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My daughter's tummy seems strangely fat. I know babies are chubby and they usually grow out of this, but it seems oddly distended.

Looking at her standing up in profile, her tummy sticks out about half an inch more than her head.

Her tummy has been like this for a few months and she seems healthy. She started solids some 6 months ago and been fully off the breast milk for about a month. She's happy, active and cruising, although not walking more than a few steps independently yet.

My wife has checked the UK charts and she's 50th percentile for weight and 8th percentile for height. She has what seems like a healthy appetite, although some meals she doesn't seem to want to stop eating, so not exactly sure how much she should have.

I expect she'll grow out of it, but just wanted a second (and third...) opinion.

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    Regarding her not wanting to stop eating at meals - don't worry about it! Pay attention to her daily or even better weekly intake. I bet you'll notice that while she eats a significant amount at one meal, she barely eats at another meal or snack later or earlier. Or she eats a lot after a day of significant exercise or before a growth spurt. Toddlers have an amazing ability to regulate their growth. For more info check out How to Get Your Kid To Eat...But Not Too Much
    – justkt
    Jun 18, 2013 at 13:49
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    Taken care of, but please note it's pretty much impossible to remove something from the entirety of the Internet, so please be more cautious in the future. Also please edit your post with a description so the question still makes sense to future visitors.
    – Karl Bielefeldt
    Jan 16, 2014 at 16:53

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My sons stomach gets pretty fat from time to time, it gets very round and sticks straight out, but this usually is followed by a growth spurt and his stomach gets much smaller afterwords. He has gone through this cycle 4 or 5 times between 12 month and 30 months old.

Just from looking at the picture, she looks normal to me, if you are really concerned a pediatrician could tell you a lot more.

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    I concur - this looks normal to me too.
    – MJ6
    May 12, 2013 at 19:15
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    Looks normal to me too. My 16 month year old daughter's tummy looks like this (and so does mine).
    – Dave Clarke
    Jun 17, 2013 at 18:50
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My daughter since she was quite small has been skinny everywhere except for her belly. I asked her doctor about it after my husband made a comment about how she looked like the starving children you see on tv commercials.

The doctor said it was most likely due to gas and bloating. He said something she ate was probably causing it and we could check her for allergies if I was concerned but it never seemed to bother her so I didn't. She is 1 1/2 now and it seems to have gone away for the most part so I guess her stomach just adjusted to eating whatever was causing the trouble.

By the percentiles, she does seem to be overweight, though I'm not sure that's something to worry about yet. With my older daughter (2 1/2) we stopped giving her juice, and only give her a small amount to eat to start, then let her ask for more if she wants it. She also doesn't get another kind of food if she doesn't like what's on her plate. She at the very least has to try it. If she doesn't, we assume she must not be that hungry. And it's good to keep them hydrated as being thirsty can make you eat more. My daughters didn't like water, but we had them just drink water for a few days and now they got used to it and really like it.

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  • Ah gas bloating could be part of it, thanks.
    – James Bradbury
    May 11, 2013 at 20:49
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    According to what I've read, overweight in children under 2 is defined as over the 95th percentile curve in weight-for-length on the growth chart. It's not possible to extrapolate from just the weight-for-age and length-for-age what the weight-for-length percentile is, but @JamesBradbury's pediatrician will surely have that information and be able to provide appropriate counsel on if the weight-for-length is an issue.
    – justkt
    Jun 18, 2013 at 13:48
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This looks ok to me. Our daughter had a little tummy as well and our doctor said that it takes some time for the toddlers to develop core strength and stomach muscles. This is just part of her development.

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