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Post by momoftwo on Sept 5, 2004 23:24:06 GMT -5
Hey to everybody! Obviously, I'm a brand new poster on here pretty much, so I apologize for any redundant questions. I see that some people have already questioned about slow weight gain, but I HAVE to ask...for my sanity's sake....My son, Nicholas, just turned 4. He weighs 21 lbs, 37 in. in height and APPEARS to be about a 14 mo old. In short (no pun intended) he's TINY!! When we go out, I get "Awww...He's sooo cute!! How old is he??" Then I have to respond with the "He's 4....He has DS...he's just a little slower to grow." Not that I feel I OWE an explanation, but gosh, If it were me, I'd wonder what in the world was happening there. It's also a little bit of a way I feel I can educate people about DS. Anyway, in saying all of that, I know from reading on here and what I know of DS, most of the kiddos are slow to grow in almost every way, but do any of you have a child that is in both the 5% in height and weight??!!  He DID have heart problems at birth that were corrected last summer, but has still only grown one inch and gained 3 lbs since.  Just wondering if any of you have little ones that seem to just be STAYING little??!! Thanks! Dana  |
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Post by Jenn on Sept 6, 2004 0:01:10 GMT -5
lol....
Courtney is 10.
She weighs 47lbs....
I think she is 3.10ft
so yes she is tiny too!
She has no heart issues....she is just little.
I believe Courtney weighed the same at 4...And I believe Chase weighed pretty close to that too....
RIGHT ROBIN???
She wore the same size clothes for 2 1/2 years and then BOOM she grew almost 3 inches at the end of last year.
And don't apologize for asking questions!! How else will you learn? I did the same....
Good Luck and try not to worry! If he is following his own curve, then don't worry.
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Post by ALLISA on Sept 6, 2004 8:35:41 GMT -5
Erin is defintiely in the same boat. She will be 5 in February and she still wears 24 months for clothes size. She weighs just about what your son does, though I am not sure of her height. She also had a heart defect. but it was corrected at 4 months of age, so I don't think that should be factoring in at all anymore.
I usually pre-empt the "explanation" when people ask how old she is I always say"Well, she is small for her age,.....(pause to let them soak that in)....but she is actually 4". Then I leave out any DS talk and let the conversation go as it will. But if I just reply "4"...then there is usually a shocked response.
I hear my sons giving the same answer now when anyone asks them about her ! LOL
Her doctors all say the weight gain is "plotting along nicely" which I guess means she's making a nice curve on her growth charts, so they seem happy with it !!
Jenn is right that the nice thing is you do get some extra wear out of clothes !!
We'd love to hear more about you all... so keep posting !
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Post by mom2kayla on Sept 6, 2004 10:51:11 GMT -5
My daughter Kayla stayed 18 lbs for 3 years! I thought she would never grow, but finally around age 6 she started gaining weight and growing. Now she is almost 14 and is 4 ft 7 inches and weighs 118! I wish she was still little they grow so fast!! Stacey
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Post by christie on Sept 6, 2004 20:48:09 GMT -5
Chris too was always very very small for his age and for years truly didn't grow or put on weight  We got many years out of his clothes  Chris started to grow more bout 6 years old. He is 11 and 1/2 now and I do believe he is 4 feet 2 and he is bout 89 lb's. He truly looks bout 8 years old. Everytime Chris goes to the ped, which I am sad to say is lots, they take his weight and height and they have never been concerened, even back when he wasn't growing much. I would say ask your Ped what they think and if they are concerned CC ~ |
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Post by Jackie on Oct 12, 2004 13:06:47 GMT -5
For what its worth here...it has been my experience that many kids who have been small all their life (kids with DS that is) suddenly balloon in wt during puberty. I am the voice of experience also on this one...Emily had failure to thrive the first year of her life...and was really scrawny....she was then pretty normal in wt and low in height...(topping out now right at five feet)...but as she hit mid teens put on mega wt. This was compounded by depo provera shots and her time away at ENMU when she had an all you can eat buffet meal ticket...and the ability to call and order pizzas to her dorm room. We are slowly but surely peeling the layers off of her now...LOL...but its worth the effort I think of beginning early when your kids dont needed it stressing healthy eating and avoiding fast foods as much as possible...those french fries and pizzas are hard habits to break.
Jackie mom to Em 24
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Post by Chris on Oct 12, 2004 17:45:19 GMT -5
My daughter was very tiny until she completely healed from her heart surgery. She started growing at eight months and hasn't slowed down since. She turned three last month and now is 36 1/2 inches tall and weighs 32 1/2 pounds.  She seems to be a giant in the Ds world. All my friends kids are tiny. Chris |
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Post by shellk on Oct 12, 2004 19:09:33 GMT -5
Kourtney is 5 and a half and I love to call her my Kourtney square pants..She wieghs 39 pounds and is 39 1/2 inches tall..She weighs almost as much as she is tall...She has worn the same shoe size for about the last year and a half..She wears a 9..
WELCOME TO UNO MAS !!!!!!!!!!
Michele
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Post by matthew'smom on Oct 12, 2004 19:59:19 GMT -5
Welcome to UnoMas!
My son, Matthew, just turned a year old in September. He was 29 1/2 inches and weighed 16 lbs, 15 oz at our last well visit. We have always been concerned about his weight esp b/c he has a heart condition. His ped isn't concerned since he is moving along at the same curve on the DS growth chart. I think it's still hard as a parent b/c people associate a nice chunky baby as being healthy.
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Post by justinsmom on Oct 13, 2004 8:35:58 GMT -5
Justin was failure to thrive the first year but then we had his thyroid levels checked and that was our problem he has hypothyroid and takes levoxyl once a day since and now he is 4 weighs 42 lbs and is 43 inches tall.
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Post by momofrussell on Oct 13, 2004 20:13:30 GMT -5
Russell was dinky from 1-4 yrs old. For the most part he weighed 18 lbs for YEARS during that time. Russell has Chronic Reflux that attributed to it. He did loose a pound or so at one point, but because he was active and not lethargic, there really wasn't a cause for worry with us and the docs agreed. Russell has never been tall either.
Russell is now 6.7 yrs old. He just now in the past year has filled out more and grew some, but he is still low on the DS charts for weight and height. But not has low has he was. His pants STILL fall off though LOL. He weighs around 39-40 lbs and is probably around that in height too... I am not good at remembering height for him... but he is a bit on the shorter side. He wears 4t pants if that helps put it in perspective. He wore 18 months and 2t for the LONGEST time.. never thought we'd get over that hump!
Hope the info helps! I'd say unless your child is lethargic and loosing MASS amounts of weight, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Some of our kids are small and some aren't. And even though we don't personally have heart issues, I hear and read that lots with kids with heart issues that they are slow to gain weight.
Hugs
A.
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Post by LaShonya on Oct 22, 2004 17:44:28 GMT -5
My son Timothy is 5 and has just started to grow again it seems as though the growth spurts are farther spaced out. He weighs about 43 pd and I can't remember how tall he is Thanks to him the girls get to go shopping more often ;D |
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Post by Kristen on Oct 28, 2004 14:02:15 GMT -5
Carter is about 34 inches (hard to measure - he won't stand well when I want him to :  and is 26 1/2 punds at just over 2 years. The kid is all arms and legs with this big melon on top. I think about 35% on a regular chart and 90% on DS. No butt, no gut, just a stick boy. He seems pretty good size to me, but then again I knew him when he was 4 pounds and an inch off the bottom of the growth charts! WHat does not help is my 30 1/2 inch 25 pound one year old daughter. Can I tell you how often I get asked if they are twins? I say no, they're close in age and he was a teeny preemie and she is wanting to be tall like her mama. I don't voulenteer DS info much. I don't want Carter to hear himself being singled out like that. |
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Post by wrblack on Oct 29, 2004 10:01:16 GMT -5
Charlie started out small and has stayed that way. He was 10 weeks premature. At birth 15 inches, 1130 grams (4 grams shy of 2 1/2 lbs.) Einstein was right. It's all relative, folks. At not much more than 1 yr. old, Charlie was ten times his birth weight. Then, at 3 yrs. old he was just over 30 lbs, kinda chunky and yellow-orange coloring--hypothyroidism. A couple of months of synthroid and he had dropped to 27 lbs. It's taken him two years to be back over 30 lbs. and somewhat more than 3 ft. tall. I think he's just below the 50th percentile on the Ds charts and around the 5th percentile on the regular charts. Also think he's in generally good health and doesn't seem too small when carrying him upstairs to bed, just a nice size. Oh, and if you wanted to see what a 2 1/2 lb. baby looks like, you could visit his web page home.earthlink.net/~wrblack/or his little brother's home.earthlink.net/~wrblack/robertsphotoalbum/who was 40 grams heavier and 1/4 inch longer at birth. -- Bob, dad to Charlie (Ds) and Robert (non-Ds) |
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Post by Kristen on Oct 29, 2004 11:57:40 GMT -5
Bob, you are soooo right!
I equate it like this - Carter was roughly 5 times his birth weight at 1 (almost 20 pounds) that would be like his 7 1/2 pound sister weighing over 35 at one year. Puts it in persepctive.
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He DID have heart problems at birth that were corrected last summer, but has still only grown one inch and gained 3 lbs since. 
Just wondering if any of you have little ones that seem to just be STAYING little??!! 
We got many years out of his clothes 
Chris started to grow more bout 6 years old. He is 11 and 1/2 now and I do believe he is 4 feet 2 and he is bout 89 lb's. He truly looks bout 8 years old.
]
She seems to be a giant in the Ds world. All my friends kids are tiny.
jackie
and is 26 1/2 punds at just over 2 years. The kid is all arms and legs with this big melon on top. I think about 35% on a regular chart and 90% on DS. No butt, no gut, just a stick boy. He seems pretty good size to me, but then again I knew him when he was 4 pounds and an inch off the bottom of the growth charts!