Dr. Robert Needlman
Specialist in pediatric behavior and development.
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 Ask Dr. Needlman
Tiny Five-Year-Old | | | QUESTION | | | Dear Dr. Needlman,
I am concerned about my five-year-old son. He only weighs 29 pounds and is 33 inches tall. He had severe allergies as an infant with dairy, eggs, nuts, and fish. We are uncertain if the allergies are still present because he refuses to drink milk, eat eggs, cheeses, or nuts. He has even talked about not wanting to eat at times because he doesn't want to get fat. I'm concerned this will lead to eating disorders later in life. Please help a very worried mom. Thank you.— Mombo in Lake Dallas, TX | | | ANSWER |
November 8, 2001 | | | Dear Mombo,
Your son's concern that he might get fat is most likely not a symptom of an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa; that would be extremely, extremely rare in a five-year-old boy. But I am concerned about his size. At 33 inches, he is way, way shorter than most children his age. At age five, the average boy measures 43 inches, and fully 97 percent of five year old boys are at least 39 inches tall. Without doing a full examination, I can't tell you why it is that your son is so short, but it is probably not simply due to lack of calories, because he is actually on the heavy side for his height. (You can learn much more about growth and growth charts by looking at the growth section of our site.)
Although some children are "just short" (that is, they are otherwise completely healthy), most children who are as short as your son are actually having a medical problem that is causing them to be short. So I think that you should not just wait to see if he grows. Instead, you should work closely with a pediatrician who can help you find the explanation for your son's very short stature, and then fix it— by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P. |
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