[hajeep]

I have a two-year Guat. son and am having a difficult time with him eating. He eats almost nothing. We have done a ton of tests and are in the process of doing more. He is 26 months, weighs 21.5 pounds and has gained just 4 pounds in a year. He had a bone age test which compares the hand/wrist bones to that of an average two year old (American, of course) and he came back with a bone age of a 9 month old.

I need feedback to know if this is typical of other Guats. I know he will be small, but the fact that he eats nothing causes me great concern.

Help!!

[laura-jean]

for you....

Hopefully someone will have some info for you.

Best Wishes,

LJ

[Mindybeth6]

Although I have no specific advice I can tell you that my son will be 4 in August and weighs 31 pounds ans has weighed that for awhile. He doesn't eat either and it drives me crazy. But I can't force him to eat. His DR says he is fine and he is in the 25th percentile for weight but MAN is he a tiny boy. I have to pin ALL of his pants in because they fall off of him but I need length. He has always been small and although I Have never had a bone test done or anything like that b.c the DR says he is fine, I can tell you he looks like a bird. I have him on a multi-vitamin and I can tell you as soon as we stopped him from drinking so much milk and made him drink more water...he ate better. THe milk was filling him up and he wasn't eating anything else due to that. Just a thought. Also...my DR said no juice...it is empty calories and can also fill a child up so that they don't eat as well. I hope everything is OK...I am sure it will be. My son was only 22 pounds on his 2nd b-day.

[Mindybeth6]

I also guess I should add that this is my bio son...not a Guatemalan baby.

Hugs

[Seraphic Queen]

I don't know if it's typical of Guatemalan children to eat like this but our pediatrician said it's in the genes to be small. Our son is 21 months old, weighed 19 pounds 15 ounces at 18 months. He is, strangely, in the high percentile for height. His eating habits drive me crazy, too. We never give him juice--just his 16 oz. milk and water. I have had more success just giving him three meals a day, rather than supplement with snacks. His total intake is more with just the three meals. He rarely asks for food but seems ready to eat when mealtimes come. But oh how little he eats. I space the milk between meals in hopes this keeps his blood sugar stable. The pediatrician says this is typical of toddlers and not to worry, as long as he doesn't lose weight.

[csw]

Hi
A couple of things the book I have on toddlers points out..just to give you some feedback..
It says (I am not a doc by the way) some reasons for a toddler to be underweight are...
Excessive fluid intake..filling up on juice, milk etc..
Easily distracted during mealtime
A toddler who doesn't complain when hungry
Uncomfortable seating..not staying long enough
at the table
Unplesant eating conditions..mealtime stress can
affect the appetites
Hurried mealtime
Poor food choices..too low in fat, empty calories
Self feeding problems
Ill timed meals..waiting too long for a meal then
they are not hungry
Inadequate eating at daycare
Increased activity
Illness..frequent ear or other infections, asthma
allergies, digestive problems a metabolic disorder,
an iron or zinc deficiency, certain medications.
early lead poisoning, hormonal deficiency
Stress of all kinds
And of course the catch all..unknown (idiopathic)

It also says that from birth to 1 year the weight gain is 12-17.5 lbs

From 1-2 years its 4-6 lbs

From 2-3 years..3.5-5.5 lbs

Some strategies for getting a toddler to eat more are to give small portions of each food, not mountains of food which can overwhelm and intimidate them..make food fun, offer choices, etc..

We find that our daughter (age 33 months) will get tired of trying to feed herself, and towards the end of the meal we have to step in and offer her a few bites on the fork or spoon and she will eat more..

She is also still on an organic toddler formula..1 bottle at night..as well as a good daily vitamin supplement (all natural Yummi Bears)..they are gummy, so he may be a bit young for those..

Our daughter was 90%tile for weight..then she had a heavy metal exposure and went down to 30%tile for weight..she is now up to 50-60% for weight..
By keeping her on the toddler forumula and at night (I know experts say not to do this) putting a little rice cereal in the bottle, as well as alternate a bit of olive oil with flax seed oil..got her to gain some weight back..

Sounds like you and your doc are on top of things..but I am not sure if you can compare him to a child born here. His weight sounds like quite a few others I have heard at that age..our daughter is 30 lbs..but she was also almost 9 lbs at birth and 22 inches long..its hard not to compare kids with others..he may just have his own growth curve.

I wonder if he would like a smoothie type of drink?
You could get dairy and fruit into him that way..maybe he would like to drink it from a special straw? Our son loved straws at that age..

Good luck, let us know how its going..

[msaguilar]

I don't know if this is the kind of advice you may be looking for, but:
our toddler (23 months) has gone through some VERY picky phases, expecially for lunch & dinner meals. As he got older where he could start feeding himself, he would only eat if self-fed. He would reject any food I tried to feed him. Also, distractions are a big trigger for his not eating. I took away the usual busy-toys that he would play with during meals, and got a bunch of fun placemats that he enjoys but is not too distracted by. Finally, I also noticed that he was less interested in eating when his nose is stuffy (from winter colds, and now allergy-type stuffies), so I try to clean his nose out before meals.
Again, don't know if this is the type of info that may help you, but it looks like others have given you some great advice. Good luck!

[iammonikasmom]

Tagging on here though I have exactly the extreme opposite. I have a just 3yo who never feels full. I have locks on the food cabnets, refrig. have to limit everything and has put on way too much weight even controlling what she eats. We are just beginning the blood work and endocrinologist stuff. Anyone else out there in my shoes? Nancy

[klef14]

Hi there,
I am in the same boat with my son. He will be 3 in May barely tips the scales at 26 lbs. He weighed 21.5 for the longest time! He is barely on the chart for ht and has never been on the chart for wt. He is VERY picky a home, but eats well at daycare. I am not sure of your situation, but my son eats better in a crowd. We have started eating more often as a family and he is more eager to try what we are eating.

When he was the same age as your son, I stuck with his favorites and rotated them around, every once in a while I would try something new. Sometimes he liked it, most of the time, he didn't. We had a lot of dinners of fruit and yogurt! Decreasing his milk, and taking away toys at the dinner table did help a bit. I will say that he is less picky as we approach 3 than when he was your sons age. The DR was never worried as long as he showed any type of progress. I try not to stress, but I understand how difficult it is. I hope this helps. PM me if you want a list of foods. Good luck with everything,

[jnstvny]

Our son is 17 months - at his 15 month checkup he was 22 1/2 lbs, which is in the 22nd percentile. He is extremely picky and has been since he has been home with us.


Our son eats very well at daycare, but gives us a hard time at home. He feeds himself and hates for us to try to feed him. I, just like klef14, give him what he likes and try to stick something else in there for change to see if he'll eat it. He loves fruit, so we give him that with every meal. We also buy the organic drinkable yogurts and he loves them.

My pediatrician doesn't seem worried about it. I am hoping that he will eventually become a better eater.

[busterleroy]

Same thing with Joey when he first came home. He weighed 22 lbs. We cut back on fruit juice and started incorporating Hershey's Milkshake milk drinks (sweet but he refused regular milk) He gained weight rapidly when he started drinking those, now is nearly 28 lbs.

[alyssa&avery]

I have the same situation as Nancy (Iammonikasmom). My 4 year old is barely hanging on to the growth chart for weight, but is right in the middle for height. She's a good eater, doesn't seem to over eat and is not a big betweeen meal snacker. She should be about 8-10 pounds lighter for her height (though she just had a growth spurt so that may have changed). For now we're just monitoring her since her height/weight ratio has always been this way.

My 2 year old is in the 99%ile for both height and weight. He's only about 1/2 to 1 inch shorter than my daughter and her friends. All of his weight is definitely in his height though. He needs 3T's for length, but really needs a 2T around the waist (thank goodness for adjustable waists). I also just bought them both shoes and they wear the SAME size. He's just a very BIG boy.

Wondering where I got such big Guat's when everyone else's seem to be so small.............. Seriously, I love my kiddos just the way they are.

[Pick Me]

She is not home yet, but I just checked her latest medicals since your son's weight didn't strike me as that odd.

My bio daughter has always hovered around the 50% for weight (and 90% for height) but between 2 and 3 she only gained maybe 5-6 lbs.

Good luck!

[thefrys61299]

I'm going to be very simplistic and state that most children around two years old go on "food strike". Is this what he is doing? Did he eat previously? Does he have one favorite thing that he prefers? This is normal and really isn't cause for concern. I can't offer any further insight into the bone scan results and such since I have no guatemalan children

[thefrys61299]

Originally Posted by klef14

Hi there,
I am in the same boat with my son. He will be 3 in May barely tips the scales at 26 lbs,

That's a totally normal weight for a near-3 year old. My dd is 3 (turned 3 in January) and weighs 26 pounds and is in the 50% range for girls her age. I'd say your son is just perfectly average for size