overweight toddlers for m&s

[wouldliketoknow]

i think i heard in the news this morning that marks and spencer is launching a range of large clothing for overweight toddlers, i thought the goal was to not have overweight toddlers,next tv add: no more need to keep an eye on your child's diet, just shop at m&s. they will have to change the name for m&ms, just to keep a theme. thoughs please, i find this quite disturbing.

It's daft really. If your child is a bit on the lumpy side you put them in the next size up clothes to fit the waist/chest/bum and roll up the sleeves/trouser legs to compensate. What's the ticket going to say on the hanger?... Age 9 XL?

There is something in that we're all getting bigger and a woman's size 12 say is now about twice the size (may be an exaggeration!) of what it was a few decades back.

So I think that the sleight of hand in producing these clothes does go some way to normalise everyone getting larger.

Having said that, M&S are a business, they're not the ones making the children fat (well except people feeding their DCs M&S ready meals all the time), and responding to demand is what a business does.

American labels have done this for years. Gap has slim fit (ie normal size waist) and relaxed fit which fit the bigger waistlines. I don't understand all the comments about children who are both large and tall. If you are 6 but the size and weight of a 10 year old you wear age 10 clothes. I presume it is children who are average height for their age but too fat to fit the "normal" sizes that M and S will be aiming at. It is sad that the need is there to be met but hardly the retailers fault.

I have ordered clothes from US and they do have xl sizes for children. My dcs are on the skinny size. DC is 12 and 5'5 and adults size 6, however M&S are much too narrow on the shoulders for her even in the 14 year old which is supposed to be her height. When she was measured at school her BMI was dead on 50th centile so perfect height/weight ratio.

queefer.. great name BTW - re the maternity style elasticated waist bands for DCs.. i could not manage without them, both my DCs slim and lean.. without the adjustable belt inside, nothing would stay up

DD is 5 next week. she's wearing some high street jeans in age 4 - 5, the adjustable belt is as tight as it will go and she also needs an external belt too !!

i though they were for slimmer not larger children.? or both

A bit funny how no one has an overweight child

they are all big for their age or sturdy or tall and in proportion

not doubting it, just find it funny

Never used to see any properly fat children, as opposed to sturdy/well built, when I had DC1 who is almost 11.

was at the park today, there were several fat, as in, rolls of fat, considerably and noticeably bigger than their peers children

i do think it is a relatively new phenomena.

some children are solid/well built. some just seem denser, i remember lifting a child at the park who had tripped who looked simialr size to DD but must have had a core of dark matter, as i could not get her off the floor !

some children are just solid

YAB a bit U, obesity is on the rise for both adults and children so retailers are just adapting to the changing market. It's not their place to teach parents not to overfeed their kids, although I do see what you mean: a bit like shops selling little girls' padded bras, it kind of promotes something wrong ( you could argue that chikdren's overtly sexual clpothing also reflects the changing market).

Aren't M&S clothes big enough already? Have just bought size 18-24 trousers for DD2 (just turned 2), they are MASSIVE. Have had to cinch up adjustable waistband to tightest setting and turn up cuffs AND she is wearing a big ole cloth nappy. Cannot actually imagine there are many children who need anything bigger?

I think that if parents are having to buy clothes that are years too big for their kids it might serve as a valuable prompt to them to notice that they are letting their kids get very overweight (which is, in my view, a despicable form of parental neglect which sets their children up for a shortened life of ill health). If it is made easier by making clothes for, say, three year olds which is reality only fit obese three year olds, it might be easier for parents to deny the state their kids are in. Obviously this comment doesn't apply to kids who are tall, or big/athletically built - before you all jump down my throat. Pre-pregnancy I had a BMI of about 21, which is perfect, but could never get into anything smaller than a size 14 because I am 5'11 tall and quite athletically built, so I know that there is more to being fat than what size you are.
I am only talking about children who are just plain fat - and we all know that is a bad thing.

twoistwiceasfun, a child who is bigger (not just larger) can get clothes 1 or 2 sizes bigger rather than the new, "plus" range which has bigger waists and same lenghts?

EmmaKateWH, I agree with you, but shops have to sell what the public demands. At the moment there's a high demand for larger-waist clothes.

twoistwiceasfun, as i understand it, and i really am just a normal person, not specialist knowledge, 91th centile is fine, also i use fabric nappies, i don't understand what you mean by excess weight, true there is a bit of extra volume, but so far i, just me, didn't need bigger sizes yet, i heard people might need just one extra size for babies, i never meant children with nappies later than normal, riven i would write to them, you never know, or disabilities, i mean catering for children that are just more than chubby, rolls of fat, can't fit in the push chair, true, they are supplying for a demand, and not for babies and teenagers, but toddlers, i might be a bit unreasonable, but i surely but not like ds at 2 or 3 yo wearing xxl tshirts, a different thing is if your child is really tall, but we are talking plain fat.

oh, and remeber this is for toddlers, not for babies or teenagers, that is a different cattle of fish

I'm just coming on to say the same as others if your child is large for their age then you do just buy clothes the next age up because they are still the right fit IYSWIM.

Only a child overweight (for medical reasons or not)or with very unusual proportions is going to need extra wide fit clothes.

Even my dd with chunky thighs and bum finds most "normal" trousers to big on the waist and bum on her, and then the other 2 are so super skinny I have to resort to buying slim fit from gap as nothing else fits unfortunately

How does putting fat toddlers in clothes that fit them going to change their weight? It is not a clothes issue, it's an eating issue. I don't think M&S is doing anything wrong here.

Much like they sell mastectomy bras -it's necessity to have things that fit. A kid can't help being fat because very few under fives cook or buy their own food.

If you want to be angry at parents of fat children that's a different thing, but your anger is IMHO misdirected at M&S.

I personally think this is a good idea and I think a little consideration should be given to kids who are disabled, my dd is 6 and in a wheelchair, in nappies which are adult sized due to a procedure on her bladder, and has to wear age 10 clothes.

I would much rather buy clothes suitable for her shape/size rather than buying clothes several sizes too big and her looking like a sack of potatoes (IYKWIM)

I have a tall and well built child - she is 4 but regularly wears clothes for ages 7-9yo and although she is plump I would not describe her as fat (I don't think anyone else would either but I can only speak for myself). She has a good vegetarian diet and as she has been in regular contact with a paediatrician for constipation issues - she has been weighed measured and her diet scrutinised and no issues with her weight or health (other than constipation of course which can be treated fortunately)have been found.

Soooo I am pleased that M&S ar offering a 'broader' range of clothes as children like adults are not all cut from the same cloth - my children are all broad shouldered and long bodied which make buying clothes that fit really tricky. They need longer tops than average for their age and the tops for girls are often skimpy in the cut and tight under the arms while failing to cover the tummy in the correct age range. Adjustable waisted trousers are helpful if you are buying for a skinny but tall boy (like my ds) as they can be tightened to fit while elasticated waists are too baggy.

Dresses are always far too short for dd unless I buy age 8-9 which is ridiculous when I think about it but she really is very tall and strong and healthy and bonny - so I don't worry about her.

In an ideal world, children would not be fat (through parental mishandling), but since they are, what are the choices? Leave them naked?

M&S are a business. They have identified a market. Fair enough.

I'm in the don't know category, I find M&S clothes are on the small side anyway.

I have skinny minny girls, DD1 needs age 5-6 for her height but everything tends to fall off her, I tend to buy her skinny jeans as they look like regular jeans on her. School uniform from M&S fits her well.

Every store's sizes are different as well, I bought a pinafore from M&S age 5, bought one from Asda age 4, the age 4 Asda one was an inch longer than the age 5 M&S one.

I agree children come in different shapes and sizes, one size does not fit all.

M&S are filling a need. What do you propose that fat children wear to school? A uniform that's way too small and therefore uncomfortable? Own clothes? Start up a sewing club to provide clothes for Humpty-Dumpty children?
The parents of obese children need to be helped to see the dangers they are putting their children through. It's vile watching a reception child unable to access play, run about or sit cross-legged purely because they are too fat.

well i work there and yes, plenty of complaints about school uniforms not fitting 14yr old girls or 15 yr old boys etc. often we'd be directing them to adult stuff which customers would then complain at having to pay the higher cost for. so yes, worth a trial in my book.

I read an article about this earlier. This school range is for 4 year olds with a 23" waist. Out of interest I measured ds who was 4 this week and has a waist measurement of 19 and he is very skinny so 23" doesn't seem that big to me.