small for her age

[adiasmom]

Hi everyone! My name is misti and I just joined this board yesterday. I have a little girl named Adia who is 13 mos. She was diagnosed with ds at birth. I am feeling extremely overwhelmed with the fact that she is soo small. She started out small weighing 5lbs 7oz at birth and then she had her heart repaired at four months. I expected her to just take off after that and grow like a weed, but that hasn`t been the case. I have breastfed her all this time, but she is a very picky eater, and what she does eat, she eats very little of at a time. I was just wondering if anyone else had gone through this and could hopefully shed some light for me. I feel like I am failing her.

[kellyds]

I think kids with DS just grow more slowly. Joshie will be four next month. He had his heart repaired at three months old. He is not a picky eater . . . eats everything in sight, LOL! But he's still small for his age. He is even small when compared to the kids his age on the special Down syndrome growth chart our pediatrician has. He's otherwise healthy, so we aren't worrying.

Welcome!

[danikins]

I just want to say, you are not failing your precious beautiful daughter at all. Just by you coming here, joining and asking questions shows what a loving, devoted mother you are. I think you will get some great answers.

Our loves grow at different rates. Make sure you consult with your pediatrician. If you have already, what does he or she say? Dani was intolerant of milk/soy until 12 months and then once she was able to change over to a regular diet she started growing more.

I am sure you will get more responses--especially for those whose little one's had/have heart issues. Dant's heart was fine, but her stomach and interstines were not connected at birth. I joined here quickly after her birth 6 years ago and have about 3 or 4 screen names since then, but the group here has always been a great help and source of support.

All our best,
Kim and Danikins

[lorraine]

Hello and welcome to Uno mas !

My son William has just turned 2 and didn't have any heart or health issues and he does eat well however he is small, he wears clothes that are age 9 - 12 months, they fit him perfectly.

He just got loads of clothes for his birthday and xmas from family and most are age 2-3. he won't be wearing them for along time LOL

Has your doctor looked in to other health problems that might affect her growth such as thyroid function or digestive issues ?

Also I do know another baby near me who has DS, she is 17 months and very tiny, but for no reason. So it could be that she is just going to be small.

Welcome again

Lorraine

[ALLISA]

Welcome to a great site !! Hope you stick around !

My Erin is like you Adia...she was always tiny and still is.....was 4 & 1/2 pounds at birth....heart repair at 4 months ( they wanted to do it at 2 months & 10 pounds.....but we couldn't get weight on her despite thickening formula,etc....so they did surgery at 4 months and 7 pounds)

She didn't hit 10 pounds until she was 1 years old.....

and she eats everything in sight......

now she will be 9 in February.....and she is still small for her age ...wears a childs size 5-6 for clothes.

When she was a toddler.....her clothers lasted FOREVER.....never seemed to outgrow quickly like all other toddlers do.....

no biggie.....

If, however you feel she is ultra-picky in her eating or her habits are impeding her.....ask an OT or ST for some advice. Some kids are sensitive to textures in food, some don't like baby food that is "combination".......meat, veggies and sauce all mixed together.....

[CC]

WELCOME TO Uno ;D

Christopher when he was little honestly was very tiny for years, my Sis use to say to me "he might be the first midget (sp?) with DS LOL Honestly he would not grow or put on weight and his clothes lasted for ever. The Docs watched him closely and YES he was and is a still a picky eater

BUT just a few years ago he shot up in height and weight so fast no kidding he has stretch marks on his legs. Chris just turned 16 and is 5' 2" and actually a little over weight now he is 149

As long as your Docs are aware and keeping an eye on the growth and weight and there is no physical reason my bet is you will see the growth down the road

CC ~

[Googsmom aka Jennifer]

I have no advise b/c I have a rolly polley over here. Brook was born a big girl and is still a big girl I wanted to Welcome you to Uno and offer {{{HUGS}}}}

[Valerie]

You just never know. Nicholas was also 5 lbs 7 oz at birth, and also had heart surgery. That first year was just awful getting him to eat! I felt like we were starving him at times, as he was also a picky eater.

But now I can hardly keep him out of food, and at 5 years old he weighs a whopping 65 lbs!! That first year I would never have dreamed it would be like this now!

Hang in there! She may start packing it on, or maybe she will just have a dainty frame.

[damarasmom]

Welcome to the board! Damara was born at 6lbs 9oz...she had her heart repair at 2 mo and did not really start to gain weight for months after. Then it was a very slow process. By the time she was 12 mo old, she was still wearing 4 mo clothing. Well, time has passed and she is now 4 1/2, wearing size 5-6 clothing and doing just great! She is short for her age, but not so much that it is a concern...just alot of pants hemming!
Your doing just fine, and she will grow as she is suppose to...keep your chin up and keep doing what you are doing, it will all work out!

[wrblack]

Charlie was 2 lbs., 7.9 oz. (1130 grams) at birth. Just look,



Four years and five days later, his little brother outweighed him by a full ounce and a half, 2 lbs., 9.4 oz. (1170 grams), pretty scary too,



Two different stories, both preemies, and different from each other.
Now Charlie is just over 50 lbs. and kid brother is just under 50 lbs. Charlie also still has an inch or two in height over Robert. But we could start a pool on when Robert will overtake him.
But what might be of interest to you, besides starting out small and slow to gain and grow, Charlie also seemed to have sticking points. He'd get to a spot he liked and stay there for a while. Last one I remember was for the 40 lbs. mark, flirted with it for months and months. Then, when he finally got past it, had a nice run of gaining and growing.
Dunno. All kids are different. But maybe something you will have to learn to deal with. Adia sounds like a good size to me, but more important that her pediatrician approves of her growth curve. We only got concerned about Charlie's size when he fell off a good curve.
Good luck,
Bob

[Connie]

First Welcome!!!

Second, My son Collin was also diagnosed at birth with DS but he wasn't as small as your little angel. Collin weighed in at 9lbs and 22" long. He was a tank!! He breast fed and it took me 8 weeks to get him back up to his birth weight and he's gained slowly every since.

Collin will be 9 in about 3 weeks and he only weighs about 50lbs He's about the size of a typical 7 year old.

Our kids just grow more slowly and while being small when they are little is worrisome as they grow it has a tendency to change quickly and they start having weight problems, with being to big.

Even though Collin is not over weight we watch it closely because he also has hypothyroidism with can cause weight problems.

I also have a 6 year old (who will be 7 in March) that only weighs 36 lbs. I know several people who would freak out at that but she is healthy and all muscle.

Each child is different and as long as it's not because of medical issues and they are happy I really wouldn't worry.

Again, Welcome...

Connie

[Jackie]

Hi..welcome to the board. My daughter Emily is 28 now and has the opposite problem...LOL.

However when she was born she was 8.5. She had a VSD and PDA. I was breast feeding her also. When she was 6 mos old she was only 9.3 and looked like a third world infant. She was growing in length but not putting on any wt...and she was greedy and nursed well. At 6 mos she had a cardiac cath and picked up hospital diarrhea. The doc took her off the breast for a week and put her on Isomil. In that one week she gained A POUND! He urged me to continue nursing her but...I had sweated her gaining in addition to all that was wrong at birth and to me that pound was a miracle and it did not come from breast feeding. So I just stopped cold turkey (ouch) and put her on formula. After that she gained almost a pound a month.

Not suggesting you stop breast feeding...just telling you my story. My pediatrician was actually a neonatologist who did his fellowship in maternal nutrition (breastfeeding) so intially he was not pleased with me...but finally agreed we had probably made the right decision.

Good luck...there ARE some bumps in the road for all of us...but I am sure by now you know that it is a fun trip you are on.

Jackie

[sd112170]

Welcome, I can't give you any insite. I will say along with all the other mothers, each of us are different. We have different hurdles (sp) to jump. John was 7.12, and lost 2 lbs due to the transient Leukemia/RSV. He was on a feeding tube for 3 1/2 weeks. It took time, but he came around. And so will Adia. This is the perfect place to be for you, everyone is soooo helpful. Glad you are here.

[adiasmom]

Thank you all so very much for your input. Iam starting to feel a little more at ease. At least I`m trying.

[SuziF]

Welcome !
Mine is tiny too....she's now 7.5 & weigs 53, but she's still short.
It has it's perks though in her cheer/dance group, she's always in the front of the formation & boy does she know how to milk that ! She was BF for 6mths & then was switched to thickened formula due to swallowing issues....it helped a bit, but not as dramatically as you'd think. Her heart repair wasn't done till she was 3 since she was small & it wasn't that severe.
She did pick up some size after that....but, she's still the smallest in her class.