that parents need to do something if their chid is obese?

[mumof2terrors]

Im new here but am really concerned about a family members son....he looks obese to the point he is 2 years old and wears clothes for a 4-5yr old. He eats only chicken wings from the chicken and chip shop and egg yolks and i have a feeling that his formula may be fortified with cream he still has formula 3 times through the night. I have a son that is the same age and he looks like a stick next to him...my son is on the 91st centile for weight. She has been spoken to about this but fiys off the handle when the weight issue is touched upon claiming his weight is down to genetics? I really need to know how to approach this so any advice would be appreciated i just feel so bad for the poor boy.....

Its not up to anyone whether he is clinically obese except the medical formula that determines obesity.

Dont ask me to comment on whether or not he looks obese!

If the NHS chart says he is obese, then he is medically obese.

Sucks, doesn't it?

I was saying that my DS was chubby-sorry if you misunderstood. I still think that your DS could go skinny at some point-they change a lot at various times.

Pisces, ohhh DS1 was HUGE lol...DS2 is skinny compared to how DS1 was. But ds2 is taller than ds1 was.

There is not a lot you can do, his diet sounds hideously deficient, in that you mention no fruit or veg. this would lead to health problems if it continued long term, possibly you could suggest your friend tries yogurt?

I think being unfit is worse than weight at this age as some children do lose their baby fat at different rates.
If the boy gets red faced, pants and has to stop exercising after he has only run for a short distance or gets out of breath doing a fast walk then he is unfit and the diet won't help.

However, my brother's family has admitted my niece is overweight in the last year, she is now 16 and I first dropped a query about her weight when she was 5 and was nearly killed, so some parents take a while to cotton on and you cannot do one thing about it.
To give you an idea she needs to lose 5 stone at age 16 and her upper arm is wider than my thigh but for 11 years they insisted she was "big boned".

I'd steer clear frankly, although I sympathise with how sad it makes you feel, I used to cringe when my neice ate the entire biscuit barrel and a whole tub of ice cream at one go...but such is life.

6 year old DS is 3 stone 2 pounds and 117cm, I just measured him, that is a healthy weight according to that calculator. I struggle to get him in trousers as shops seem to be making clothes for fat kids now! How well do you get on with the parents? I would say something to her about food that cannot be good for the child.

I weighed DS2 the other day and just found the piece of paper i wrote it down in,
he is 3st 9 and is 3ft 7" tall.

Did you try that in the calculator? He is obese at that weight/height.

LadyEvilStar, he is obese.

Whatever you think he looks like, whatever your friends, people viewing photos, etc, feel he looks like, he is medically obese.

Medically obese means you are at risk of various health complaints, as well as being at risk of being obese later in life (particularly relevant for children)

Just be aware that he is obese. No matter how many people say he is "fine". He is fine, he's lovely, but he is medically obese.

Sorry, I probably wont be popular for saying that.

what does medically obese mean?...according to the BMI?...because that's a load of crap and should not be used on children

TattyDevine

When I took my 3 year old daughter to the GP because, according to the NHS BMI calculator, she was obese, the GP said to me 'Well, she doesn't look obese to me'. So how a child looks is clearly part of how medics make their diagnosis, along with BMI.

I say its a load of crap because I always weighed more than my friends but fitted in smaller clothes and looked smaller...i does not work for everyone...people tend to not fit a model

According to what/who though mumcentre? Got a link?

I'm not saying its the be-all-and-end-all but as children dont tend to be athletes, if my child was coming up as obese on a BMI chart that would be ringing alarm bells to me. No smoke without fire. It might only mean they are overweight but it probably doesn't mean they are absolutely fine either unless I could see a few ribs and were wearing bog standard high street clothes true to age (a 3 year old in 3 year old trousers for instance), in which case, I very much doubt they would register as obese on a chart anyway...

No smoke without fire, whether or not its the perfect system or not.

Link? Or more info?

They use the centile charts for children. And BMI is only rubbish because it doesn't take into account muscle mass, but doubt you get many weightlifting toddlers!

DS2 may not be an athlete but he runs around and eats a healthy diet. he is big yes but he is far from obese, regardless of what that calculator says.

Where's your link Tatty?...I don't believe the BMI reflects the genetic diversity of human beings..and its a known fact the BMI should not be used on children..

mumcentreplus that link does not use BMI for children. It uses centile charts that they use for newborns in the red books.

My link was the NHS BMI charts for healthy weight that your GP/Health Visitor uses to determine whether a child is a healthy weight or not.

Schools also use it in that national measurement programme.

Its not me challenging it, its you. So I dont need a further link. You should provide something to back up your claim that the NHS shouldn't be using it. Presumably the NHS, who used evidence based science as the basis of their practice, have a reason for doing so. Where is your evidence that they shouldn't?

I challenge it because I can see it does not reflect diversity Tatty if you are willing to blindly follow what a calulator says thats your call...my evidence is according to what the calulator said about me personally....it did not take into account my build & ethic origin or actual appearance

I say it does not reflect this and its a fact...

children are forever changing we cannot base their weight alone on what obese is...

This article is a tour-de-force summary of many of the reasons why different racial group/ethnicities/nationalities should have different BMI overweight criteria. Below are some excerpts that I found useful, when I searched for race-specific Body Mass Index adjustments for Black Americans and Asians.

• "It is now generally accepted that African-Americans have a higher bone mineral density and bone mineral content than whites, and that their muscle mass is higher1."

• "It is now generally believed that African-Americans have less visceral fat than matched (for age, BMI, circumference ratios) Caucasian Americans." "the lower amount of visceral adipose tissue among American Blacks (matched for BMI) could turn out to be an artefact, as their total body-fat levels could be lower."

• "The bioelectrical impedence of the body is, to a large extent, determined by the impedance of the limbs2... and there are clear differences in limb length between ethnic groups."

• "Subjects with relatively long legs will have lower BMIs... (for example) the 'longleggedness' of the Australian aboriginals contributes to 2 kg/m2 to their low BMI3."

• "Hong Kong Chinese have high BF% (body fat percentage) values at low BMIs and proposed BMI cut-off points for overweight and obesity as low as 23 and 26 kg/m2, respectively.4"

• "In Indonesia, the BMI cut-off for obesity has been set at 27 kg/m2."

Cut and paste main points on ethnic origins and differing BMI's.

Child in the photo was clearly white, not chinese, asian, aboriginal indonesian, or african and clearly not a body builder.

Cut and paste main points on ethnic origins and differing BMI's.

Child in the photo was clearly white, not chinese, asian, aboriginal indonesian, or african and clearly not a body builder.

But we all know childrens weight as MCP says varies from age to age.

DS1 was born at 6lb 7oz
DS2 was born at 5lb 15oz
Now DS1 was not as heavy at 3 as DS2 is yet DS1 had the higher birth weight.
DS1 is now 12 and has a 30" waist in mens clothes but there is not an ounce of fat on him.
DS2 is 3 and i just checked the trousers I bought him 2 days ago and they are 5-6yrs, they are a bit long yes but they fit his waist.

my 2 nephews were 7lb 14oz and 6lb 3oz they are now 10 and 7. The 7yr old is a picky eater and never finishes any meal he is chunkier than the 10yr old who eats everything and when we go out for a meal has an adults portion yet he is so slender.

I and my family are tall and broad, not fat but broad shouldered, small waists, broad hips.

I was a size 14 in clothes at 14yrs old, my sister who was 21 was a 10 in clothes, by todays standards I would have been obese. At the age of 16/17 I was a 12 in clothes and at 19-23 I was a size 6-8.

Tatty

What the NHS calculator uses for young children is based on a statistical distribution and is not an exact science by any means

NICE guidelines say the following:

"Different classifications using BMI centile cut-offs have been proposed for children, but there is no evidence on which are the most appropriate in practice

There is limited evidence on which BMI measure (BMI, percentage change BMI, BMI z-score or BMI centile) is best at measuring adiposity change"

I do get what you're saying and, believe me, despite the GP being quite unconcerned about dd2, we do worry and are very aware that she is at the higher end of the BMI distribution.

Thats what I'm saying LadyE..human being vary and tend not to conform to averages..Hi btw..how are you?..

MCP I am great thanks and you?
Mind you if the arseholes students over the road don't stop with the party they will all be weighing less as I will rip their heads off if they wake the boys up!!!

I think she is worried about it tbh if she flies off the handle when you bring it up. I would leave it