Is my daughter too thin?

[louli]

My children are vegan and eat lots but my sister's neighbour took 2 swimming and commented how thin my 8 yr old is...ie. too thin. Now I am worried. They don't eat a lot of very calorie rich stuff. Here's what she will eat in a typical day : BIG bowl fortified cereal+soy milk, toast+margarine, apple. Lunch: Pasta +pesto. Snacks: fruit, jelly sandwiches, pate+rice cakes, apricots, bananas, apples fruit, sometimes seeds, panckaes/waffles, chips, dip, breadsticks+houmous, rice crackers etc. Supper: Rice/fries/pots.+veg sos/garbanzos/kidney beans+green beans, raw carrot,spinach+salad dressing. She will then snack again later on. Am I not getting enough calories into her?
The woman who commented has 3 VERY solid kids who eat a conventional diet, little veg. Maybe she thinks her kids are normal size and mine aren't????:(

[Christa]

When was your daughter at the dr last? Does her dr think that she is too thin? My kids are not strictly vegan - they eat a little dairy, but I have noticed that my older daughter is a bit thinner than many of the other kids in her kindergarten class. This is not b/c mine is too thin, but b/c the other girls are rather pudgy.

They also come from families where the parents are build differently than mine. My side of the family tends to be fairly small & petite. I am one the biggest people in my family. My mom weighs quite a bit under 100 lbs & she is not vegetarian. I am just assuming that my older daughter is built like that side of the family.

[annie7]

That's exactly the point I was going to make. In comparison to today's "average" sized kid, truly "healthy" kids do look leaner. You have to remember, todays kids are ingesting hormones and steroids in their weekly ( and sometimes daily) "happy" meals that "beef" them up (so to speak). Your kid may be the normal one!

[tricia]

My daughter is quite thin too but she is happy and healthy and eats lots of fruits and veggies... nowindays ppl seem to think that filling ur child with mcdonalds etc is good for them... which is not the case...my daughter eats alot and still only weighs 33 lbs and is almost 4 ft tall but her dr says she is very healthy... after reading what u posted for a typical day it seems ur daughters diet is ok.. i wouldnt worry to much..if u r concerned just take her to the dr and that should relieve any stress.. good luck...

[MrsKey]

I think your neighbour is:

1 - Speaking out of turn ... unless she happens to have an MD after her name and has noticed something health realted.

2 - Totally buys into the American idea of "bigger is better".

My daughter is nearly 4'4" tall and she has weighed between 52 and 56 pounds for the last year and half. She grows taller but doesn't seem to put on much weight. Okay - fine.

She is also very physically active, has glowing skin, healthy nails and hair, 6 pack abs (that I'd die to have) and some serious arm muscles.

Her pediatrician said that if he could measure her body fat % he'd be shocked if it was more than 8 - 10 %. He doesn't seem to think it, or her vegetarian diet (technically ovo-lacto but light on both) is a problem at all.

If your doc isn't worried I say phoey to your nosey neighbour!

[louli]

Thanks for your replies. An update...today we saw a peadiatrician (as I was worried about her swollen glands too). He said she seemed fine, the glands look pronounced because she is slender. He didn't think there was anything to worry about and her weight is 50th percentile, height 75th which was all very nice. To put my mind at rest and double check he had a blood sample taken for a full blood count though expects to find nothing wrong. I write this reply as I posted about her being pale too, though I think the long wet winters here in the UK have a big part to play in this. When I got back to the car I had a 30pound parking fine as there were no spaces so I had to park outside nearby houses. It was worth it to feel at ease with her health though!!

[sarahrose]

Louli, if your daughter is in the 50th percentile, then your neighbor is insane! She probably just looks thin next to her own heavy kids. My daughter is also thin, but is actually tall for her age, and was very premature-her daddy is also thin though-I think she may have just inherited his body type. My daughter also has muscular arms and legs, even though she is only four, and is the top ballet dancer in her class (so much for vegan kids being weak and anemic!). I am soooo sick of people with the whole "bigger is better" mentality that Mrs Key mentioned. As if fat is healthy! Also, it sounds like your daughter is getting good, balanced meals with plenty of calories. Don't worry-you are doing a great job!

[PikkuMyy]

Here's my two cents:

$0.01 - I second everyone's suggestion that she just looks thin compared to the neighbor's larger daughter. So many kids are overweight these days that people probably think that is normal.

$0.02 - The question is not, is she thin? The question is is she skin and bones or skin and muscle?

I was extremely thin but I was very muscular and exercised all the time besides being vegan. If you put a photo of me at age 7 next to a photo of my husband's half-brother who is also 7, you would think I was on the brink of starvation but it's only because he is fat.

From what she eats, she must be getting a lot of exercise to have that type of appetite, so I'm sure she's fine. I babysat this boy for 6 years who was extremely thin but ate a LOT and got tons of exercise and was therefore muscular.

Don't worry about it!

Emily

[alexis]

louli, don't worry about your daughter's thiness. I'm really thin myself. No wait, skinny is a better way to describe me. Chances are she probably has a killer metabolism or she's genetically inclined to be thin. And it's impossible for her to starve if she continues eating that way. Darn, even my omni cousins who are really plump never ate THIS much when they were that age.