To wonder about the plus size clothing in next

[MumNWLondon]

Following on from all the threads about taxing fizzy drinks.

I took 4 YO DS to next to buy him some jeans. We picked up almost all the ones they had in an age 4 and headed to the changing room.

I'd describe DS as having normal build for 4 YO, definately not skinny but probably very slightly on thin side of average. Basically normal for 4 YO.

Anyway, noticed once we got to changing room some of the jeans were labelled as being 4+ for pus size kids so we didn't try them on. But even the normal ones were HUGE on the waist and legs, would have required me to really pull the elastic in the waist in and honestly could have fitted both his legs in one of the legs, looked ridicolous. Anyway we did find a skinny fit pair which were fine.

Now I am wondering - how fat would a child have to be to wear the normal fit ones and even more so the plus size one. FInd it quite worrying. AIBU to wonder about the demand for these trousers? There are 20 boys in his class and none of them look fat at all.

DS if i have worked it out right is on the 99th percentile for weight and 98th for height.
He is 3.2yrs old and weighs 3st 9 he is also 3ft 5" tall most of his clothes are 5-6, but he also takes an 11 in shoe. So I have difficulty finding him clothes because the waists length are small.

cordonbleugh - you are def not alone. I had problem when both the girls were younger as everything in their age size was super skinny and way too small. they are both healthy teens now, one a size 10 and one a 12 (and nearly 6 feet tall!), so no obesity problems there.
DS is now 8 and same old same old - he is definitely chubby and we are working on it re healthy diet, exercise etc but in the meantime can't find a pair of jeans anywhere to go round his middle.He lives in tracky bottoms and joggers and is desperate for a pair of jeans. ok, he's not super slim but he's not HUGE!Like his big sister he's alos very tall and broad shouldered - takes a size 5 shoe already.

Giddy it is possible DS2 would fit in the + size clothes from next. He is not what i would call stocky but he is solid.

I just think ages on clothes are wrong as times have changed and children are growing so differently now. They should be sized in sizes like adults clothes.

I found the clothes fit dd in her proper size up until she was about 5 and now she is 7 she needs bigger sizes than her age for length more than anything else i.e. when she was 4 she tended to have age 3-4 for trousers and 4-5 for tops. Now at age 7 she needs age 7-8 for trousers and 8-9 or sometimes 9-10 for tops as the smaller sizes are too short. The clothes are from Tesco, Next, Asda, etc (I find Asda to be particularly small for her now)

OP - YABU.

DS1 is 3.2 years old, he is still in pyjamas for 2 year olds. Gap are the only ones true to size IME, the clothes everywhere else are huge! Either I go for skinny fit things or trousers/ jeans where the waist can be adjusted.

Oops - yanbu even,

by cordon bleugh - "IME children's clothes in the UK are made for skinny children"

I've never found this. In fact I would say its the opposite.

DD is coming up to 11 yo and has always been skinny. I've had nearly 11 years of trying to find clothes that fit her, particularly trousers and jeans (and don't get me started on school trousers!)

The best fitting clothes she has had have often been from France, and Europe generally, as the fit seems much slimmer.

DS is slightly on the slim side of average and finding trousers and jeans for him can also be problematic. If they haven't got an adjustable waist then forget it.

I think that a lot of this has to do with leg length (as well as weight).

I buy the plus sized clothes from next for my boys and the main reason is that (as with everyone else in my family) they are VERY short in the leg. When sitting down next to his friends he is their height but when standing up he is by far the shortest.

So my 5 year old wears 4+ trousers which fit him perfectly.

On the other hand a friend of mine who really struggles to find trousers that are "skinny" enough for her dd has the opposite problem - she is very long legged.

Obviously overall weight is important, but IME it is the sombination of that with the leg length that has made it really hard to find trousers that are the right fit.

My 2.10 yo ds has always been tiny and I do find it difficult to get clothes to fit him, he is only now wearing 2-3yo clothing, I have to roll up legs and sleeves.
I think the reason why his is resisting potty training though is because his cloth nappies do a good job of keeping his trousers up! Even then I have to adjust the waistband to its tightest setting.
And I wouldn't say he is super skinny.

Do you think some of it is because until 3 or 4 a number of children are still in nappies?

I don't have too many issues with my DD's trousers. She hovers around/under the 0.4th centile, so at 19mo is in 6-9mo clothes but they don't fall down - her nappy keeps them up. Now she is in disposables, but reusables are bulkier, so if she were in those she'd probably need bigger trousers which would then be too long.

Didn't children's clothes used to be measured, rather than by age?

It's a daft concept really, of course there will be huge variations across all age groups.

DS is 4 and has long legs/arms, but a skinny waist, I really struggle to find trousers that won't fall down if they fit him in the leg. We go elasticated waists too, but I hate all that excess fabric bunching up around his bum.

cordonbleugh - I'm with ya too!
My enormo-baby (11 months) is currently in anything from 12-24 months, sometimes 3 years. All of us saying our kids aren't fat probably sound deluded to those of you with small or average babies but genuinely she's solid muscle. People look at her and say, 'aah she's so tall, she'll be a super model!' but I know they're secretly thinking 'women's rugby prop forward more like'.
(I am 5'11 and my DH is 6'5.)

Anyway... what really pees me off about clothes is that it varies SO much from store to store. If I knew that she was in 18-24 months everywhere then I could just get on with buying her clothes and not taken them back the whole time.

So... MumNWLondon, YABU to demand smaller clothes but YANBU to be flummoxed by it all.

And thanks for the tip about Next!
PS, other brands that come up really big are Little White Company and Polarn O. Pyret (giant Swedish babies).

Oh yes and all the French and Italian brands are teeny-tiny!

When DS 15 was younger I could never buy trousers and shorts from Next for him because they were too small round the waist. DS has never had an ounce of fat on him since he was a baby/todler but is wide, yet found Verbaudet and La Redoute always fitted him well.They were doing elastic/button waists a long time before the uk market started to do it
I used to find Adams were too big for my skinny DD, even the elasticated skirts used to fall down past her hips.

I can never find clothes to fit my DD as they are always too big - especially Tesco which are ridiculous IMO. Next usually seem ok though but I honestly don't know any kids who would need these plus sizes. My DS is considered obese but he is just well built and a bit chubby around his torso.

Cordonbleugh - I hate to say this but looking at your DD she is most definitely obese and I think you are kidding yourself saying anything else. I know everyone will jump on me for saying this but I need to be honest. Wearing 7-8 year old clothes is not normal at 4 years old unless your child is very tall and even then I would think they would need to be taken in. My DS is considered obese and he is 1 metre tall and weighs 3 stone - he looks far slimmer than your DD. Sorry if this upsets you but there is no point lying to yourself about it as it is not fair on her in the long run....

obese?! Really?! She's chunky/chubby, but not obese!

DD is 112 cm tall and weighs 3.5 stone btw, so not a huge difference to your DS.

She's just built differently - ie, not a lanky beanpole that goes straight up and straight down!

these are obese children

The only clothes that are too small for DD in her age range (5-6) are Sainbo's "Tu" range, and that's only because they come up really short (their keks always look like hoisties on her and their tops are always showing an inch of tum!).

Next are ridiculously big around the waist (never seen plus sizes in there!), now she's turning 6 I'm worried that she'll only be tall enough for the non-elasticated sizes and things will be falling down constantly! As it is, she's continually having to hoick up her keks and there's always builders bummage going on... as for skirts, she's still got one from age 3 in Monsoon that fits beautifully around the waist (but is a wee bit short now so it gets worn with leggings). Benetton aren't bad for waist sizes, they come up a lot smaller, but even then, they need a bit of elastication.

Cordonbleugh - your DD is the image of a friend of mine's DD, who is also mixed race (white/afro-caribbean) and, like yours, is wearing age 7-8 at age 4. She's not fat per se, in that there are no rolls of fat on her (except for that same chubbiness around the face), but she is solid and we can't pick her up, which is upsetting for her when she sees her counterparts being picked up and swung around (I tried once and it did my back in - seriously). Did you see that thing on the telly about obese children, where the specialist said that over-fed children are often far taller than their counterparts as the food has to go somewhere and when they're that young it often gets used to further their growth, as they would be growing anyway (does that make sense?)?

I know it's hard to hear but perhaps you ought to take a look at her portion sizes and the amount of snacking she does - I know my friend's child is constantly hungry and always asking for food, her portions are adult-size...

Yes, DD is always asking for food - she can have as much fruit or veg or yogurts as she likes, treats are limited and portion sizes are appropriate.

She has school dinners which I know are healthy and then has fruit/yogurt after school with a light tea of soup, or jam on toast or a small jacket potato with tuna.

She kicks off I she can't have "treats" but I let her carry on with it because I know it's a fine line between her being solid as she is now, and seriously fat!

Didn't see that programme, but yes, makes sense!

We have huge problems with trousers, ds1 has to buy skinny fit, and they look like regular fit on him, but the waist looks crazy, pulled right in. The 'normal' waist falls right down, over his bottom!

FWIW cordonbleugh, your DD is pretty tall. My DD1 is nearly 8, and is 119cm tall and weighs 3.5 stone. She wears age 6-7 or 7-8 clothes. My DD2 on the other hand is 3.8 and still wears some 12-18m clothes !