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

Zonkin, there are photos on my profile of DS1 and DS2. If you scroll to the bottom of the photos you will see DS1 at around 2yrs old. The curly haired photos are recent photos of DS2. There is no way he is overweight - tall and heavy yes overweight no.

I've looked at the pics TLE, is DS2 in the pics with the fairy wings and in the car seat? If so, then I would say that he looks a bit overweight.

Tyler, I agree that for a minority of the population bmi will not work. But for the majority bmi is a reasonable indicator.

It says my ds3 is overweight. Check again in a month and I bet he's not. He's doing the typical thing that my children seem to do (I assume others do too) where he's put on a bit of weight. Couple of months time he will have had a major growth spurt and this is what he is saving towards. I'm all for these things but I also feel that people need to apply a little common sense. He is very similar in build to ds2 who is a skinny thing and on the underweight end of the healthy spectrum. ds3 has always been more on the solid side, always has been, 9lb 14 born and looked like rugby player. He is now nearer the top end. Both do plenty of excercise and eat balanced diets. Common sense tells me that ds2 (and ds3) take after my side of the family and ds1 takes after dhs.

ds1 has always been on the more solid side...

Bronze, I agree that you need to check these things over a period of time and that common sense needs to be applied.

He looks fine to me, Evenstar. BUT, I'm still astounded & dare I say it, a bit concerned. I would like to be able to easily carry over a short distance any DC under the age of 4yo. I am 5'8", broad-shouldered myself and 61 kg, but would not find it easy to pick up & carry around a 24kg 3yo. That's nearly a half-hundred weight sack of potatoes, which we buy regularly, and I certainly don't hoick them around easily.

lljkk, I often carry him when he gets tired. And I have to be honest its only after about 30 minutes I am aching.

Zonkin please explain how he looks overweight? he is far from fat. He is big but then he is tall as well.

Sorry, he looks overweight to me, covered with a layer of fat and with a double chin..I have to say I am too though and he is gorgeous

And my DD is the average height of a 6 year old and weighs 19.2kgs, and isn't particulary skinny

He looks chubby to me Evenstar, gorgeous, but like a boy who's a little bit overdue to loose his toddler tummy and move towards more of a schoolboy shape. Like my DS but perhaps a bit more so.

Shouldn't take more than a few nudges to his diet.

Maybe the advice should be not to use this until they are say... 4?
The ds3 I was talking about is 2 (last month) he still has all his baby dimpledness, he will grow out of it and I'm pretty sure end up tall and skinny like ds2. But at the moment he is for all intents and purposes still a baby

The difficulty is that children are all different, perhaps even more so than adults. My middle son was really chubby last summer, he is now really skinny. His growth pattern has always seemed to do that; he grows out and then up. My other lads stay more in proportion.

OP I would not worry too much if I were you. I would be aware though. Perhaps check again in 6 weeks or so? This is the time of year for children to be more active outside and she may naturally reduce her BMI. OTOH if the BMI increases despite increased activity I would start to think about reducing calories. Very little though - for most children, even overweight children, the aim should be to maintain weight while growing rather than actually losing.

It is hard, I do think we have a view of an ideal child's shape that is actually overweight. But then, the last thing we in the West need is to focus on young girls' weights/shapes even more than we do now. Oh, it is a minefield isn't it?

I wont be tweaking his diet, he eats little enough as it is. I am going to let him grow naturally, he will slim down when he is more active and in nursery daily. He is only 3 and has plenty of time to grow up.

As I said I am not concerned about his weight.