Even though between 5-25 percent of children and teenagers in the United States are obese and there is evidence that obesity among children is on the increase, many more parents come to me worried that their skinny child is malnourished than those who come concerned about their child being overweight. And this parental anxiety translates into parents pushing their children to eat what they believe to be the essentials of good nutrition. Unfortunately all this pushing often meets considerable resistance from the children. And before you know it, mealtime becomes a nightmare. Let's try to understand how this problem develops.
Most infants start out eating well and gaining well.
Of course, since the normal range of sizes runs from the 5th percentile to the 95th percentile with the 50th percentile being the average, there is quite a wide variation in normal size. With the emphasis on weight gain as a symbol of health, nobody worries about the big babies, but early on the parents of the tiny ones start to worry that their child isn't growing normally. The best way to tell if your child's growth is normal is to review your child's growth chart with your pediatrician. If your child's weight is appropriate for his height and his growth has been progressing steadily along the same percentile curve, then it doesn't matter if your neighbor's child weighs more. Even the child who isn't small can eventually cause parental nutrition anxiety.