People commenting on my 6 YO DD weight?

There is nothing wrong with a child having carbs - they aren't an overweight middle aged person, and they need about 1600 calories a day aged 6. But perhaps not so many carbs as they are having now and more protein, fibre and fat to fill them up.

On the other end of the spectrum, this is also not a healthy weight for an average-height 10-year-old...

My son is 5 1/2 and is just under 3 stone and he’s quite sturdy built although I can see his ribs etc - sturdy little legs from all the clubs he does !
so I would say 4 stone is overweight tbh

It’s hard at that age but it’s the perfect age to get them eating a healthy diet. It sounds like her diet is pretty carb heavy with cereal, pancakes, croissants etc…, you could swap a few things for healthier options and maybe cut down in take aways (we have one around once a month rather than once a week). Swap the nuggets for real chicken, processed foods are not great but fine occasionally. The examples you set now with food will last a life time so making healthy choices will stay with her as she grows up.

My dd is a nightmare as she has ASD and pinches food, I try not to buy too much and limit chocolate and crisps. She’s not really into breakfast so just has a banana of yoghurt. She has a sandwich, carrot sticks, cucumber and a packet of low fat crisps for her lunch, evening meals are usually things like Spagetti and meat balls, stir fried chicken, fish pie, bbq chicken wraps with salad etc…etc.., we have cut out pudding and just offer fruit, she loves melon and mango or in the summer I offer her a ice lolly. Luckily she’s not keen on chocolate but sometimes we have it as a treat on a Friday night.

As others have said, check her BMI (though also be wary that a really tall and really overweight child, even if the BMI is okay, can also be unhealthy).

One of the dangers with overweight girls is that it causes them to go through puberty earlier than they should, which has various knock on effects, including limiting their height.

I keep an eye (without her knowing!!) on my DD8's weight as she takes after my DH's side, who have a short and stocky build.

She is currently around the 75th percentile for BMI (25-50 centile for height and 50-75 percentile for weight!), but has had periods where she's neared the 90th percentile.

As a comparison, she is currently just over 4 stones...

My 6 year-old DS is just over 3 stones... (BMI around 17th percentile 😆).

Edit: Sorry, just seen your updates.

What I do with my DD is go with the idea that no food is bad, but some foods do more for your body than others. Ie chocolate gives you a little bit of energy, but only for a short while, might be better to have something that fills you up for longer.

When coming in from school, I give a snack with protein, so like breadsticks and peanut butter, carrots, banana, but also serve it with something like 10-15 smarties, so chocolate is not forbidden, but not much. If they ask for more, say something like that's all for today, but can have more tomorrow.

We have dinner quite early, and then maybe a small yoghurt after. If still hungry at bedtime, they can have a cup of milk and fruit.

he fact he wears clothes in the correct size for him (for his height) from multiple stores, with plenty of room to spare in them. And of course, visually and fitness wise.

And you don't think that possibly a) clothes shops want to flatter parents into thinking their children are the right size (and sell more clothes, and sell clothes for the child of that age who's the middle of the current range of children of that age and b) you could possibly be swayed by seeing lots of OTHER overweight children?

I haven’t read all the replies but I would try and make sure she is a healthy weight for her age (if that means making small changes). A 6 year old eating a balanced diet (that includes mcdonalds as an occasional treat - we’ve never excluded any foods for our kids) shouldn’t be struggling with weight (unless there is a health condition). 6 year olds will be doing alot of running round at school/play based activities, weekends spent in the park/garden/days out/walks, so its either diet or movement that needs looking at. Does she do alot of running around/sports or family walks? Its free and you could increase that without affecting what she eats if you feel she has a good diet and there’s nothing to change there.

The one thing I would really stress is that the couple of children I can think of in my eldest child’s class who were overweight through primary did not grow out of their ‘puppy fat’ (as they say) by secondary. They actually got much worse so I wouldn’t rely on thinking she will just grow out of it. More electronics get introduced as they get older too so its even more important kids are moving alot. I would look at any small changes you can make now.

Yes but it’s normal for my dc they are born big, get absolutely huge with rolls and rolls by 6 months on milk alone then stay quite short get huge then have a giant growth spurt so we totally disregard it as for us it’s not a problem I appreciate that’s not how everyone is and sometimes being big at a young age just carries on.

Sorry, you’re absolutely right. He’s about 4ft10.

If the NHS is saying they’re very overweight they are.

My 9yo is 4st. I don’t weigh my children often but November ‘22 she was 3st 7. She gains around 7lb a year so I would assume she was around 3st at 6.

Well done for recognising and wanting to make some changes before it becomes ingrained. The key for me is planning, getting the right foods in and prepped. High protein, not always low carb but good whole grain carb not white and sugary. Ryvita and cream cheese, dried fruit and nuts, green yoghurt etc. and food before bed gets laid down as fat not burnt off so better to have milk not supper! But twins is tough so we’ll done you!

My Hv was so concerned till I literally showed her photos of me and my siblings, my nieces my mum and grandmother etc , as toddlers and as adults - she said usually it’s a problem but she could then see its genetic. I think she was just perplexed ! I think she thought I was lying when I told her what my dc eat as she couldn’t understand why they were so big. As a family we all have huge babies too (10lb usually) but as adults we are all lower end or just under healthy bmi

Yes and under 5 my dc come up as extremely overweight- by nhs standards they are buy this is how we are as a family for some reason shorter than average and very heavy then end up with a big growth spurt and as a family we are all very tall and very slim but all the toddlers are huge

I think that's really harsh on OP. She clearly sees the problem and is going to take steps to fix it.

She's going to have a 6yo who is used to having pancakes before bed and now has to put up with fruit or nothing though. Doesn't matter that that's a necessary step, or that it's healthier, or that she shouldn't have been having supper in the first place. Children are creatures of habit, and when their habits change they whine. Incessantly.

OP needs to minimise the impact on her DD from this change in diet, and that will be the hardest bit to get right. Swapping the foods is easy peasey, but persuading the 6yo that that's a great idea is something else entirely. The odd "Remember the dentist said we all need to eat fewer sweets" will help mitigate that.

The NHS calculator factors in height. That’s why you input their height.

Can you see her ribs or does she have a large round plump tummy? If she has a large round tummy, just cut down her portion sizes, stop the junk food and buy her a hula hoop and skipping rope. She can hula hoop while watching TV and skip outside.

Her diet is terrible.

The nhs bmi calculator doesn’t work for my dc. Up till about 5 they are quite short for their age but really heavy . It’s accurate from about age 6/7 once they’ve had their growth spurt so we just disregard it

Oh he’s not. You keep telling yourself that though

I'm not 'telling myself' that @Otherstories2002 . The NHS is telling me. Plus the fact he wears clothes in the correct size for him (for his height) from multiple stores, with plenty of room to spare in them. And of course, visually and fitness wise.

I have two other sons, now teenagers, who have tracked a similar weight centile all their lives to ds3 (circa 75th-80th centile, always within a healthy range). They are both slim, rather broad-shouldered and 6-foot plus now they're adult-size. Not an ounce of excess fat anywhere on them, they're in peak physical condition. I expect the same from dc3.

I've no doubt that there will be other 6ft 4 16 years olds that weigh far less than ds1 - those that are tall but have a far smaller frame and lower muscles mass. That's not better, just different.

There's a wide range of 'healthy weight' for a very good reason. Marking everyone above the 50th centile as 'on their way to obesity' is ludicrous and it's quite clear that you haven't even the faintest idea of how centiles work.

Together with the favourites "but he can eat an adult portion" and "you just can't fill him up, he must need it".
And then I see my DCs classmates off for an outing with school or going to the cinema with a huge carrier bag EACH of sweets and crisps.
No, 6 year olds (and indeed most 10 year olds) don't need adult portions, a sharing bag is meant to be shared between adults, and giving large portions (and insisting on finishing them) is how DH and I ended up overweight while my DCs will eat till they are full and then stop - except for DD with sweets, which is why we are restricting them to one day a week, as pudding (the latter as per the dentist too!).

I absolutely won't and im going to use the dentist as an excuse
Dont blame the dentist and use that as an excuse
Just reduce your intake and if any questions are asked you can talk about health then. Don't blame someone else.
The dentist is a great idea. Unless they're utterly clueless, when OP pointedly says "and are sweets and juice good for our teeth?" the dentist will do the needful and agree with mum that those things are bad for teeth and should be eaten rarely. Then when OP is getting the message across at home she has an authority figure to reinforce the message - we all know that 6yos believe everything their teacher says and nothing their parents say!*

While I do agree to a point the Op went straight to pinning an excuse on some one else. Who is she going to blame for over feeding the child with crap?

All the information about processed food isn't new. It's been out there for years so there is no one to blame for poor nutrition.

Personally I think the op just needs to put past mistakes around food behind her, not be offended about people mentioning weight and have a fresh start with the families dietary needs. There's no need to have a puritan lifestyle but a lot of positive changes can be made simply and quickly.

I have issues with my weight because I don’t think it’s appropriate to water down the issue of the OPs child? Sure ok. 😂

There doesn’t need to be a conversation, you swap stuff out and model a healthy diet. It’s what should have been happening for the entire time.

Your comment makes no sense. My mum is a fully grown adult and 8.5 stone. She is not underweight, she’s just tiny in height and build. My 8 year old is 4 stone 7 and on the 47th percentile so bang on for her weight but obviously weights more than half her grandmothers weight. Both of them are in the normal range for their weight.