Weight and Height Seem Extremely Low???

[Spectra]

My daughter is 2.5 years old exactly and is 34.5 inches tall and weighs only 25 lbs.  According to the charts in this forum she is in the negative range!  I have a strong feeling it is because she doesn't eat much.  She doesn't get vitamin suppliments because she won't take them, even the ones that are like candies.  I can't put them in her milk, because she only drinks like an ounce at a time.  We cut out sippy cups 2 months ago and since then she drinks so much less.  She probably consumes about 7 oz of milk a day.  She hates cheese and now doesn't like yogurt!  She will eat some meat, and absolutely LOVES spaghetti, but we have that only once in a blue moon.  Should  I be concerned?  Should I find ways for her to get vitamins? 

[grahamsmama]

Has she always been small or is she falling off her growth curve? 

We mix Meggy's in with juice and put it in a medication syringe and give it to her that way.  It's the poly-vi-sol brand.  Elizabeth's we mix in with juice in a cup.  Someone once told me to try giving Meghan the yogurt drinks in a medication syringe because that's the only way her lo would take them.  I did try it once when she was on antibiotics, hoping to help with the diarrhea, but she wouldn't go for it.  Maybe yours would though?  Now she will take a yogurt drink, but only if I put a straw in it and serve it in it's original container.  Forget putting it in a cup!  LOL  So perhaps a different way of serving it?  Or let her help you make a fruit smoothie with milk and yogurt.
The pasta we use is Smart Taste brand and it has lots of vitamins and calcium in it. You can hide all kinds of things in spaghetti sauce!  Will she eat parmasean cheese with her spaghetti?  There's lots of calcium in that. 

[We Three]

Thats just what I was thinking too.....you can hide a multitude of stuff in spaghetti sauce!! Pureed carrots (you can use baby food), and for my dd I cut the tops off of broccoli, so there is literally just green dots (which is the most nutitious part) in her sauce...she can't see it or taste it. Heh-heh. Little savage.     Also ground turkey...I fry it up in a pan, then chop it so it's ridiculously small...almost like grains of sand...and hide that in the sauce too.
 Another way I get my dd to eat meat (which she hates) is that I cut up cooked chicken breast (agin, soooo small, like rice) then I make some stuffing, and mix in the chicken, then make little balls (marbles) out of it, and call it "dumplings!!!!   

[Spectra]

Ooohhh, you guys have awesome ideas!  I don't know why I never thought of those yogurt drinks!  I bet she'd love them.  Never thought to puree things and put them in the food before.  I don't have a blender or anything, I might invest in a food processor though.  Excellent!

[We Three]

Or if you feel lazy like me, you could sometimes just use the organic baby food purees!!!!   

[Spectra]

I should I have tons of them in my cupboard for my 11 month old!

[Spectra]

Ooops, forgot this.

Well, she was also at the top of the charts until she hit 1.  Then she lost her baby fat as was walking so much, and she became such a picky eater.  When she turned one she was 20 lbs, now she is 2.5 and weighs 25 lbs.

[rinajack]

Your DD is the same weight as mine...are you small? I am quite short, but my MIL is VERY short with VERY small feet.  I expect that my DD is just going to be small.  At 8mo she was at 75% on the chart, now she is at about 3%. 

But she is energetic, sleeps pretty well, has a number of behaviour issues but I don't believe they are food related (she is spirited) and eats when she feels like it (so can survive on air for days, then eat for days, or could just be one random meal per day, or could graze....it really does vary.

Offer little and often, it all adds up.  And if she seems otherwise fine, don't worry.

[Spectra]

I'm 5'4 and growing up I was small/medium in weight.  My husband on the otherhand is 6'3, not heavy at all though.  My daughter does sleep great, always has.  She gets cranky when hungry, but who doesn't.  She's always asking for bread and crackers, she loves the stuff, but I don't find it very nutritional for her.  And yeah she's definitely more of a grazer.  Thanks for the info on your daughter, sounds similar to mine, makes me feel better!

[rinajack]

With the grazing I try to offer a selection at each meal (including snacks).

So breakfast might be - cereal (usually nutrigrain) with milk, and some tinned fruit in natural juices, plus some fresh orange juice
Snack - heinz toddler meusli bar, some crackers, some fresh fruit, some dried fruit - this could be eaten over a period of a couple of hours
Lunch - sandwhich with cheese and turkey, or peanut butter, or a plate of salad and meat, since she usually tears the sandwhich apart to eat each ingredient seperately anyway, followed by a small yoghurt
Snack - a chocolate, more fruit, more crackers, cheese, popcorn (again eats from waking from nap, right through to dinner...or picks
dinner - veggies and meat usually, or maybe pasta/rice

She eats very small quantities of the foods I offer, but if I let her graze all day long, we eventually get a decent amount of food in, and we check of all the food groups....

HTH

[Spectra]

That's a great idea.  Thanks for the food ideas too, I'll definitely try them this week.

[Shdef]

I would say make more spaghetti. You can add butter to the actual spaghetti and mix vegetables into the sauce and then puree it.

Also, why get rid of the sippy just yet?

[**Clare**]

I agree with Steffi, Harvey is a fussy eater but is on the 75th line, we just feed him what he'll eat, he has 'cheesy pasta' most days, also loves crackers.  His fave meals are spag bol and lasagne so we eat each of those once a week. Hes good with some veg and loves fruit so Im thankful for that. He loves yoghurts and milk.  We cant get him to eat meat apart from ther mince and sausages, I think he is just lazy! Too much effort to eat! Hes also HIGHLY spirited!!

[Spectra]

Hehe, spaghetti it is then!  Thank goodness it's cheap eh?

In regards to the sippy, I just assumed that kids get rid of it by the time their 3?

[Shdef]

In regards to the sippy, I just assumed that kids get rid of it by the time their 3?

Sometimes. Only if it doesn't have implications like weight loss or constipation.

I'd leave it, really. She will still be spilling her drink at that age. She is only 2.5 and it's a big change from 2.5 to 3