Over weight 6 year old

[Amybabygypsyqueen]

Hi everyone

My daughter is nearly 7 years old, she is tall for her age and was 9lb9 born, she has always been in the next size up clothes but in the last 6 months she has put on a lot of weight. She is currently in 9-10 years clothes partly for length as she is tall. We all eat the same food, very few takeaways she loves cheese and pasta but I do limit these she's not a fruit fan but will eat veg.

I really don't no what I'm doing wrong she has put 1 stone on in the last 2 months,both mine and my husbands family are over weight, im a size 12, but struggle to maintain my weight.

I need to tackle this before it gets out of hand, and suggestions?

[Amybabygypsyqueen]

I forgot to say she goes to gymnastics for 1 hour, rainbows for 1 hour and dancing for 1 hour each week

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

A 6 year old gained a stone in 2 months? I would seriously see GP about that as it seems extreme.

[SavoyCabbage]

Even if there is still the same food being given to the same people, some people will still over indulge.

We had tacos for lunch today. One of my dds avoided the lettuce and tomato but piled on the avocado and cheese. She will eat two biscuits whilst the other one will eat one.

[Amybabygypsyqueen]

This is my concern, it is more than a usual growth spurt iyswim. I'm so scared I'm doing this to her she has school dinners, she doesn't really have snacks, she loves food but not sweet stuff tbh

[Pancakeflipper]

Portion size?

I would keep a food diary for a month and see what is actually being eaten, the extra treats might be substituted with other options.
Also an active/fitness diary.
To me the activities you list isn't much exercise, can you increase it. Do you walk to school? Walk at weekends? Bike riding? Swimming?


Or is she ready for a growth spurt?
And what are your family sizes like (look also at grandparents etc), it can be genetic so you have to adapt diet to suit. If your families are big is that poor diet or just their build?

[Amybabygypsyqueen]

I'm not big I'm 10 stone 5ft 2 size 12, my sister is quite big and my husbands family are all over weight, food diary sounds good. The Dds play in the garden a lot we walk to school approx 0.5 miles, she generally scoots. No swimming as she has grommets and really struggles. We could do more at the weekends, I will definatly try this.

Food diary is a great idea we can start that tomorro. She would wuite happily put away a full adult size portion of lasagne if she wanted but I don't let her, I bulk it out with salad if anything

She loves milky drinks how much milk should she be having in a day

[Amybabygypsyqueen]

My husbands family fries everything, I never new you could deep fry corn on the cob

[Pancakeflipper]

Can you change to skimmed milk for a while?
You don't actually need a huge amount of dairy in your diet. Dairy products became huge in the food market in the 1960`1970s.

But if she likes it and it's better than eating crisps by the packet perhaps low fat milk if she can tolerate the white water!

And it seems she is getting some decent daily exercise with walking and scattering, just increase it.

[Amybabygypsyqueen]

We have semi skimmed be cause it have a DD who is 2 who is very tiny, and it seemed like a good compromise. What's the 1% milk like is it any good?

[WeAreEternal]

Could it be due to your portion sizes?

A friend of mine thought she was doing everything right, they were fairly active and she made healthy balanced meals with lots of veg and protein and hardy any sugary, fried or convenience foods.
she eat the same meals and was slim so couldn't understand why at 5 & 9 they were over weight bordering in obese.

After much investigating and tests from the GP it turned out that the problem was simply that she was feeding her DCs portions that were more than twice what they needed.
Once she began to cut back the portion sizes her DCs started to loose weight.
It's now almost two years later and her DCs are both average weights for their age and height and most importantly they are much happier.

[tobysmum77]

I don't know about this portion size stuff. If they are hungry after a meal then they snack/ moan. All this pearl-clutching about adult sized portions children between 5 and 10 are meant to eat 1800 calories a day!

DD1 (5.5) if shes on a growth spurt will eat adult sized portions and she's about 15th percentile bmi.

I think you need to see a dietician for proper advice op.

[lilli30101968]

I have the same issue Amy my daughter is 10 very active dance , gym , swimming , walk a lot but I think she is big specially the tummy is big and I am concern . She does not eat a lot sweet and I cut down portion . I was thinking to take her to GP , her dad sid are not small and he was very big on his teen so It might be on genes.

[MumOf2Amber]

Have you thought about juiceplus? There's chewables for children - my daughter has special needs (Adhd, global development delay & learning difficulties) and she has the chewables. She was putting on weight as she isn't very active. Like you I tried getting her in to things such as dance class once a week and bought her a huge trampoline for the garden, but I struggled with her diet - she just refused to eat enough veg. The juiceplus chewables contain nutrients from 27 different types of fruit & veg. They're aimed to bridge the gap between what we are eating and what we should be eating. They boost the immune system, aid digestion & aid sleep. The great thing about them is that the body starts to crave healthier foods. Juiceplus are currently doing a Children's Health Study and the results are great - children are eating healthier, fewer doctor visits etc. My daughters weight is levelling out, her paediatrician is very happy with her weight now - the diet change has also helped our day to day life a huge amount. Her concentration has improved (Big thing for a child with ADHD!) and her sleep is much better (She has previously been on sleep medication!). She is calmer and she is eating healthier foods! I cook all our main meals from juiceplus recipes and she absolutely loves them! I also have lots of friends who use the chewables for their children for all sorts of reasons - general nutrition & peace of mind, weight issues, behavioural issues and also for treating skin conditions such as eczema & psoriasis. I really can't recommend them enough! If you'd like some info let me know and I can send u the health study results etc! Xx

[gingertreat]

You may want to check with your GP if all is good with her general health.
If yes, then my suggestion is to improve her metabolism by serving more cooked food (rather than raw ie. salads). Also, evening meals should be cooked and eaten at least 1h before sleeping. Also, do not mix meat dishes with raw salads - this slow down the digestion. best wishes