So my daughter was born at 39 weeks which I guess is full term but she was born small she weighed 5.6 when she left the hospital totally heathly other than that. Anyway I took her to the dr for her 15 month check up and the dr was conserned about her weight. Now she has always been on the small side and I wasnt too conserned about it because my son was also born fairly small and hes been on the small side I spent yrs worrying about his weight and it didnt do any good, but again up till this point all they said was she is on the small side now the dr is saying she is concerned she weighed in at 18 pounds. The dr suggested multi vitamins which we were already giving her and more whole milk. Today we get a call that she is iron deficient and it literally explaines so much ( her always wanting ice cubes, being tired but not wanting to sleep, extra irritability lately). I’m consetned on how to get her weight up but also how to fix the iron deficiency. Any advice is welcome
Pediasure should help
Some iron rich foods are eggs, beans, broccoli, turkey, chicken, spinach, nuts…try to get her lots of iron rich foods in her diet as well.
Feed her goat’s milk. My oldest was early and we had trouble putting weight on. I’d heard goat’s milk was very close to mother’s milk and sure enough the weight started coming on. I fed all my babies goat’s milk after that and have 3 very healthy son’s!
Prepare food in Cast Iron skillet. Red meat. Liquid iron drops. Healthy fats. Avocado, nut butters, smoothies made with iron rich veggies and fruits (baby spinach, strawberries, frozen blueberries, avocado, and nut milk)
My youngest had issues with gaining weight. We were at the dr office every couple of months for growth checks. The nutritionist suggested whole milk, and adding things like peanut butter to toast, and butter to things. Also, we tried pediasure… unfortunately my son wouldn’t drink it. As for the iron, we haven’t had that problem. We did have a vitamin D deficiency and we found some kid friendly chewable things.
Pediasure, google all kids of foods to bring up her iron, maybe specially made smoothies too ?
5.6 is not small. Thats average
My son is 19 months and weighs 17 pounds and isnt walking we are being sent to Helen devos because hes loosing weight doctor said if he wasnt loosing it and was walking there wouldnt be an issue. But my son wont drink anything dairy hes got stomach issues. some kids are small some kids need help
Your pediatrician should be the one telling you how to fix the iron deficiency & help with weight gain…
More oatmeal in her diet can help. Remember also that just bc you take iron does not mean the body is breaking it down and taking it in.
The right combination in vitamins are important- be sure with iron theirs zinc… and when taking a vit take with a meal bc the body breaks it down well with food.
I give my son the kids multivitamin that states on the front “IRON” - the Flintstones ones
Your doctor should be able to prescribe an iron medication for her with the right dose for her age and weight. It’ll probably come as a liquid with a dropper that you can add to her milk.
Small at birth doesn’t mean small forever (I had a 32 weeker who weighed 3lbs 4oz at 12 months she weighed 17 pounds but at 2 years she weighed 24.5) she LOVES pedisure and she really started to love eating period. But look into pedisure grow and gain plenty of vitamins, minerals, protein, fat, and calories to give her a boost.
My granddaughter has a blood disorder and he iron stays low, we see specialist for it, but if she takes iron it can harm her because she’s always going to be low iron but not from deficiency only a few times she’s been on iron because of the deficiency so she might need checking on that first. If she has to have any kind of surgery she has to have a blood transfusion. She’s really small also she’s 11 years old and weighs only 76 pounds, they have put her on pedi sure for kids so she’s gained from 68 pounds around 6 months ago to 76 now. She was a full term baby, she weighed 7 lbs 5 oz at birth.
I’ve had low iron and my kids since birth I eat a lot of red meat and iron rich foods that’s usually enough with a vitamin that has iron most multivitamins now dont have iron…
Prevention of Iron Deficiency in Infants and Toddlers - AAFP In infants, the introduction of cow’s milk in the first year of life is the greatest dietary risk factor for the development of iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia.18–20 Cow’s milk is low in iron, and its iron is poorly absorbed.21 In addition, it decreases the absorption of iron from other dietary sources.21 …
Pediasure. My daughter was underweight too (still is). When we had WIC, they had the doctor fax over a prescription so we could get it covered by WIC because it really adds up
Nephew was the same way. We just let him drink as much Pedisure or Boost as he wanted. He gained the weight and has no iron issues now.
My daughter was low birth weight and small under 5% for her age doc told me to feed her what she wants when she wanted it even if it was peanut butter cups… she is now 14 almost 15 and weights maybe 80lbs… more then likely your just going to have small kids… but talk to your doc about your concerns since I am not a doctor
Genetic testing.
My granddaughter is tiny, as well. Turned out to be a chromosome deletion. Currently is in OT PT ST.
Alot of the same symptoms
Pediasure, OTC vitamin supplements can also say for iron and weight gain. Make sure to also push high protein foods like meats, eggs, beans etc
If she’s eating mushed orsoft foods spinach broccoli most of your dark green veggies
Iron rich foods like broccoli and mushrooms
My daughterisgonna be 2 and is 20 pounds
Pediasure - comes in different flavors like chocolate and strawberry. I had to give it to my oldest as she refused to eat for a while when she was around 2 and I refused to force feed her. She’s 11 now and isn’t so picky about what she eats, but still picky about how she eats. 