Refusing NHS NCMP weigh in?

[CrossingItAll]

Anyone else opting out?

I understand maintaining a healthy weight in children is important but if a child was in a position where their health was being affected by their weight, over or under the recommended, it would be very obvious to the eye without weighing. If you need to weigh them to see if they 'hit the right numbers' then it can't be thelat obvious /bad.

I still remember getting weighed in high school in from of the class for science

My child is a healthy weight and I just don't think it's necessary, at 11, to be making the scales part of their lives.

I don't know. Am I being OTT.

With scales you have objective answer not subjective

Scales are only objective if they are calibrated properly and measurements are recorded accurately - both of which the HV failed to do when my DS was a baby, causing undue stress.

Incorrectly calibrated scales are still "objective" even if they are inaccurate

Another brilliant MN response “the scales weren’t calibrated”. Childhood obesity is not a thing and all the scales are wrong.

Because my DCs are of healthy weight (albeit low end of) we've never had feedback from the measurements. I keep an eye on them sporadically anyway. DS1 was regularly monitored by dieticians when young and occasionally at appointments for other issues. I just tell them I'm checking that they're growing well and check their height and weight.

Recently (and since the y6 check) DS1 looked leaner than usual and seemed tired so I checked him and he'd slipped to marginally above being underweight. We made some tweaks to his diet taking him off skimpily portioned school dinners and he's back up to his normal range. He'd probably just had a stretching phase anyway but needs some reserves on him too. There's no stigma or judgement to it, it's just being practical at maintaining good health.

You can't tell by looking at so many children which side of "healthy" they are. Healthy childhood shapes change as they develop. Families are used to their "normal". People are used to their peers. I've known people rant about receiving "the letter" then a couple of years later as the child continues to gain more body mass than height, realise that there is an issue, but it's a greater issue to address the longer it goes on.

If a child is already being monitored by professionals for other health issues, then that's a sensible reason to withdraw, but denial isn't.

The thing is its 'not very obvious to the eye' anymore as there's far too many obese kids these days ....its becoming the norm.....people are not recognising they have overweight children

The thing is, it isnt obvious to many parents. Hence the outrage when their perfect child that needs clothes 2 sizes above their age, but then needs them taking up, gets identified as overweight.

@Allthe4s don't be so judgemental. In my case it was because the HV was worried about low weight (at 25th centile) ... but turned out weighing and recording wasn't done accurately in any case.

Putting my shoes on after a swimming session the other day, local school kids were standing nearby, waiting for their lesson, in swim wear. Age 8-11. Good news... 7/15 were healthy range of sizes. Ranging from scrawny to solid. But 8/15 were obviously too large. Yes I think some of their parents must be in denial.

You are not being unreasonable.

Weight is one metric and BMI is unsuitable for individual application. Yet they send out letters that are prejudiced and ill informed. I saw one that said "make healthy swaps, like orange juice for Coke." Um, have you seen the calorie count of orange juice?

I have lipoedema and my child probably has it too. I am not obese, I have a fat disorder. I spent my life being "fat" and being shamed for it. No child can choose their own food. No child should be encouraged into self deprivation. Eating disorders are easy to create and hard to overcome.

It's not just about individual children is it, though, but also about the population? It's surely important that this data is collected as accurately as possible so that the size of the problem can be monitored, and particular areas targeted for intervention if child obesity is particularly high in them. I know our area has been identified as a problem area and quite a lot of money and effort has gone into trying to increase activity levels for children. The only way anyone is going to know if things like that are needed, and then if they are working, is by measuring.

Most of those who opt out know, on some level, that their children are overweight.

It doesn't cause distress to children, nobody is going to bang on your door afterwards, but it's a useful tool for parents who just can't see it

I didn’t consent for a variety of reasons tbh. The main one being the prevalence of EDs in OH’s family. As others have said with the Y6 weigh-ins there’s such a variety of sizes and stages in maturity going on. My child has never been one of the tallest, but suddenly has grown so rapidly that she is the tallest in class and is developing her figure - yet some of her friends haven’t yet reached this stage and are older than her. If the nurses were allowed to use their professional judgment that wouldn’t be so bad.

I didn't know my son was underweight until he was weighed at school. It took two years of supplements to get his weight back on to the centipede chart.

I opted out for my kids, they are a healthy weight and have a healthy relationship with food. They’ve never been weighed and they won’t be in public

over or under the recommended, it would be very obvious to the eye without weighing

I actually thought the same. Because of this thread I've calculated my DS's BMI. I would have sworn he was on the lower end of a healthy weight. He's actually on the higher end of healthy weight. I was very surprised by that. So I think a lot of parents will be genuinely surprised that their children are overweight.

Opting out probably makes being weighed more of 'a thing' than just having it done. Most who opt out do it for themselves as they don't want to be confronted with the truth. Whilst bmi is far from perfect it does give an indication, lots of parents are in denial and as a society have lost sight of what a healthy weight looks like.

Also being weighed once won't cause an ED let's not minimise them like that, and children won't see the letter- the excuses just keep coming don't they. Sad for the children.

Unfortunately a lot of parents have their own issues with food/weight and they often unknowingly inflict them on their children. An objective measure is useful IMO. The child isn’t going to be publicly shamed, but being measured by a health professional is a normal part of life.

I won’t be allowing my child to be weighed, BMI is so old fashioned and shouldn’t he used. I’m 5ft, strength train, I’m “obese”…fit size 8 clothing!

I opted my child out because I knew he’d come up as overweight, and I was working in school health at the time !

Is there any evidence this programme is helping reduce levels of obesity in childhood?

Of course the children won’t see the letter but as an adult with an ED seeing that letter can be very triggering and can have devastating effects on the child as we have sadly seen within our extended family. Sad for these children.

Is there any evidence that kids would not have continued getting fatter without the programme?

From what I can tell the programme to weight in English schools was introduced in ~2006.

UK Adolescent obesity rates steadily rose from 1975 to 2005, and pretty much plateaued 2010 to 2016. Coincidence? But SMF says teen obesity rates are still steadily rising. Also says the main predictor for fat teens is when parents are obese. So solution = get the parents to be less obese?

Also says the main predictor for fat teens is when parents are obese. So solution = get the parents to be less obese?

It probably is, in a manner of speaking. It points to unhealthy eating habits/lack of exercise being ingrained as part of family life, which needs to change.