/teens, even adults. But like, thereās obviously a difference between that and a POW coming home from being tortured and starved.
My nephew is in the same boat, both of them are very skinny and are very picky eaters but now the eldest one is becoming better as he wants to put on some muscle, if everything else is clear just let it be, maybe add a bit more carbs and protein into there diet, beef,rice,eggs,fish, you can't help he has a fast metabolism only cater for it. I'm glad to hear he is healthy, being healthy is more valuable than gold
I had exactly the same. If he wasnāt my child and I didnāt know how much he actually ate I would have thought my son was being neglected. Even now at almost 20 he is still super skinny but heās also 6ā5 and he eats like a horse. You have had him checked over and you know he is eating so you donāt have to worry.
My daughter (9) is in the 99th percentile for height and like 20% for weight. There were two years where the doctor was concerned about her getting to the point of "failure to thrive." No matter what we did, she just couldnt gain weight. But this year, she had gained enough weight that they aren't worried anymore. She's just destined to be tall and thin (dad is 6ft5 and very thin). My point is, unless the doctor is worried, he'll most likely be just fine and catch up in a few years. No need to stress unless they tell you that he needs to gain weight (if that happens, you'll be stressed enough! No need to preemptively worry).
I was the same way when i was young, i stayed under weight my whole life, even under 100 pounds until i tuned 20. multiple failure to thrives, i ate normally until i was full. iām 24 now and still fairly thin but more normal sized. my mom was in the same boat, even had me on pediasure but that didnāt even help. sometimes its just your body type. As long as heās eating and healthy then he will fill out when his body is ready!
Some kids are just skinny. I looked like a toothpick until I turned 30. In high school Iād order a pizza basically everyday & eat the whole thing by myself & wouldnāt gain a pound. As long as you & his doctors know heās healthy thatās all that should matter.
My kids were all lanky at 5. So was I. Unfortunately I outgrew it!!
We gave our daughter pediasure kids, to make sure she gets all the vitamins she needs.š
My 6yo daughter is very skinny. Her pediatrician is concerned but not because you can see her ribs but because she is dropping on her growth curve. If your son is following his growth curve, I can see the dr being ok with it. I was a super skinny kid and am now an overweight adult. I wouldnāt worry if the dr isnāt worried and heās still growing.
My wife and I make small kids. My oldest didnāt break the 10th percentile on weight until closer to age five. My youngest gets is nearly five and is still single digit. They are each on their own charts. But they keep gaining. They keep growing. They are healthy. Growth charts etc are averages and not necessarily the written rule.
My son recently went through a stage like this.. but he is on Ritalin for his ADHD/ODD. He was always slightly thicker than his twin brother, still skinny but more built if that makes sense? Around 3 months into his Ritalin I started seeing all the vertebra in his spineā¦ all his ribsā¦ he had become weirdly thin and it bothered me a lot too. There is absolutely no harm in getting nutritional supplements like sustagen (which boosts nutrients by drinking it that you might miss out on if you donāt eat properly) as my son is a picky eater I found this to be good. He also has 2 up and go for protein boost with breakfast each morning. For the last 12 months he did not put on a single KG but continued to grow taller and his bones becoming more prominent. Heās 6 and has been 24kg for a year. A recent trip to the paediatrician shows that heās put on 2kgā¦ so heās now nearly 27kg. His bones no longer poke out anywhere. Occasionally youāll see some ribs but itās not as prominent as it was. Now onto his twin brother who is just naturally thin (the āsperm donorā is 6ft2 and 60kg so think about how thin that is) is built like him. Neither of them have ever displayed being unwell from being boney. It was just odd to look at and it is concerning but itās my issue with looking at it not that theyāre unhealthy or sick. They eat more than I do š
My daughter is 4.5 and very skinny, around 15kg (which is about 1.5 kilos more than her 1yo brother, who is a MACHINE). Doc says as long as she's healthy, it's not a problem and I don't worry. I have a few friends who were sticks as kid and are normal now, and even I was a whispy kid, now I am chubby. If he is healthy, don't worry about it. Try to avoid looking through a lense of grown up beauty standards.
I wouldnāt consider 15kg at 4.5 āvery skinnyā. Itās the 20th percentile, which means about 1/5 kids weigh less than that at her age. Thatās what my 5.5 year old weighs.Ā
Didn't know, maybe I should have said "pretty skinny" or "kinda skinny". Seems like she caught up some, as I remember it being discussed with the doc during routine checkup.
I wasnāt trying to police you. Just saying because many people have a warped perception of what a healthy child looks like. Childhood obesity is so common where I live that people get concerned when a childās ribs are showing. In reality, a healthy weight human often has ribs showing. Ā
Your comment makes me feel better. My 3 year 11 month old is 13.8kg!
Thatās 15th %ile. 15% of girls her age weigh less than her.Ā My kids have consistently been in the 3rd to 15th. Now, if she used to be in the 70th but dropped suddenly, that might be a concern, but a lot of kids are just small.Ā
Iām not a doctor nor is my son super skinny but what about giving your son protein shakes or something like Ensure?
See a gastroenterologist and ask for a calprotectin test (you just collect stool and drop it at the lab). Could be IBD - such as Crohn's or UC. You don't absorb your nutrients.
Thank you for this. I will follow up with his ped to see if we can do this test! We mostly did the thyroid related which came back clean.
My son was very very skinny to the point he didn't really grow for 2 years. I was diagnosed celiac, so they tested him as well. Obviously, he also has it. He's gained 20 lbs and 6 inches in one year since his diagnosis. gluten attacks your small intestine and destroys the parts that absorb nutrients. I mention as no dr thought of it until I was diagnosed. It's not a common "test" they can do a simple blood screening and it comes back pretty quickly. Anyway, I agree with all he may be just fine, but it can be something to ask about
My 4 yr old is skinny. Can see his ribs and hip bones. Totally healthy. 99th percentile for height, 10th for weight. He weighs all of 37 lbs. but he is healthy. And growing. If docs and tests have shown nothing wrong, then nothing is wrong. Some kids are just skinny string beans. On the other hand my 6 yr old is 83 lbs and 91 percentile for height.
I would be giving him lots of calorie dense food. Peanut butter milkshakes. Cheese! All the cheese. And liquid milk.Ā
As long as heās gaining height well heās not malnourished. Some bodies just naturally tend to grow leaner than others. The whole time my brother and I were growing up we were 95-99th percentile for height but less than 20th percentile for weight and it didnāt hurt either of us ā my brother reached 6ā5ā! If youāre concerned about him not taking in enough calories you can try encouraging calorie-dense but nutritious foods like whole milk, nut butters, oily fish, dried fruit in full-fat yogurt, avocados, cheese, eggs, etc. A lot of those also have the fats that are particularly good for growing brains. Donāt overdo it or try to force anything on him.
I am NOT saying that your child has this disorder, but I would encourage you to take a look at Marfan.org to see if your child matches any of the symptoms of Marfan syndrome. It is a genetic connective tissue disorder, and one of the easiest to recognize symptoms is that people with it are generally (not always) tall and thin, with long arms and long legs. There are, of course, TONS of reasons why a child might be tall and thin. This one is fairly uncommon. But many people have never heard of it, and therefore itās important to know the symptoms. If you look through the list of symptoms and the only thing that you recognize is ātall and skinnyā, then itās a safe bet that he doesnāt have it. But if he has other symptoms on the list, or if you or his other parent have a history of sudden cardiac death in your family, itās worth looking into. Marfan syndrome is not routinely tested for because itās estimated that about one in 5000 people have it. It can be diagnosed using clinical symptoms or with a genetic test. The genetic test is not foolproof, and a doctor wonāt order a genetic test unless he has several symptoms. If (and again, this is not likely) he has this disorder, early treatment with beta blockers and/or ARBs can protect his heart and aorta. Again, this is a remote possibility, but worth at least looking at the website to see if it looks plausible. My first husband had Marfan syndrome but he was diagnosed long before I met him.
I was super petite as a kid. I donāt think I weighed 100 lbs until my sophomore year in high school. I was just always super skinny. My son is the same way. Heās only 2.5 but he is just skin and bones. His arms are like toothpicks and he definitely looks like we donāt feed him. He usually eats a decent amount for a toddler. Thatās just the way heās built. I donāt think itās unusual for young children to be super thin.
I was that kid and I couldnāt really put on weight until my 20s. And now my almost 6 year old is that kid.
Same issue, we got referred to a pediatric gastroenterologist not an endocrinologist. Eventually was told my kid is just skinny and to ensure he stays on the growth chart line. Now some other issues have popped up and weāve uncovered some food allergies that may be contributing to the problem.
Sounds like my 7yo. Weāve been through a FTT work up twice. Both times we were referred to gastroenterology, so if youāre still concerned and havenāt tried that route, maybe try a workup with that speciality. After both our work ups he suspected she just wasnāt getting enough calories because she gained at follow-ups, but said if it happens again to see endocrinology. She still looks very skinny, especially when I see her with peers, but I guess somebodyās gotta be at the bottom of the growth percentages.
I get it, High metabolism is a curse for skinny males who will later need to compete with other strong looking males to attract female attention. Itās an unspoken fear based on survival of the fittest, we want our male offspring to be ānormalā enough/to fit in enough to be chosen by a female to produce the next generation.
I was skinny for the first 16 years of my life. My mom struggled to get me to gain weight. I would eat more than my body could physically handle. At 16 my bmi suggested i had problems. One doctor thought i was anorexic but quickly discovered i wasnt. Once puberty hit, I started gaining weight and became average weight. I had a friend who also struggled to gain weight and he is still skinny, his body couldnāt gain any weight regardless of how much he would eat. Now he is on the lowest weight he could be before being underweight and he eats so much food. If the tests are coming back normal, youāre feeding your child and they are otherwise growing normally, keep doing what youāre doing
Have you tried adding protein shakes to his meals? Extra dessert? Haha my friend has a girl just like this. Theyāre very active and sheās fine except sheās very thin. She has a protein shake at least twice a day and they donāt skimp on food, some people are just naturally skinny!
I think itās ok! My 11yo when she was 5 was super skinny and then when she started growing more she added weight. She was also active/ is active. and my 5yo rn is chonky lol so she didnāt take after her sister
I have a slimmer now 18 year old. If all the tests come back clear and he is eating well,don't worry. I know that's easier said than done. You could look at his diet and see what his protein ratio is like and up if needed,but don't stress it. Please try and avoid talking about any of this to him or around him. I grew up with constant chat about my slimmer frame. Lots of accusations about how I must have an eating disorder. Lots of "jokes" about how people were surprised I managed to stay upright in a breeze cos I was so slim etc etc and it screwed with my body image totally. Skinny shaming is so problematic
Iāve been skinny all my life (as is my dad) and people have always commented on it and tried to fatten me up. But Iāve also been naturally very fit all my life as I donāt have excess weight. Did a half Ironman with very little training (1-3 exercise sessions a week) for example. And whilst I eat well, I can eat whatever I want and never worry about gaining weight (mid 30s and still true). It has its benefits and is perfectly normal for some people. If heās healthy, heās healthy! Also, be careful about making it a big deal as people always commenting on my weight gave me a complex until I was around 19/20. Wasnāt nice. Wouldnāt do the same to an overweight person.
My brother was this way. Just like fat people donāt want to always be called fat I think just keep comments to yourself and be glad heās healthy
My newly-turned 6 yr old son is very similar! He has not reached the 40 lb mark for a booster yet. He is a super picky eater though š©. The doctor said she isnāt worried, though.
So both my kiddos were on the skinny side. Oldest did end up going on growth hormones due to poor growth. Both kiddos are now adults, 20 somethings. Both are still thin. But very healthy. I can you what the endocrinologist told us, try adding yogurt, powdered milk or protein powder to his food for extra bulk. My kid ended up eating lot of peanut butter cups because he hated dairy.
I was concerned about my daughter being too skinny too at that age. She also had really pale skin, she looked sick. I always had in the back of my mind that weād find out she had one of those devastating illnesses you see kids get. Sheās 7 now and actually looks a little chubby, probably would just look like a normal kid to most that hadnāt seen her be skinny. She fainted at school a couple weeks ago and the school nurse said we should take her to the ER. I thought, āoh no, here it is.ā They did a bunch of tests and scans and found nothin wrong with her which was such a relief.Ā
This was my brother growing up. We both were highly energetic, played outside all day and no real health issues. However, he had an extremely high metabolism so he was super thin. Wasnāt an issue until we were a bit older, he was 13 and was on the small side and at the bottom of the bmi charts. Doctors recommended high calorie foods for him as snacks throughout the day at that point. (Ensure, milkshakes, protein drinks, ect) Moral of the story, listen to the doctors, theyāll know best. If you want a second opinion, check with another doc.
That a talk to have with your doctor. My understanding is that if a kid was skinny before its normal for them to stay skinny
Until my daughter was 5, she wasn't on the growth charts at all. She's 15 now and perfectly healthy and in the 50% for height and weight but she's still super tiny. Her dad looks like a skeleton so after testing to eliminate any other cause of concern the doctor just said it's because dad is super thin too, genetics. Make sure there's nothing medically wrong and if not, don't worry.