9-Month-old with Failure to Thrive

Has she had allergy testing done. It is awful, but if there is a food that she's eating that is irritating her digestive system, even without other symptoms, it could be that she can't absorb nutrients very well. That being said, it is entirely possible that she is just a petite child. What size are her parents? My daughter fell off the chart, but her pediatrician looked at me and her father and said that we shouldn't expect her to be very big because we are both skinny.

My daughter weighed 15 lbs at 9 months and is now 19 months old and only weighs 21 lbs. We had to go through several tests as well and everything came back fine. She is very healthy and eats great. She too is very advanced and has a vocabulary out of this world. Her doctor keeps a close eye but so far it appears that she is just very small. She is only around the 5% for her weight. With that being said, a doctor's opinion/advice is always best.

I think I'd get a second opinion. Like the other responder, I had a tiny girl. We called her our 'teeny tiny woman'. She was always a couple of sizes (clothing-wise) behind. She was sharp as a tack, and ate very well. She just didn't put on weight like our other kids. She's 28 now, and is still skin and bones. She can eat and eat and not gain weight. She's 5'5" now, and weighs 102.. on a good day. She's had 2 kids and is now pregnant with her third. She's always been as healthy as can be. So, the little one you are talking about may just be another 'teeny tiny woman'.

Please have your friend go to www.askdrsears.com

You could even buy her one of his books. Your request made me think of Dr. Sears because I once read something he wrote about "failure to thrive". He had a couple come in to see him with their baby. Their baby had been diagnosed with failure to thrive so Dr. Sears had them switch their parenting style and use "attachment parenting". That was all it took for there baby to improve.

If your friend's baby does have failure to thrive then attachment parenting could really be the answer. Please have her check it out.

Hi, you are an awesome friend trying to reach out to as many people as possible. I have not been through anything like this but one of my kids is sick and requires alot of care so on that level I can relate.

Has your friend started looking into any alternative medicine? Chiropractic or Accupuncture, or Massage? I used to work for a Dr. that did both and have personally seen and expierence some amazing things! Maybe some nerves are pinched, I don't know but I do know that western medicine isnn't always the answer. I know that when my son first got sick we exhausted all of our avenues.

Tell your friend to hang in there! She's lucky to have you.
Good luck!
M.

My son who will be three in July has failure to thrive also.he was normal birth weight as well.his started at 4 months old.He was also ran through the mill on specialist and tests and everything was negative.Now they do think he has irritable bowel syndrome.The only thing you can do is add calories to her diet.My son was on nutramigen formula and I had to add extra powder for calories.She needs to give her any table food she can eat (they told me baby food was empty calories) Add butter to her veggies,syrup to her pancakes basically give her all the things you wouldn't normally give a baby that age.When she turns a year she can drink pediasure or carnation instant breakfast.Calories,Calories,Calories,that's all you can do!

Hi M.! I have a daughter that is 7-years-old and is perfectly healthy. She weighed over 9 pounds when she was born, and she weighed only 18 pounds when she had her first birthday! She just didn't get big very fast, so maybe your friend's little girl will just be a small child. Hopefully that's the case! Just thought I'd bring some encouragement to you and your friend. God bless! D.

my son was premie at 32 weeks. At 9 months old he weighted slightly over 9lbs! He was put on Nutramigine and vid d milk with cerial in a very think form. he stayed one week in the hospital and they ran all different kinds of tests like for CF and things like that but came up with nothing. does she throw up alot of the food? they might have to check her digestive tract. John had a small hole right by the stomach. ever sence the hospital stay and three stiches on the hole he has gained weight using nuetramigin (sorry about the spelling) its expensive but anything was worth the life of my baby at that point. hope this helps and she gets better. tell momma to hang in there and fight for her little one, and if the doc dismisses her like mine did find another one till they do but do it fast. they said my son didnt have much time, and if i wouldnt have faught for him to go to the hospital, he would have died.

My daughter was also diagnosed with failure to thrive. We had 5 tests ran at Children's Mercy, 2 thyroid, chromosome, CBC,& metabolism. We feel so blessed that all came back negative, but the wait was horrible. She just turned 1 and weighs 15.7 lbs wearing 6-9 month clothing. She also has hit all her milestones, and began walking at 10 months. My daughter also eats pretty good, and I try to feed her all the time, she just doesn't seem to grow. Have they done a chromosome test for Turner's syndrome? My daughter was almost 8 lbs when she was born, but now is off the charts for weight and height. Someone suggested Hurler's syndrome, but my dr. is going to reevaluate her at her 15 month check up. Tell your friend to hang in there, I know it is hard and scary. Everyone says she is just a petite little girl, which I pray is true, but it does annoy me when no one takes her lack of growth seriously. It does scare me.
What my daughter lacks in size, she makes up in her attitude.
Take care :-)

We have a 9 month old baby girl that is diagnosed also with failure to thrive (16 lbs), however, they determined it is because of two heart defects. We will be on our fourth surgery soon and one cath. After the cath she started eating really well. We also at the advice of a nutritionist have her still on Enfilcare formula for preemies and started adding yogurt or whipped cream to fruit and veggies to see if the added calories would help.

Has she been checked for some sort of dorphism (little People)usnsure if I spelld it correctly.It can happen with no family history.I hope she finds out what the cause is and baby be well

I went through this with my son and it was simply an iron deficiency. "Failure to Thrive" sounded so scary to me, but my pediatrician said that it just basically means that he wasn't gaining as much weight as the average baby! It can be more, but it can also be this simple.
I think he was a bit older once we started an iron supplement and high-calorie & iron rich diet. Cheerios are great. Tried spinach, gave carnation instant breakfast drinks, pediasure...etc. He stayed the same weight for 7 or 8 months. After 6 months of iron supplement he tested fine and had started gaining again. He's been above average every since then! I still use instant breakfast mix in his milk and TRY to give a multi-vitamin daily, but he's doing just fine. This can often be just a short-term problem. Hopefully this is the case with your friend! Good luck!

Hello M.. I just wanted to let you know that I am a SAHM of a special need child. He is 19 m/o and is extrememly small for his age. He can still wear some 6-9 month clothes, but is mostly in 12 months. He is just like having a new-born 19 month old; no physical or verbal abilities. He is undiagnosed at this time. He has been tested for hundrends of genetic tests, all with no results. We have even been to the Mayo Clinic, and still no answers. My reason for writing is to inform everyone that this is more common than you know. I have come to terms with the fact that I may never know what is happening with my baby, and I'm ok with that. I wish the best for your friend.

Hi M.,
It sounds like this child is a fairly bright little girl, and that the parents are on top of things as far as the health of this child. Have the docs checked on the nutrition this child is getting? Are there problems within the home with parents arguing or fighting? Is this a first child of the parents? So much can contribute to "failure to thrive" children. Have the docs for this little one done any metabolic tests? Perhaps this is just going to be a petite baby, since no known reason for her weight has been discovered. I have a two year old in my care who weighs 21 pounds, and is just as lively as most 2 year old children. She was almost 8 pounds at birth, and eats really well. She is a very bright little girl, physically and mentally well, and a real joy to be with. She's just small, and her doc sees no reason for concern. I will pray for this little one, and hope that her parents and she have many fun years of good health and happiness. God bless you for caring for this family as you do.

I e-mail this to a friend of mine... this is her response....

The answer is easy - that baby isn't failure to thrive. Simple. Failure to thrive babies are unresponsive, do not meet milestones, do not speak, do not communicate and do not bond to their caregivers. That baby is just small. There is nothing wrong with being small.

Every new doctor we saw wanted to dx Sofi with FTT and most of them wanted to blame it on breastfeeding. She doesn't have FTT and it was most certainly not her breastfeeding. Sofi has dwarfism, plain and simple. I would suggest that the family see a geneticist, and get a good pediatrician who understands FTT a little better and who will be willing to look at more definitive possibilities than just blaming it on the parents (which is what FTT does, btw).

btw, Sofi was about that size at 9 months. At 18 months, we are just starting to buy her some 9-12 month size clothing and she is only 20 lbs.

They are currently working with John Hopkins for a diagnoisis. Sophie does not have one of the main 7 ( I think) little people syndroms that is most common, her's is apparently very rare, they are still doing testing. If you want to talk to my friend more I can put you two in touch, just let me know.

There is a genetic issue I seem to remember, it's where the child just doesn't grow or grows super slow (not dwarfism, or anything like that). BUT when the child hits 17 or 18 somewhere around there, they shoot up and are a 'normal' size. It's pretty rare.

I heard about this because when my daughter was 2 1/2 years old she was playing with a TINY TINY little girl at the mall. I kinda figured the girl was just a super early walker (like 8 months or something). She was the same age as my daughter. I asked the mom, and she told me the name of what she has.....(sorry I only remember that it's a gene that makes this happen)...and that when she gets older she'll 'catch up'.

I do remember she was very smart. Had a much better vocabulary than my daughter...who is pretty smart herself. The mother said the ONLY thing affected is growing rate. Her brain and abilities are just fine.

Has she been checked for an adrenal insufficiency? I know that if the body doesn't make enough cortisol you don't gain weight. (My youngest was making no cortisol and almost died from it shortly after he was born, but I would think that if someone was making some, but not enough, it might cause a "failure to thrive" type of problem.)

Dear M.,

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My son who weighing 10 pounds was to me normal until my girl came along who wieghed 7 pounds when she was born,6 pounds when we left the hospital and never got to her birth wieght until she was one month old and continued to stay small .now coming from a 10 pound baby boy who was always off the charts to a daughter who never was on them it was hard but like you said,my daughter out ate her brother she is now 2 1/2 and still way smaller then all the kids her age she barley fits in a 12 months ..so its normal as long as they eat well drink well and poop well ...she may be small but she way smarter then everyone else her age..shes says her abc's and can spell her brothers name ....so smaller isnt alwayz bad

my girlfriend has a girl with smith-mcginness(dont know how to spell it,but that's what it sounds like)down"s syn. is the disease of having one too many chromasomes, smith mcginness is one less than you should.(or vise-versa)i'm no dr.my friend had to ask her dr to check this,and she was right! oh the power of motherhood! God bless.one thing that in underrated is taking the baby to the eye dr,have him dialate her eyes they can tell a lot!!!

My name is K. and I am 59 and expecting my first grandchild... so a little out of the game, but I have a cousin that had a similar problem when we were growing up and it turned out to be thyroid... she was told that one out or 100 would be affected that way... the other 99 would have a weight problem... I surely am no doctor just a concerned person... Good luck to your friend in TExas. K.

There is certainly no medical expertise behind my response, but both of my girls weighed only 18 pounds on their 1st birthday. They were happy, healthy children..just smaller than the rest. My oldest had her 1 year pictures taken in a 3-6 month outfit! Today she is 6 and is still smaller than the rest of her 1st grade class, but is most definitely not unhealthy. She is academically amazing as well!! Hopefully this is just a situation of your friend's little one being a little smaller than "normal". I wish her the best!!