Reception national measuring

[Sunshinedaytoday]

So I'm one of those people who has had a letter to say their child is overweight. I don't feel too surprised by it, as we have been trying to make different and careful choices for DD recently. It's not that I'm being defensive about the letter because I really don't want to be - I want dd to grow up a healthy weight. If she was 0.5cm taller she would be in the healthy range.

However, I plotted her current weight and height in her red book, to have a look.
Dd was born above the 99.6 centile. By 1, she was 91st centile and remained there, and that's where she still is. Her height is also just above 91st.

What I find frustrating about this is a year ago I raised this with the GP, who told me it was a good thing she has followed her centile curve. But it isn't a good thing, is it. Because now at age 5.5 she is measured as overweight.

I think my question is then, as I also have another baby who is under 1 and on the 91st centile... At what point then, for children born on a high centile, are you expected to get them to drop down, do you think? And could this be better communicated before age 5?

They usually drop naturally btw 3 and 5 as they move from toddler chubbiness to a slimmer child build. It isn't something you are meant to do to them. Plus gps don't usually monitor kids weight unless they are checking for a sign of illnesslike dramatic weight loss or gain. So he was right her moving along her centile is fine but also wrong because from about 5+ we measure them and the National Measurement Programme describes children in the 90+ centile as overweight and 95+ centile as severely overweight. He won't know that though - it's a public health measurement not primary care. His job now is only to refer you on to any services which can help.

Importantly being 'overweight' on the charts is not an illness and doesn't need treatment unless you feel uncertain about how to handle it. Your plan of adjusting diet a bit going forward is very sensible.

But your DD may well just grow down to below 90th centileprovided you offer a balanced diet and child sized portions. And your baby needs the same. There isn't anything to worry about and you haven't done anything wrong.