DD underweight, thoughts?

[Globetrotter]

Oh boy… We’ve struggled with this.
Your dd seems to have a low-fat diet. I like the trail mix idea that PP had posted. Let her put in stuff she likes, and try to include high calorie items.
Add fats when you’re making her meals.
Try exercise. When dd was little and quite underweight and a picky eater, we would take her for long walks around the neighborhood and then she would come home and eat at three egg omelette! She gained weight that way… I think the exercise stimulated her appetite.

Could you market a smoothie as a milkshake?
It’s hard to know what to do in cases like this… DS is a naturally lean person and favors fresh fruits and vegetables and doesn’t like a lot of fat in his diet. He doesn’t eat dips, either. I feel like that’s better for him in the long run, though I worry that he doesn’t eat until he is famished. Then he will eat a lot… I tend to push food on him because we went through a big scare last year with sudden weight loss and a gazillion tests- turned out to be nothing and he gained weight after that, but it made me scared to let him do his thing.

[TwinFoxes]

My kid is in the first percentile for weight, 24th for height. It’s hard not to worry. People think she’s a fourth grader, she’s a sixth grader. She’s a very picky eater. Luckily some of the things she likes are healthy (butternut squash soup, broccoli, almond butter). I’ve tried so many new things hoping to fatten her up. I got a Vitamix for smoothies, she’ll have a few sips and then says she’s finished. One thing that she has liked is the full-fat chocolate milk from TJs. I try not to stress, and just keep introducing new foods, but it’s hard. Her pediatrician is slightly concerned, but says to do what I’m doing.

[trcy]

I wouldn’t worry at all so long as she’s eating well, happy, and energetic. Like really, don’t worry.

I agree. If she was unhealthy, I would be more concerned. Try to incorporate healthy fats (nuts, avocado, hummus, ect) but adding in unhealthy fats, like ice cream, is just setting her up for an unhealthy overall diet that she will struggle with as an adult.

ETA: And olives for a healthy fats, my kids love olives! Just watch the sodium.

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[gymnbomb]

I wouldn’t worry at all so long as she’s eating well, happy, and energetic. Like really, don’t worry.

Yes, this. My kids have bounced around between percentiles, including spending some time below the 5th percentile, and the most we have ever done is pop into the pediatrician for an extra weight check once or twice. They are happy, healthy, and growing at their own pace.


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[mmsmom]

I’m also one that wouldn’t worry too much. Especially since she is continuing to grow height wise. At those percentages a pound or two can make a big difference... so if she was just one pound more her weight could be several % points higher. We got a letter from school once to say that DD was under weight in K. The nurse called me ahead of time to explain she was required to send the letter but she was not concerned at all and I shouldn’t worry.

Personally I would add in fat when I could then weigh her again in 3 months. Add butter to the bread in that b’fast sandwich, hummus to dip her veggies in, smoothies with plain full fat yogurt, fruit and peanut butter or coconut oil. I would stick to full fat dairy but not sugar laden like ice cream or flavored yogurt. ETA: Also add avocado whenever possible... on the breakfast sandwich, guacamole to dip veggies or put in smoothie. You could also try just serving her half the sandwich or smaller portions. She may eat more if she feels she only needs to eat half or finish the smaller portion.

[TwinFoxes]

Try to incorporate healthy fats (nuts, avocado, hummus, ect)

ETA: And olives for a healthy fats, my kids love olives! Just watch the sodium.

It's very frustrating, my kid hates nuts, literally gags on hummus, and only eats avocado occasionally if it's made into guacamole. She does eat almond butter, but only on a sandwich, she won't eat it on celery for a snack. The thought of her eating olives is laughable (I eat them all of the time, she took the tiniest bite once and I thought she might throw up.) She's incredibly picky. She's the only kid I know who doesn't like butter, she even eats toast dry.

Her twin is now several inches taller and about 10 pounds heavier. Guess which one isn't picky? But there's not much I can do though except keep putting food in front of her. But it's worrisome. It's also frustrating because I love food! I'll try pretty much anything, so having a picky kid is annoying. I see kids eating pho or seafood or even just something new to them...but I have the kid who will only order chicken tenders.

[mommy111]

I wouldn’t chase the scale, but, honestly, some kids stop eating not because they’re not hungry but they don’t have the attention span to eat. I would serve her a decent amount of healthy food and expect her to eat it. I would not change her to foods that will build a lifetime of unhealthy habits such as ice cream etc in an attempt to pad her calories. Clearly the issue here is quantity and not quality.
FWIW, I’m not a clean your plate kind of person but I have one who eats normally and one who will eat 3 bites and them want to wander off to do something else and my rule is, you eat a decent amount and then you’re done otherwise not. That is because it’s impossible for me to tell whether that child is satiated or whether he’s just saying he is to get away

[basil]

Thanks all! I think I'm not inclined to worry that much but I think DH is very worried..so that's a bit hard.

She does tend to graze a fair bit...gave her a blueberry muffin this morning (homemade that my mother made, had whole wheat flour and likely she cut down on the sugar for my diabetic brother), I put butter on it, but DD only ate like 1/4 of it. She told me that she finished it later in the morning though. I'm worried about with kindergarten starting soon she won't have time for grazing. I know their lunch time is quite short and even with DS (who is a fast eater), he runs out of time to finish his lunch a fair amount of time.

I think I will just have to make sure that the thinks she takes to school are calorie dense, and make sure that the nanny strongly encourages her to eat an afternoon snack. Especially because I'm also worried about her being exhausted her first few weeks of K and remembering how DS skipped a few dinners in that time since he went to bed so early.

She will eat smoothies but in replacement of a meal, not in addition to a meal. I didn't think of olives, but she loves those and I saw them in snack packs in the grocery store so I'll pick up some of those for her to send in lunches. I also made some "protein balls" for DS once when he was having a lot of baseball practice. They were PB, oatmeal, honey, and chocolate chips all rolled up and chilled. I may make some of those with sunbutter and see if I can get her to eat that for snacks at school too.

She also really likes brie. Like this weekend she ate huge pieces of it plain when my mom had some. So maybe I'll get her some of that...though I sort of hate having it around because then I want to eat it too!

[Kestrel]

If I might suggest - Have you tried keeping a food diary? If you write down everything a grazer-type kid does eat, it often works out to more that you might think.

Our Ped told us: peanut butter/nuts, guac/avacado, olives, and full-fat cheese. Try to feed two of the four each day.