Should we revisit my son's weight issues?

[megs4413]

Long story short: DS is underweight. It started after he had his first cleft palate surgery (there were a lot of feeding restrictions afterwards) and he had multiple surgeries that continued to interfere with weight gain. For a while, he wasn't growing height-wise either. When he was about 5, he reached average height, which was a huge celebration for us. His weight did not keep up, though. He's been evaluated by a pediatrician twice for diabetes (the first time it was a finger prick BS check in office and the second time it was a blood test in a lab) and was cleared both times. Other than that, we haven't really tested him specifically in regards to his weight issues. He has made significant progress over the last two years, having banner weight gain years for him. However, he's still significantly underweight. His BMI is around 13, which is 1st percentile for his age. His weight is 5th percentile for his age and his height is 35th. I wish his height wasn't slipping again, but 5th percentile is on the chart, so that's better than usual for us.

Probably relevant here is that DD1 is 97th percentile for height and 68th for weight. She's a big kid and always has been. DD2 is 65th for weight and 99th for height, even with a cleft and a couple surgeries to go with it. I'm pretty tall and my DH is tallish (though not super tall.) i expect to have big kids, genetically speaking.

A mom friend of mine has a boy a lot like mine. Both our boys spent some amount of time in behavioral feeding therapy as toddlers. Both of our boys linger at the low points for weight. The major difference is that that family is actively pursuing medical answers to their son's weight problems. It has me wondering if I should be paying more attention to this. i have periodically checked his blood sugar because he struggles with hypoglycemic attacks (which our pediatrician said are due to his low body fat percentage) and it's maybe borderline low when i check it, but never too low. it's never been high. I think I've just always put it down to DS' tough start in life (9 surgeries in 3 years, a dozen or so hospitalizations) but if I'm being honest, he hasn't had those kinds of issues in years now. Should he be catching up?

Should I start pursuing this? He went through so much when he was little and i sort of avoid putting him through anything if I can help it now. If you would pursue it, where would you go? My friend is seeing an immunologist for her son. I'm not sure if that's what I should do? Maybe an endocrinologist? or just his pediatrician? Anyone with insight?

[mom_hanna]

Honestly, I don't think there it sounds like there is anything "wrong" with your son. He just sounds small. I don't think he needs to catch up to anyone. You might just have one kid who is smaller than what you would expect with your family. If he has made huge strides in the past couple of years I would give him a break and not compare him to your other kids. Or your friend's kid. They feel the need to pursue medical intervention but I don't think I see any reason why you would need to. From what you have said, your son seems to be doing great. My dd's height has always been much higher percentage-wise than her weight, and ds has always been 14 or lower in BMI. Hope this helps ease your mind a bit.

[trales]

I think you could spend a lot of money and time and worry and stress just to find out you have a small kid. We are in the same situation with DD1, her BMI is 9, I have decided to not worry about it anymore. A friend with a similar kid has been all over the country seeing specialists, at almost 9 years they are still the same spot we are, with a small kid and no diagnosis. Is he healthy, full of energy, and "normal". If so, I would say to let it go.

[hobie]

What does your mommy gut tell you? Maybe a second opinion would ease your mind.

[BananaMama]

I would revisit the issue because he is having issues due to low body fat and is very low on the scale for weight. Just my personal opinion


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[bisous]

What does your mommy gut tell you? Maybe a second opinion would ease your mind.

This is really good advice!

My DS2 and DS3 are both TINY. They are teetering on and off the chart. At one point DS3 was .4 percentile for his age. Now they're both actually on the scale. There are two things that help me feel okay with this. First, I was just like them. Tiny and skinny and it was just my body type (until now!) The second thing is that their development in every facet was completely fine, advanced even. So it was clear to me that they were not struggling from anything major.

But trusting mommy gut is my thing. DS1 is actually my kid with type 1 diabetes (he's the biggest of my boys by far both in height and weight). I knew something was amiss and I couldn't relax even though I didn't know what was going on.

[megs4413]

He does have some chronic health issues, which I don't really know whether or not they're related to his weight. I know his low blood sugar problems are. My friend is specifically asking if we've checked his thyroid and his human growth hormone, but we haven't, which is making me feel like maybe I'm not doing enough.

[Aishe]

My ds has almost the exact same stats as your ds. My dd, on the other hand, is about 80th percentile for height and 90th percentile for weight. DS weighed 8lb 11oz at birth so at some point (bad mommy, I don't remember when!) he fell way down the charts. Our pediatrician is far more concerned about dd's size than ds's. DH is 5'11 and I'm 5'7 so we're not tiny people. The pediatrician swears that ds is going to be one of those kids who grows six inches one summer when he's a teenager. I'm not concerned at all, but it sounds like maybe your mommy radar is going off. I would trust your instincts, but I also wouldn't overthink it.

[BunnyBee]

I would want to rule out any syndrome of which the cleft lip/palate and other health issues could by symptomatic.

[bisous]

He does have some chronic health issues, which I don't really know whether or not they're related to his weight. I know his low blood sugar problems are. My friend is specifically asking if we've checked his thyroid and his human growth hormone, but we haven't, which is making me feel like maybe I'm not doing enough.

I would check thyroid and hgh too. But don't feel too bad. I JUST (like as in this week) made appointments for my two skinny DS to have those two things checked. It is hard to think of everything. I've noticed that the same symptoms produce different testing and treatment protocols for children rather than adults (which is appropriate) but I did find it curious that it had never occurred to me to check thyroid for either of my skinny kids. Thyroid issues run rampant in my family and DS1 is tested yearly since he already has an autoimmune disorder. So don't feel bad!