To be really annoyed with the NHS for their BMI checker?

[kw1986]

Now I know my 3yo DD is healthy so I was just checking out of curiosity to see what her BMI was. Shes 3ft 3in and weighs 3st 1lb... Put all the details in and up it pops saying she is OBESE purely because she's in the 99th percentile!! Since when the fuck does that make you obese???

If I work out her actual BMI number it's 19.4 which falls into the normal range (lower normal actually)

Now what if some parent who doesn't know this is a pile of shit actually thinks their child is obese and starts cutting down on food etc? Its made me quite irrationally angry really. They are the NHS for petes sake, surely they should know better. (Prob doesnt help for the entire first year of DD's life I had a stupid HV that kept telling me DD was too heavy despite being on the same percentile for her weight AND height, and also her head circ.)

AIBU to be so annoyed right now?

www.nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/Healthyweightcalculator.aspx

Look at my chart then! So Trillian 12 is on there? so that is my point, like i said i have seen my dh at 12 stone and he actually looked ill!

Like i said it was a doctor who told him that. And no matter what you have all said the weight i quoted is on all of the bumph, you have provided So what is your point!?

CFAW the one you linked says up to 13.5 stone up to 15 stone for a 6'5 man.

You were probably looking at the women's one.

I don't know how they divide by sexes (the NHS don't, AFAIK) but I assume it's to do with men having a higher % of muscle and so weighing more when still as "slim" as a women who weighs less.

I just entered DS2's info and this is what I got.

Information Entered
Age: 3 years 7 months

Sex: Boy
Birth Date: September 18, 2007 Height: 3 feet 8 inch(es)
Date of Measurement: May 10, 2011 Weight: 54 pounds

Results

Based on the height and weight entered, the BMI is 19.6 , placing the BMI-for-age above the 99th percentile for boys aged 3 years 7 months. This child may be obese and is likely to have health-related problems because of weight and should be seen by a healthcare provider for further assessment.

It doesn't take into account there is not an inch of fat on him. He is very active always running around etc.
He is in 7yr olds clothes and a 11.5 shoe.

In response to your last msg, some peopel ware 6'5 will be healthy at 12 stone, some will be healthy at 15. It is a range! Nothing ever says you should be at the bottom end of the healthy BMI range!

Maybe it was but 12 stone is a "healthy" weight for my husband who is 6ft5 on the nhs chart!

Well the doc told him 12 stone exactly is his ideal weight, same doc told me 10 stone was my ideal weight. Didn't give me a range. Said that is what i should weigh!

Mabe you should change Drs then CFAW.

Point, rather obviously, is that everyone is different. Oh, and that you and your doctor (if indeed thats what they said, which is hard to believe), are wrong, since there is no one ideal weight, thats not what BMI means.

My DTDs are very slender. Just entered them into the nhs BMI calculator (children bit) -

DOB - 06.07.06
Height - 3'7" (ish)
Weight - 2st10.

That put them on the 21st centile.

TBH, I am quite shocked that a 3 yr old weights that much.

Also, a poster said earlier on that a child's weight should be age+4x2 - my girls should therefore be 16 kg, which puts them on the 2nd centile - are you sure that's right?

I think your doctor doesn't understand how BMI works either then.

And yes, ont he NHS chart, it is possible for someone who is 6ft 5 to be healthy. Unusual, but entirely possible.

Theladyevenstar even if you entered that info as a seven year old it would still come up with obese

(I think unless my calculations are wrong)

ET - your girls are over a yr older than DS2 and he is an inch taller but also a stone heavier. he is not fat yes he is stocky but there is no fat on him. He is not a huge eater and is very active. But 6yr olds trousers are too small for him. I have to get them with adjustable waists and even then they are a struggle.

Yesterday he was wearing a shirt and 3/4 for a 7yr old which fitted lovely.

Bronze, he is far from fat though and very active. TBH I have no worries about him as DS1 was of a similar build at 4ish but is now 12 5ft 6 and 9st he is very very skinny and doesn't stop eating!

ok ignore everything I said. the things gone dotty on me
I made it a 6 ft 5 child who weighed 3 stone and it came up with obese

DS1 at 2 bottom photo

DS2 at 3 4th photo

lol bronze

CFAW at that height your husbands BMI, if he weighed 15 stone would be 25 give or take.

Also some people at that height would be healthy at around 12 stone. You know when you see those really skinny people who just look so thin, well some of them are perfectly healthy like that! The same way that somebody with a BMI of 26 can be healthy too. BMI is a range useful at a population level but if it were ever a concern, you wouldn't use only that to assess a persons health. My husband BMI is in the mid-overweight range (he is 6'2 and well built but also has a little bit of middle-aged spread) but his metabolic profile as well as other indicators are fine, so for him, it's not a problem

Hmm just entered ds1 details into the NHS bmi and it said he was within a healthy range but on th 85th centile. According to the red book he is below 50th centile so don't know if it has changed recently.

My DD is a bit chubby. I was a bit concerned about it and went to see the nurse who royaly told me i was being silly. Did she exercise - yes. lots. Did she eat well - yes. everything homemade, lots of fruit and veg, nothing processed.

She did her height and mesurement and told me to stop being silly.

DD is bigger than adverage, quite a lot in height, shes wearing age 8 stuff at the momment to have any growing room ( for the height) and she does weight more, but apparently is in proportion with her height so i shouldnt worry.

Red book is weight isn't it? Rather than BMI (weight/height squared)?

interestingly enough with Dd's details on the nhs bmi thingy she comes out as overweight. BUT if you age her a year, bearing in mind shes 5 and is the height of most 7/8 year olds... then she comes out as healthy.
So - as the nurse said, her weight to height ratio is fine.
Shes just really really tall.

Red, this is what I was saying. DS2 is the size of many 5-6yr olds despite being 3. He isn't chubby but is broad - (I am also broad and was even as a child, I can be a size 8 and weigh 8stone but am still broad) My GP looked at his weight and may have well ran running from the room shouting about his weight. But never took into consideration his height.

I come from a tall family. Mum is 5ft 11, brother 6ft 5 - my sister is the shortest at 5ft 4. I am 5ft 8.

I personally think the problem the Dr's have with DS2 is because he was so small at birth but like DS1 rapidly grew.

If height and weight are proportional then there is little to worry about.

Ie if the child is both the height AND weight of an older child then they are just genetically large.

If a child is the weight of an older child but the same or similar height to their peers then that is not necessarily healthy.

That's why both height and weight should be plotted.

Children should be skinny, there was someone discussing this the other day and saying that at 9-10yrs old you should be able to see their ribs and this is normal but we've got so used to seeing fat children that we think the ribby child is too thin.

DS1 comes out on the 2nd centile, he eats like a bloody horse but looks like a stick but he does a lot of running around. DS2 is more like LES little boy (predicted height up to 6'10" ) and he is on the 22nd centile on the NHS checker. On the red book charts he is off the scale for height and maybe 90th for weight but it's all about proportion.