to think my kids are not obese?

[AmberSocks]

OK,not sure what made me decide to do it today but i weighed all the kids,and measured them.

I entered the results on a bmi chart meant for kids,i know they are not always accurate,but thought just to get a gist of it.

It said all 3 were overweight to obese,my daughter who is 3 was on the 99th percentile!

Its madness,surely its wrong,none of themlook fat and the boys are really stringy!I can even post photos if no one believes me,im not in denial!


What do i do,just ignore or take them to the hv?not actually seen a hv with any of them apart from the first visit,never been any need.

[BarbarianMum]

Well as the % of the nation's children who are obese is constantly growing then either lots of parents want their kids to be dangerously overweight or lots of parents think their kids are fine ^but actually they are not.

This is not to the OP. But in general, the idea that people can tell if a child is overweight by looking is not true because we are all getting accustomed to seeing larger and larger children.

[Tryharder]

Without seeing your DCs, it's hard to judge.

My DC1 was always borderline overweight on the charts but in reality was skinny. I think some children - and adults - are genuinely big boned and can weigh quite a lot even if they have very little body fat.

But, and it's a big but, as someone said upthread, there are so many obese children now and perhaps their parents don't think they are fat either or they presumably would do something about it.

If you are worried, speak to the school nurse or a health visitor.

[ShabbyButNotChic]

While i agree that your perception can be skewed by seeing more overweight kids etc, i do also think that you shouldnt just go by 'weight' alone. They are just numbers an im sure we have all encountered a child who us tiny but weighs an absolute tonne? Of course if a child is actually very overweight then that is an issue, but children arent robots and dont always grow in accordance with what a book says.
The majority of boys i've cared for, for example, have tended to pudge out a bit, then shoot up ridiculously in a matter of weeks, usually about 9years old. With zero change in diet/exercise, its just how they grow, but a parent doing this calculation would get a totally different result one month to the next. I think as long as they eat their veg and run around they will even out. There doesnt need to be an issue made out of it most of the time

[kelda]

So your eldest two are healthy weights and your youngest is overweight?

Is she a similar size to your boys when they were her age?

[ouryve]

Funnily enough, my 9yo has just done this, Shabby. He's put on about half a stone over the spring (he's weighed every 3 months because of medication he takes) and has gone from being a lanky string of nothing with xylophone ribs to a solid manchild with long legs (He's growing out of the new trousers I bought him at Easter) and big, wide shoulders like his dad's.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

DD is off the charts for height and 80 something for weight. Her BMI is around the 55th percentile because DC should be taller than they are heavy for the charts. I agree that BMI is not always accurate and, if you are an adult, you should factor in hip to waist ratio. They should probably do this with children too, scientific linky, but currently don't.

I was at a beach thing recently with DD. There was a class of children there on a field trip. Compared to children 30 years ago, a lot of them were much bigger. In a class of maybe 30, there were 2 who were properly obese. Big stomachs and wobbly. Running around and happy, though, very active. About half the class were just not what my DH called rat thin. You should see some knobbly bony bits on children. I can't imagine that all of them were waiting to shoot up or all of them ran for the county. Most of them are probably just a bit overweight, which is an issue.

[TeWiSavesTheDay]

I don't really understand how children can be overweight, clinically but look skinny to their parents. I have never met a child who looked tiny but was heavy when lifted, ever.

I suspect my DD is borderline, because, being honest, she looks borderline. We do a lot of exercise and I suppose if I was inclined I could write it off as muscle, but I know it isn't. We haven't got any working scales in the house to check though! I'm just keeping on with good habits and hoping it will even out at the moment and we'll see what her school check says in Reception.

[Sirzy]

Compared to children 30 years ago, a lot of them were much bigger.

I was swimming yesterday morning when a class came in for swimming lessons and I was quite shocked how many of the children were overweight/obese to look at. I do think as a society we have become used to seeing children overweight so we don't stop and think until its too late.

DS is 3.5 and is a healthy weight (last time I checked I think he was 45th centile on the NHS BMI thing) but people comment he is very skinny because you can see his ribs, which is a sign of healthy rather than underweight.

(I am very lucky though that he will eat a healthy diet out of choice!)

[vladthedisorganised]

I get really tied in knots about this. DD is 3, runs around a lot, very active, rides her bike for miles, can kick a ball around for ages, etc. Also has a healthy diet - lots of fruit and vegetables, no junk except occasional bits of cake on someone's birthday or whatever.

And I worry that she's overweight. She's always had a round belly and muscly legs - she's never gained podge but never been a string bean either. Has hovered around the 75% mark for height and weight since birth, and she certainly doesn't have starkly visible ribs or knobbly bones - nobody would ever call her 'skinny'. I had an ED as a teenager which was pretty bad and the recovery took a long, long time - I don't want to project the 'you're fat!!' thing on to her but neither do I want to risk her health if she is overweight.

GP and HV have no concerns, she seems to be about average among her friends, and I try to ensure she's as active as possible. I guess like TeWi I can just hope that the good habits stay and she evens out a bit (and that she doesn't inherit my neuroses)

[MrsTerryPratchett]

vlad if she's 75% for height and weight, surely her BMI is well inside the normal range. Your perception of 'skinny' may be outside the normal range the other way to a lot of parents. Relax, trust your GP and HV and enjoy your DD. She sounds great.

[DottyboutDots]

My eldest is 50 percentile height at 7 (23kgs) and i'm always getting comments on how skinny they are. Just looking at the charts a child on the 99th would be 10kgs heavier!!!!!!

[cantspel]

You dont need a chart to tell you if a child is carrying too much fat. Just take their shirt off and if you can see rib and backbone they are a healty weight. If you cant see any bone then they will be overweight.

Works regardless of height.

[xylem8]

cantspel depends where they are carrying the fat.I can see my backbone and ribs but I am definitely overweight but carry the weight lower down.

[catgirl1976]

DS is off the charts for both height and weight

I've stopped weighing and measuring him now. But at 17 months he was over three feet tall.

He's not fat, he is just very tall and big

It does make carrying him difficult!

[Jinsei]

DD is short for her age and slightly underweight, but I worry that she lacks muscle - she doesn't seem to be as strong as her friends.

[Wandastartup]

Can't see ribs on my 5 year old but her BmI was 50 centile when done at school. She is tall and muscly too.

[SideshoBob]

People claiming it could be because BMI doesn't take into account muscle mass, that's something of a misnomer. It's true for athletes, body builders and such - people who actively build muscle, but you know yourself if muscle mass is likely to be a cause of inflated BMI, if you do very little to build muscle then its unlikely to be a factor. Of course for 3 year olds this may be somewhat different, BMI at such a young age is at best a rough indicator.

[MrsTerryPratchett]

SideshoBob I mentioned hip to waist ratio earlier. Basically, if your BMI is off and you are, for example, Brad Pitt, your hip to waist ratio won't be off, because you work out. BMI, as you say, is one indicator. A very good one when taken in conjunction with other indicators, hip to waist ratio being one of them.

[Kungfutea]

Bmi IS basically the height / weight ratio. Of course you're meant to be heavier if you're taller! Are there really health professionals commenting on weight without looking at height? And isn't the reference population for children the 1990 population? That's what I thought they used.

Personally I wouldn't ignore it if you've done the calculation right. Bmi isn't the be all and end all but it's an indicator that your dc may be heavier than is healthy. I'd watch portion sizes, increase the amount of exercise, cut down on calorific food, especially junk/sugary. It doesn't have to be drastic and hopefully your dc will go down the percentiles slowly as they grow.

My 6 year old dd was on the 98th percentile for bmi when she was 3. Now she's on the 92nd percentile (which is overwieght but not obese) and a couple of times a year we measure her height and weigh her to make sure her percentile is moving in the right direction with a goal to get her to a healthy weight by the time she hits puberty. We don't do anything extreme, just healthy food in normal portion sizes and try to keep her active. She looks in proportiin and certainly doesn't stand out in her class as being fat. We just figured she won't thank us for having ignored the issue if she ends up an overweight adult and it's easier now when so much is under our control rather than when she is a teenager.