Is some weight gain normal before puberty for a nearly 10-year-old?

[Hotdayinjuly]

DS nearly 10 has become a bit overweight. He has gone from being able to wear shorts 2 sizes too small to needing an age up. I don’t feel his diet has changed hugely. I have checked with his dad too. Is this like a pre-puberty thing? He is very sensitive so need to tread carefully so haven’t weighed him to plot it.

Any tips? We don’t eat tons of junk but he’s terrible for eating veg and I’m having to police his portions.

My soon to be 10yo DD put on weight in the past school year. We eat well, fresh food from scratch, not a lot of junk in the cupboards at home, balanced menus etc

However her father tends to feed her fast food when he has custody.

I initially thought it was "puppy fat" that would eventually drop off but she is a bit short so it showed more and it was making her feel self conscious. Her elder sister is very tall and lean which didn't help.

The best thing I ever did was to up sport opportunities for her - I got her into a swim squad so she swims almost daily term time and it has helped a lot.

I have realised that she has a metabolism/body type that requires a lot of exercise so in term time I sign her up for every active after school activity that is going.

I am finding that the sports focus is helping her and just continuing with the health meal plan is great.

I can't do much about my ex and his unnecessary Starbucks runs but the increase in exercise has helped my DD and I talk a lot about healthy food choice with her. Also encouraging her to help with cooking has opened up opportunities to talk about what foods are healthy and nourishing but also tasty.

Good luck with your son.

I don't know about older children but I've seen my younger children grow out before they grow up.

Is he an active child? I'm conscious he might be around the age where children start to spend a lot more time on screens and less time moving.

Yes it’s normal to fill out a bit at roughly this age . It fuels the big growth spurt at puberty. Ten is maybe a bit young for a boy to get this though, so I would keep an eye on it and try and up activity, but not worry much unless he keeps getting heavier.

I think I posted exactly the same thing a few years ago. Yes at 10 or 11 they often gain weight, a little layer of fat that sets them up for a big spurt. My ds gained too much though and had a big belly so we had to really work at it but i think it was too little too late. He shot up and lost most of it but is a little overweight still. It's harder now cos he can organise his own food and snacks when he wants, I have less control. I also think the biggest is trap is letting bad habits develop that are difficult to reverse.

Yes, this happened to my son at about 10/11 He went a bit pudgy and then in his 12th year he grew up and is far taller than me now and he looks very healthy.

Totally normal they grow out then up

Even my naturally skinny one grew out before going up - this was more obvious around puberty. I've got 9 children 4 are adults, 3 are teens and 2 are under 10.

Thanks everyone. A couple of people had said this but I didn’t want to be blasé about it and it’s never really happened with my daughter . Definitely going to put a couple of things in place as he isn’t the sportiest of kids so will up the activity and we have got out of the habit of eating at table with various activities meaning eating at different times so going to use the holidays to reset that.

Yes. Very normal before they shoot up in height.