Gaining weight??

Kris · 05-22-2006, 10:42 PM

I'm not really sure where to put this.... so I figured here is as good a place as any.

As you know, when a child is in the hospital, they monitor weight very closely. When Brenna was admitted yesterday, she weighed in at 29 lbs. That's not a typo, twenty nine pounds. She's almost 5.

A nutritionist came up to our room to see us. She wanted to talk to me about Brenna's weight. Go figure. Brenna is in the 10th percentile for height, and she's not even on the charts for weight. =(

We were given pediasure and a sheet with recommendations on how to add to her caloric count daily, including using powdered milk in some foods, adding malt to her milk, using real butter for her toast, cream in her mashed potatoes... etc.

I'm just baffled. I'm constantly trying to lose weight, and here I have to force my daughter to gain it.

My biggest concern, I guess, is doing this in a way that doesn't call attention to anything. I'm used to buying "lower fat" foods for dh and I... and I've never really thought of the implications with sharing those foods with the kids. But, now that Brenna is listed as "officially" underweight under under nourished... I'm pretty worried and upset.

Granted, the nutritionist said that it is totally possible that Bren is just a "small kid" because it's not like she's super tall but horribly skinny. She's just tiny. She and I also discussed the wheat allergy/celiac disease and it's implications and the theory that her lack of weight gain very well be because she's not absorbing nutrients due to the wheat/gluten factor.

Just another thing for me to be baffled over.

I guess this could have gone in the vents area, or the preschoolers... I dunno. Feel free to move it!

Koloe · 05-22-2006, 11:32 PM

I know that children under the age of 2 should NOT be put on low fat diets. We do forget this in our constant pressure to lose weight. And you may be right, that her other food issues could be contributing to the problem. OR she is just a very small child. But it's some thing to work on and see if it makes a difference.

Jessica · 05-22-2006, 11:50 PM

It seems as parents we always have so much to worry about. Nothing can ever be easy. I am sorry that you now have one more thing to worry about.
((((hugs))))

Kris · 05-23-2006, 01:09 AM

I'm sorry, my kids aren't "on" lowfat diets. It's just that when we buy certain items, we typically buy the lowfat version. Cheese, cottage cheese, fruit packed in water instead of syrup, lots of whole grain stuff as opposed to their higher fat/lower fiber counterparts. All 3 of my kids are pretty good eaters (though, Joshua desperately needs to learn to eat veggies) and we do allow treats and such in moderation. NO soda though... ever! (Mom's a diet coke junkie...it's amazing that my kids aren't!)

I try really hard to keep them as well balanced as I can. But, we do usually only have skim milk in the house.... soy margerine, stuff like that. Buying real butter is just crazy thinking, anything other than skim milk.... I just can't wrap my brain around it.

It's that type of stuff I'm talking about. Don't worry... my kiddos get plenty of fat, LOL!!! (Ian is the only one under 2 in the house anyhow)

Emma · 05-23-2006, 12:56 PM

For a long time I bought whole milk for Thomas and the 1% for us. It was a pain, but maybe you need to do that for Brenna. I do keep butter in the house for certain recipes and stuff, but Thomas gets what we get - brummel and brown. We also do whole grain whenever possible and 2% cheese when I can find it. He gets very little sugar loaded drinks and stuff. Thomas is also small, but has finally started to gain weight (he's 32 pounds, but only 3.5y.o). I know that's a far cry from Brenna's littleness, but just wanted to share what we've done to keep his weight up, but not too up KWIM? There are major obesity issues on Dh's side of the family and I don't want him to get fixated on food either. It's tough and I hope you find a way to get her weight up in a healthy way. Her allergies/celiac disease are not helping I'm sure.

Terri · 05-23-2006, 01:31 PM

Look at this as something you never really thought of before and make the changes from here. I know you don't intensionally give Brenna (or Josh) the low-fat foods, it's just something that's so normal for you to buy for yourself, heck I would have done the exact same thing too. So now you know and from now on you can buy whole milk and real butter, things like that to help Brenn. Things can only get better from here sweetie. I hope you're not being down on yourself for this. She's still a very normal and healthy little girl.

Koloe · 05-23-2006, 03:01 PM

I find it ironic and silly that they tell parents to give their 1-year-olds whole milk and when they turn 2 they magically don't need it anymore and should be switched to skim milk?????? That's what I'm hearing from other parents in my area. At 5-years old I would not think a typical child would need a high fat diet (good fats, not greasy porkrind kind of fats

) - and what you are serving would be just fine.

What I find interesting is that no one bothered to mention this to you before. You would have thought if it was an issue they would have mentioned it at a doctor's office visit. Not wait till you were at the hospital and had other things to worry about.

For what it's worth, my sister use to LOVE beef liver

when she was little and very small. It's full of stuff we as adults are not suppose to eat, but lots of good things for growing children - if they will eat it.

tinamariebb · 07-26-2006, 12:24 PM

How tall is Brenna? I know I was really tiny tiny at 5. I weighed somewhere around that and was so short! But I was normal proportionally for me.
My DD is 32 months old and 30 pounds... but she is also somewhere around 38 inches tall. My friends's 4 1/2 yr old is 32 pounds and only about 2 inches taller than my DD! If your doc never mentioned it maybe she has grown pretty good for her so far. Damn those percentiles- my new ped doesn't even tell parents where t