Hi don't know if this is the right place but been told daughter has to go on diet???!!

[notnuftime]

My daughter is 8 ys old and is larger and taller than an average 8 yr old.She has been seen by the school health nurse which they do here and she was concerned because her weight and height is increasing very fast!DD has problems with BO and she has i think little buds forming on her chest ,now that might be because she is overweight i don't know
So we have been on our own nurse and I to the Gp but she was no help really just said to put her on a diet and make sure she is excercising.It is a bit difficult to excersise when weather is bad they dont mind going on trampoline when it is windy but they draw the line when it is tipping it down with rain!So any advice what to feed her? I just get soo confused with food labels as a single mum i buy cheap as can b i just looked at tin of beans and it says
sugar8.6% then underneath that 10% is that bad!! they are Tesco value beans should I b buying other brand with less sugar in,oh god i am in such a mess!!!help please.thanks.

[fingerwoman]

notnuftime with the food labels they will usually give you a percentage of sugar per portion, and then the other percentage is how much of your recommended daily allowance that is.
so your beans contain 10% of the daily allowance of sugar (if i'm correct)

have you taken her to see the GP? and have they checked to see if her weight is in proportion to her height? if she is tall then she is going to weigh more than a shorter 8 yr old.

even on a budget it is easy to do healthy food if you are able to cook from scratch. ditch processed foods and try making healthy things like pasta and sauce with salad, veg stew, shepherds pie etc.

you could also ask your GP for a referral to a dietician who would be able to give you much better advice on giving your kids healthy food that will give them all the nutrients they need.

as for exercise is it possible to take them swimming once a week? or could she join a sports club (maybe there is one attached to her school?)

[fortyplus]

Do you have a Sainsbury's near you? They do 'traffic light' labelling, which is much easier to follow than the Tesco version. Green - as much as you like within reason... orange - go easy... red - occasional treat only.

[Desiderata]

Are you in a position to walk to school with her?

[YouKnowNothingOfTheCrunch]

Don't forget that the % recommended daily allowances on packets are adult amounts and not set for children. Check out what they should be for your dd's age.

[ProfessorGrammaticus]

Can you take her swimming or bike riding?

[TodayToday]

I seem to remember seeing a little card with recommended daily amounts for men/women/children of things like saturated fat, salt, sugar. It was credit card size to be kept in your purse. Would something like that help you?

[Wisteria]

I don't agree with diets as such for children just a healthy eating drive, try to walk more and cut out white foods substituting for brown (brown rice/ pasta and bread).

Cut out or limit sweets/ crisps and anything like takeaways etc. Buy more fruit and make smoothies. Make sure your portions aren't too large as I have noticed people are just giving kids too much food as opposed to the wrong kind and we do less exercise than ever before as a country IMO.

Exercise videos can be great fun for that age group if you need something to do at home - I think there was a new one out recently which was dance related.

She sounds as though she is just developing early for her age so will look bigger than her peers anyway, more exercise will help her more than a diet but it needs to be approached from a 'family' perspective I think - ie - 'we all need to do this for our health' not just her otherwise she may get paranoid.

[TodayToday]

lots of info. here on food labelling

[PussinWellies]

Ooh, Wisteria, do you have any details of a child-friendly dance video? I have a frankly tubby 6-yr-old with two super-skinny older brothers she's just a naturally stationary child, whereas they seem to burn everything off in fidgeting. She's tried dance classes as she loves dancing, but she got mocked (at 6 grr) for being heavier than the others.

[talktothebees]

I think the most important thing you said is that her weight and height is increasing very fast. Overfeeding does not make children tall. Is your daughter is growing through her early puberty growth spurt then she needs to eat to fuel that growth and cutting back her intake is likely to lead to long term health problems such as osteoperosis. From everthing else you say your daughter could well have early onset puberty.

Is your daughter actually overweight - have any of these health professional bothered to work out her BMI for example? If the nurse actually telling you to feed your daughter less so that her growth (height) will slow down because if so that's appalling.

If I were you, I'd go back to a different doctor, get them to calculate your daughter's BMI, check for signs of the start of puberty, and refer you to a dietician so you can reassure yourself she's getting a healthy diet.

[Vacua]

I agree with the whole family approach, and also healthy eating can be very cheap - if you have the time and energy to plan and cook your meals. Fill up on homemade vegetable soup which you can make with frozen veg if easier and budget cans of tomatoes - flavour with onion, garlic, herbs or a stock cube. Bulk out with handful of dried lentils. Bit of toast, maybe a sprinkle of cheese and you have an ok supper especially if she has a cooked meal at school.

Just try to make small changes over a period of time rather than launching into a whole new way of life that might be difficult to sustain - make porridge with skimmed milk and flavour with chopped dried fruit or fresh fruit if possible instead of sugary cereals (if you use them). Buy a lower fat butter/spread for sandwiches and don't use it at all if the filling is already sticky enough to hold the sandwich together. Get the lowest fat mayo and so on - she might not even notice the changes.

Gradually omit any crisps, fried food, ready made cakes and so on and introduce substitutes which are similar - for example potato wedges sprayed with spray on oil baked in the oven.

But definitely avoid any sort of direct focus on her shape and size, I say this as someone with a daughter in an ED unit - I always thought I was very clued up on this sort of thing but the most innocuous comments have come back to haunt me. Not trying to scare you though, just something to be wary of.

[Wisteria]

this looks quite good

my dd1 (14) wants this one

[Wisteria]

Everything vacua says as well - home made soups are wonderful and most dcs love them - I've just made one which is full of great stuff but extremely low in fat as I've put no milk in, just chicken stock and used fry lite to sweat the veggies off.

[BITCAT]

Talktothebees i agree with everything you said, overeating does not make a child grow taller and if she is tall common sense says that she will be heavier than average 8yr old. And could be puberty, lots of children have puppy fat and doesn't make them overweight. I agree with healthy eating but don't put her on diet. I think nowadays there is too much emphasis on weight and being stick thin. Plenty of exercise ie walking, sport maybe look out for some after school clubs ie tennis, football, netball and obviously one that is free!!

[serenity]

Pussinwellies - not strictly an exercise DVD, but lots of bending and dancing (some of the dance moves remind me of a very gentle aerobics workout) We bought this for DD(4) for christmas, and she'll do it over and over again. If your DD likes Disney princesses she might enjoy it Bella Disney Princess Dance Studio

[bubblepop]

hi. my kids love sugar free icepops. (very good substitute for biscuits inbetween meals) also muller light yoghurts

[maisykins]

If the OP's school nurse, her own nurse and her GP have suggested losing some weight, it may well be that it's needed.
We really dont have a lot to go on here as we dont know the state of the current diet and what is available in terms of exercise etc. But the general suggestions on here are hopefully useful - healthy eating at meal times; make sure there's not lots of unhealthy snacks (biscuits etc).

In addition to the DVD idea, and walking/riding to school, can you have a think whether there's any exercise activities available to you at school or locally which arent too expensive - group activities can be fun as well as something you are more likely to stick to when you make the commitment. Our school has several free clubs - netball, dance, hockey and running.

Just for info I looked at my Heinz baked beans tin just now and sugar content is 5% (5grams per 100grams) so I guess the Tesco ones do seem quite high in comparison. But on its own that wouldnt be a problem - depends what the rest of the diet is like.

[callmeovercautious]

Value and "diet" foods are often High in Salt and Sugar to make the cheaper ingedients taste better so you should avoid them. If you have a local Market it is cheaper to buy a load of Fruit and Veg there - particularly towards the end of the day rather than at the Supermarket. If you have to go to the Supermarket buy loose veg as it is more expensive if already packaged up for you. Just check the price per KG and there should be scales to pop the things on to check how much you are buying.

Fresh food and moderate exercise are far better than a strict diet. If you limit snacks and stick to set meal times you should see an improvement.

HTH

[notnuftime]

thanks very much for all your help.typical day for dd is breakfast:2 slices toast with low fat butter.
or a yoghurt or a bowl of cereal rice krispiesor weetabix.
Lunch: school dinner.
Tea: depends if she has had a little lunch at school if she has had a sandwich at school then i will make her some sort of main tea.
either spag bol
Lasagne (bad for her apparently)
stir fry with bits of chicken thrown
in
maybe pizza with a few oven chips and a salad.
beans on toast
boiled egg with soldiers
That type of thing not all of these things at once.........lol these are just examples.
Yes the Gp did say she has to go on a diet and i have to take her in next week for a check up.The school nurse is brill she thinks it is the onset of puberty but we shall see.We walk to school and back every day i dont drive so everywere we go we walk apart from weekly shop my dp drives us there and back.when weather is nice they are on their bikes out in the garden,we have a big trampoline she loves going on that.I cant afford to take them swimming every week and she had swimming classes at school then they stopped them? so she does love sports she did netball and Tag Rugby at school but the school stopped that too.
So I am trying.........

[Pheebe]

Hello
From what you've described it sounds like your daughter is going through precocious puberty (means puberty earlier than is normal), this would explain both her weight gain and her faster than usual increase in height. 8yo is VERY young to be put on a diet especially if the underlying cause of her weight gain is hormonal. In this case you need to be looking at a healthy balanced diet rather than calorie restriction. If it were me I would go back to your GP and push HARD for a referral to a pediatrician who will be able to diagnose whether it is PP and help you support your daughter appropriately. You could also serach MN for PP and I think there was a program on it recently, not sure what channel though.

[maisykins]

It does sound like you are trying and it is a real shame about the school exercise activities being stopped.

Can you maybe increase the fruit and veg side of things - or maybe you just didnt mention them much but chopped up fruit with the breakfast and at snack times could help. I aim for fruit or veg with every meal - I have a DD whose only veg is carrot/salad stuff but she has fruit with her tea if she wont eat the veg.

[BrownSuga]

DH's DD is 8 and wearing size 11/12 clothes. She's tall as well as a little chunky. It was more of an issue when she was younger, as she doesn't look overweight, just big for her age now. But we make sure fresh fruit on hand for snacks, cut out all crisps/sweets/soft drink etc... and she eats what we eat for dinner. Loads of vege, no desserts. Unfortunately that's only the weekend, don't know what her DM does, but it seems to be helping as she'll ask for fruit now, rather than crisps for eg. if she is hungry. (maybe she knows at ours, alternatives are just not available)

If it's drizzly/freezing out, and she wants to go on bike, DH used to say no, but I'd say, just rug up, it's fine, so now encouraging her to go out on her bike more (live in cul de sac, so safe enough)

[Mercy]

How about a skipping rope?

They are cheap and can even be played with indoors (if you have enough room that is!)

[JudgeNutmeg]

I heard the opposite about precocious puberty on the radio a few weeks ago. The Dr said that precocious puberty is caused by the child being obese, the extra fat produces (dunno if correct) oestrogen which fuel early puberty and growth spurt too early.

He said that too often, parents think, 'oh my child is big boned and really hungry when the truth is (according to this Dr) that the overeating has pushed the child over the edge into puberty causing potential long term damage. He also said that obese children gain more fat cells upto the age of 12 and then the fat cells can increase or decrease in size but never go away. The thinking behind putting her on a diet would be to stop more fat cells being produced.

All this was from one radio program so not sure of veracity but I thought it an interesting point of view.

Good bmi for kids site here:
www.kidshealth.com/teen/food_fitness/dieting/weight_height.html

Lots of SureStarts run healthy eating courses for parents and kids for free which might interest your daughter.