to be raging mad at the gp and want to make an official complaint?

[enzed]

Sorry for the long post

We have just got back from my daughter's 8 month health check. Before she weighed her, the doctor took one look and suggested I was feeding her too many snacks - quote "are you feeding her too many sweet snacks?" and suggested that I should be careful because she obviously has a genetic disposition to be big (after looking at me).

Now, if I was over-feeding my daughter I wouldn't mind being told, but this was before my daughter was weighed. She is growing up the 91st centile for both weight and height, and was on the 91st centile for weight and 75th for length when she was born. She has never jumped up or down a centile line, just stayed on it more or less.

When she commented again on her weight, I asked her if dd had moved up the centiles, and she grudgingly admited that she was still on the same line but "hopefully she would go down a bit when she starts walking".
At that point I informed the dr that I really didn't think my healthy 8 month old needed a) a complex about her weight or b) to exercise for weight loss purposes yet. and got no reply.

Now it maybe that I'm a bit sensitive, having endless drs accusing me of eating too many sweets etc, because I'm overweight, when it's not true, but I just don't want my daughter to have a label already on her drs records at 8 months, when she is actually perfectly healthy according to the weight guidelines. Should I complain officially or not? I'm so angry with the dr, I can't make a rational decision!

My father has just been told he's overweight and needs to lose at least a stone by the doctor. The practice nurse then phoned, to re-inforce the message, and ask if any advice were needed on lifestyle. My father was restrained, but I don't think I've ever seen him so angry (I happened to be in the house).

As my father pointed out, he's wearing the same waist measurement trousers at 75 that he did at 20, and at 6'1" he weighs 11st9. That means he has a BMI of 21.7, which is slap in the middle of, or possibly at the lower end, of the recommended range. His weight is up slightly and his waist measurement down slightly as he's taken up moderate weight lifting to improve his climbing, he has a resting heart rate of about 45 and routinely does long days in the mountains (he'd just come back from a climbing trip to Skye and was packing for ten days' backpacking in the Pyrenees. What the hell are they playing at? Since when did men who are over six feet tall and weigh under twelve stone, who at 75 go mountaineering with tough people half their age, need to lose weight?

The doctor phoned back later to apologise, to say she'd read the BMI tables wrong. But didn't she have the brains to go Hmm, six feet, less than twelve stone, probably OK?'' or, perhaps hmm, perhaps giving a 75 year old man who is more than six feet tall a target weight of just over ten stone might be a little unreasonable?''

I ignored doctors over weight and height of my children after one attempted to convince me my elder daughter was the 102nd centile for height. That A Level maths not working out for you, mate? Struggling with the centile concept a bit?

I was told my baby was overweight when he was 6 months old and 22 pounds. Yes he liked his milk (and food once weaned!) but he was just a chunky baby and I was mortified!

He was still chunky at 3. Between 4-5 he started to shoot up and by 6 he was very slim. Aged 17 he is VERY slim but with a 6 pack to die for, superfit skater boy who can eat for England the way teen boys do, and never puts an ounce of weight on.

I worried so much but I should have just relaxed!

In contrast my eldest daughter was today accused AGAIN by her GP of being anorexic, because she is thin. She isn't anorexic, she eats like a horse, and my daughter had to point out to the GP that if he looked in her notes he would find she was a thin toddler, a thin child, and is now a thin 18 yr old! She plays sport nearly every day is fit as a fiddle.. she only went for her iron tablets prescription and was grilled on her eating habits... can't win!
I think you know in yourself if a child is ok for their age or not...

Bonkers

to me it seems you get mega praise for having a big baby until some magical cut off age, and then they are fat and it's a crisis even though they are on the same centile

I have the other side, had a skinny baby and hcp wrung their hands, now she is a toddler, hv very pleased with how healthy she is

guess what, same centile

ignore ignore ignore

it can be really frustrating if health professionals are not listening to you.

dh and i are tall and of 'normal' weight

all of our children are tall, dc1 is very skinny but dc2 is of a much heavier build and does look a bit fat. hes 3.5 yrs old was 10lbs 8 when he was born and has always been off the charts for his weight.

my HV would go on and on about portion control when i was weaning him (he would have the freezer pots with the flip lid from mothercare)

the only processed food we have is sausages so i know how much fat is in the food i prepare....

it has to be genetic his shape as we all eat the same healthy foods and are active together.

are you concerned about his advice before asking you questions......in that he had made up his mind?

mumNWlondon

As a HCP who has weighed and measured many many babies and children, I can categorically state you are wrong wrong wrong!!!

A baby or child whose weight and height are in proportion and have continued to grow along the same or similar centile lines is not overweight.

evidence here

I seem to recall that about ten years ago it was absolute received wisdom that saying anything to children, especially girls, about their weight was a major trigger for anorexia, and therefore we should be extra-sensitive about any discussion about weight.

Now schools are weighing children and sending letters home telling them to lose weight.

Did I miss a meeting, at which it was concluded that anorexia and other eating disorders - which blight the lives of child and can result in what amounts to suicide - were something to ignore because being a stone "overweight" is such a major health risk? Is anorexia suddenly either OK, or no longer a problem?

It also used to be absolute received wisdom that weight guidelines for adults, such as, oh, BMI (which are rough-cut at best for the short, the tall and the muscular) were meaningless for children, and that diets aimed at adults - calorie controlled, and especially low fat - were dangerous. It was especially dangerous to worry about the weight of small children, because the result was a limited diet and, again, a risk of causing eating disorders later on. And now?

Something similar with my HV - When DD then 3 months was getting her vaccinations, HV took one look at DD leg and said 'Well, i'll have no bother getting the needle in a leg that size'....My hormones were still all over the place unfortunately, so cue comment which was most unlike me 'Really, thats funny cos i'd have no bother getting my foot up a backside your size!' ... She was surprisingly nice after that.

constantly tired - hahaha i love it!

Unfortunately the dr we saw was about 6ft tall and stick thin, but I might remember that comment for another time.