I've spent a lot of time worrying about my preemie's weight and eating (or non-eating habits :)) but the pediatrician and I have had some good discussions and both find that he's stayed really well on his own growth curve and is overall healthy (with the exception of that darn reflux). He was 27lbs at a little over 4 years and the smallest/shortest in his class but makes up for it in personality and attitude. We don't worry as much anymore - just seeing him happy and healthy works for us!

I'm sorry that your daughter's doctor is on your case about your daughters weight. My dd will be 4 in Sept. and barely weighs 27 lbs if that. Watch her growth curve, my daughter's ped watches hers and that's how he rates her growth on not the numbers. She wasn't even on a regular chart until she was 2 and only 3rd percentile for weight. Hang in there as long as she eats and is healthy and happy that's the most important

I totally agree with what the others are saying. Holly was born at almost 36 weeks, almost not a preemie, with severe IUGR. She is 3 yrs old and 23lbs right now. She is happy and healthy and following her own curve, with the help of a healthy high calorie diet. Her curve is well below the charts, but it's still her curve.

As long as your daughter is following her curve and is healthy and happy, I wouldn't worry about her weight.

Randall will be 2 in a couple of weeks and was 22lbs 6oz today at the doctors(we were there for an ear infection). My doctor never worries about his weight either and always says he is following a curve.

It's just them. Keep watching HER curve. As long as she's active, hitting milestones, developing ok then I wouldn't worry about her actual weight. We were told that in the past they would force feed preemies to gain weight and that put them in high risk for diabetes, etc. Tara was just a little smaller than yours at birth and has never been on a curve. She eats when so inclined. Last night she had 3 large slices of roast beef while her bigger twin didn't make it through one. She will just eat when hungry. Every once and a while it bothers me, but there really is only so much you can do and food is a power struggle we chose not to fight. The advantage of kids of similar sizes is that the clothes are interchangable. So my 3 all wear the same size underwear, short sleeve t-shirts and shorts! Makes packing in the summer really nice!

I'm sorry your Dr. is making you feel bad about her size!! It sounds like she's healthy & growing just fine to me!! My #3 Ali was barely even a preemie (born right at 36 weeks) and she is the same size as your DD. She was 2 at Christmas and was 22 lbs 4 oz & 31 inches at her 2 year WBV. But my Ped was fine with her weight/size because she's never been big, has consistently stayed on her "own curve" & had gained almost 3 lbs since her 18 month visit. And her "big" sisters were small too - neither of them 25 lbs by 2. Heck my middle DD was still 26 lbs at 3! It seemed like she'd never get over 30 lbs but she finally did at 4. LOL!

I actually just posted on FB this week that Ali's hit some kind of huge growth spurt recently because all of a sudden at 28 months she's now 24 lbs & 33 inches!! I know that's still pretty small but around here that's some amazing growing!!

I also would like to add that we never treated my son as a "premmie", if that makes any since! Of course we did at first! But I mean once he came off of his O2 and heart monitor and seemed like a "normal" child, we treated him as a "normal" child! I feel this might have had an impact as well, but who really knows!!!??

I am so glad to hear your daughter is doing so good! Remeber it is very important to remember that all children develop differently, even the ones born at term! I am not a doctor but it sounds like she is doing great.

My son started crawling around 7-8 months, walking around 13-14, all of which were pretty early considering how early he was born! He was neer reffered to any type of therapy, but I was a stay at home mom and worked alot on ly own with him through out our days! BUT like I said ALL children are different. He has continued to do extremley well, but we have had some smaller issues like hernias, acid reflux, ear infections, and things to that nature to deal with.

Overall I feel blessed and lucky that he has done so well... I know I owe it all to God above!:) I hope your daughter continues, as I am sure she will, to do as well too!

I agree it is neat! The only other worries I really had with my daughter was doing all the basic stuff like crawling, pulling up to stand, and walking. Our doctor sent us to PT and OT, while the doctors at the follow-up clinic in the NICU told us that she was doing really really well for being born at 29 weeks. I feel like my doctor just doesn't really understand things about preemies, which isnt his fault, and he expects them to do those things when other kids do them or maybe a few weeks later. She didn't crawl until 11 months, pulled up to stand at 13 months, and walked at 17 months and the funny thing is that we took her out of PT and OT before she did any of this! I think alot of the problem was that she was so small size wise and she was scared, you could tell she was scared, about falling, but once she got over that she did really well. How about your son did he have any issues?

That sounds like my son as well! He eats pretty good on most days! He can be a bottomless pit one day and then just pick at everything another...I think that is pretty typical though! Our kids were actually really close...pretty neat! Have you had any other complications or worries besides the weight gain?

Again it is very neat to find antoher parent with a child so similar to mine right down to almost the same day, weight and time---keep in touch and good luck! :)