Should I be worried about my sons' weight?

[Redtartanshoes]

My ds is 5 1/2. he is tall for her age (about 3"9) and quite a bit boy. He weighs about 5 1/2 stone.

He is the biggest in his class, and is obviously in clothes bigger than age (9-10) but to me he seems fine. He is happy, bright and doing well at school.

Is he much bigger than "normal"? (Whatever normal is?!)

Have a look here www.nhs.uk/Livewell/healthy-living/Pages/height-weight-chart.aspx

It does sound like quite a bit of weight for height/age.

Difficult to say exactly without seeing him though.

Does he get plenty of exercise? What's his diet like?

Yes, probably. Check him on the nhs charts, and if he's overweight get some advice from GP/HV. Much better to act sooner.

Gosh that does seems quite big but it's difficult to say without seeing him.

Did he have a check up with the school nurse when he turned 5.

To out it in perspective my almost 10 yr old (who is also tall for his age) is 5st 1lb.

Sorry but I would say yes too, my nearly 8 yr old weighs 3.5 stone.

I have just put those figures into the NHS bmi thing which brings it up as obese, although I know those things aren't always the most accurate I would be considering a trip to get some advice from the GP or similar.

Come to think of it, at 11 I was 4ft10 and 7 stone and going through puberty (so boobs and bum fat). I was a little chunky at that weight/height.

Have a look at the charts, and if you are concerned then have a chat with the school nurse.

It sounds quite heavy to me - my 11 year old DS is 4'9" (so a foot taller than him) and weighs 5st1lb. But children are built differently.

According to this calculator that is 'very overweight': www.weightconcern.org.uk/node/9

It's worth seeing the doctor to get advice. You do need to take action now to avoid the problem getting worse.

It warrants a visit to the GP and a look at his diet and exercise.

www.nhs.uk/tools/pages/healthyweightcalculator.aspx?WT.mc_id=101007

He is obese according to the BMI. Granted, it's not a good measure of health, but it is still concerning.

From a paediatric site:
A 5 year and 6 months old (male) child
who is 77 pounds
and is 3 feet and 9 inches tall has
a body mass index of 26.8,
which is over the 95th percentile,
and would indicate that your child is overweight.

So yes, you probably need to restrict high sugar stuff and get him exercising more. He'll grow into his weight that way.

With his weight and height, he's possibly a little overweight but nothing really too serious I would have thought (but I am not a health care professional). Was he always big, even as a baby? My son is the same age and sits in between the 50th and 75th centile for his weight - which is where he was as a baby and then a toddler.

Is he active throughout the day including short bursts of energetic activity? There are some great videos on YouTube called five a day or fit in five. All designed to get kids active and healthy in five minute bursts. Schools really like the fit in 5. Worth a try?

He's 51/2 and 5 1/2 stone?
He is significantly overweight op :( Clothes sizing may vary but any child needing an age 10 at age 5 is way too big, and while he is bright and happy now, there will come a point where being the biggest in the class will be something that makes him unhappy.

The good thing is you have plenty of time NOW to alter whatever the eating patterns and lifestyle habits have made him overweight. Assuming that there is no medical reason (tbh that is very rare) than more likely it is a portion size and eating habit problem, and going to the GP u
is a good first step.

You may need to take a hard look at the family eating habits. Is he the only member of the family who is overweight or is everyone 'big'? Portion sizes for a 5 year old should be a LOT smaller than an adults, but it ciseasy to lose sight of what IS a portion size (I'm always amazed at how tiny an actual portion of cereal should be)

Good luck op.. DO something about it now before he is an unhappy fat teenager. If that sounds harsh, I work in school and see the effects of body image problems daily ...

My son is 5.8yrs and is just over three stones. He is average in his class in height.
I think it depends what your son is eating. If you give him sugar and fat a lot then I'm thinking you may have a problem. If he eats healthily then he is just big and that's the way he is.
My average son eats for example in a day:
2 weetabix and a bowl of porridge
A piece of fruit or some nuts
A ham sandwich, piece of cheese, yoghurt, fruit
Some crackers
Shepherds pie and veg (a portion about as big as the palm of my hand and a few inches thick)
A yoghurt
A piece of toast and honey

HTHs.

Yes, I think weight wise that is VERY large tbh.

Ds1 is 5.5 and in Year 1. He is just shy of 4ft (much taller than any others in his class) and weighs 4.25 stone. He is very sturdy and solid and wears trousers age 7-8 which are right length-wise but annoying because we have to use belts to hold them up because they're too large at the waist.

I struggle to see how any 5 year old can wear age 9-10 clothes tbh, unless it was for weight reasons. Your ds is 3 inches shorter than mine, yet he's in clothes 2 years older...how is that possible? Aren't the trousers/sleeves dragging on the floor?

You should be able to tell if he is overweight just by looking and comparing him to other children. If he is in proportion then he is fine - my oldest boy (11) was classed as 'overweight' in the yr 6 height/weight thing at primary but he is in a rugby team and football trains every week too; there is no fat on him, he's muscly and solid but still 'overweight'.

If your boy is a bit chunkier than he should be, I wouldn't be overly worried - just get him active (bike/walks/playing in park etc) and make sure he's eating well and he'll grow into his weight eventually.

If he's obese on the bmi calculator then I'd look at taking some action. My dd was obese at 4. She definitely wasn't the fattest child in her class but that's because children are obviously much bigger these days. we've been monitoring her weight and height (every 3 months or so) and she's moving slowly down the bmi percentiles and is now in the overweight group and not obese. If we keep moving in this direction, we hope she'll be a healthier weight when she hits adolescence.

It's a bit of a tight rope between not wanting food to be an issue or battleground and trying to make sure your child is healthy. Our dd is a foodie and while she loves junk and sweets is also happy to eat healthy food which is a definite plus. Shes also a hungry child so we try to fill her up with filling food but also have to watch portion size, especially for calorific food and do sometimes tell her that it's enough (not something I'm entirely comfortable with). For example, we give her a bowl of vegetable soup before her main meal if she's hungry.

Calories are important, obviously, but for children this age I think cutting out the processed carbs and junk is key. The message is around eating healthily rather than losing weigt.

Exercise is also very important. We saw a children's dietician who told us that exercise has much more of an impact on children's weight than adults. She advised us to aim for an hours vigorous activity a day.

I totally think you're doing the right thing not to ignore it. The way I look at it, my dd won't thank me in the future if shes a fat adult for ignoring the warning signs when she was a child. We have a tendency to type 2 diabetes in both mine and dh's family so we all have to be careful.

I was wondering about the length of clothes in age 9-10, surely they are way too long for a child who is 3'9"? Do you have to alter them?

My dd is 121cm at 5.5 and about 3.5 stone, slim. 91st centile for height I thnk, 50 th I think for weight. Did your son get weighed by the school nurse in reception and were there any concerns?

What is he eating?

You can see if a child is overweight. Your child shouldn't have a lot of excess fat. It's actually fine if you can faintly see their ribs. Many children are quite overweight now, and this is starting to look normal, but it stores up so many health problems for later life.
At 5 you can control what you buy, and what he eats, so just don't buy processed foods, snacks and cereals as these are the things that pile on the weight.
I was a right greedy guts as a kid and my parents (unbenownst to me) put me on a diet!
I have never had weight (or food) issues since, as I was subtly regulated.

It's a hard thing to admit, but yes it does sound like he's overweight. My ds2 is 7yo and wearing age 9-10 clothes because he is overweight despite eating the same meals as his brother and sister who are perfectly healthy weights.

Go and speak to your GP and ask for some guidance on getting his weight to a healthier level.

My 7yo is tall for her age and weighs 4st 10lbs, so I would say for a 5yo to be over 5st is a lot.

I would speak to your g.p and see what they say also I think in reception they do weigh and measure the kids and give you some indication of whether they are overweight or not.

My ds (5.6) is 4ft 2" tall and weights 25kg (3.9 st). He is in a size 7-8 clothes.

He does eat loads, mostly healthy though with treats at week end only. I often wonder where he puts it all, but he is sport mad and had football training twice a week, goes to street dance once a week and after school multi sports once a week, swimming once a week too.

Do you thin he looks overweight?

At 5.5 stone even if he was aged 9 he would still be overweight so at 5 i would say you are on the way to be obese.