To think we have lost sight of what teh correct weight for a child is

[sassysally]

All these parents have gone, outraged to the mostly national press because they don't think their child has an ounce of fat on them, and the newspapers have published them,but to me are all clearly too heavy

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Overtall is not common sense.

People in this country have become taller over the last 100 years due to better nutrition - some places still have comparatively shorter populations than others (I was a teen in north fife & Dundee and was shocked when I went to uni and just about everyone was much taller).

I am another who is 5' 2"(ish) and my husband is 6' 3", my boys could go either way. I find it a ridiculous notion that if a child is tall it is due to them being overfed (if they are not fat) - and what constitutes overtall anyway? Over the scale of the height chart, or over the 50th centile?
If a hcp told me my children were 'overtall due to overeating' I would lose faith in that hcp tbh.

(Sorry bruffin, I stole your words!)

The charts are a guide and common sense is necessary when interpreting them but some people aren't getting that are they?

LadyEmma - of course some people are delusional - the woman on the bus being a case in point. Most though? Not everybody is kicking off about getting the letters. Quite a lot of people, a majority even, don't get them at all because their children are fine. How do you know most are delusional?

I used to order trousers from vertbaudet because theirs were pretty much the only trousers slim fitting enough to stay up on DS1. Thankfully, Next cottoned on with adjustable waists and slim fitting options. They did adjust the fit of their school trousers upwards, a couple of years ago, though, because I have 2 pairs, in the same size, bought a year apart, and I ended up with 4" of elastic sticking out, either side, on the newer pair for them to stay up on DS1. His BMI tends to be around the 37th centile, so he's not overly skinny, most of the time, apart from the times when he's lost a lot of weight due to food refusal.

It's true (apparently) that fatter children grow taller quicker than they would have otherwise have done. Since we have a genetically determined maximum height those big kids will reach it sooner, while their slower growing peers will continue to grow.

The existence of other tall but skinny kids doesn't make this untrue.

It's not being taller in isolation that is the issue. It's been shown in loads of studies (I'm struggling to link from a phone) that children who are overweight tend to be taller than their peers pre puberty. Then their peers gradually catch them up. There are a number of interesting papers out there on childhood diabetes and the link between height and weight.

If you have a tall normal weight child this isn't likely to be a problem.

Can I ask do the dc at the other end of the spectrum get letters too? Dd is 11 but was the smallest in juniors until recently. I expect she will be in the bottom 5% for both height and weight. She's small because girls in our family are small, at five foot I am taller than her two grandmas and her aunty. Not sure how I could make her taller and heavier if I wanted to and suspect even at full height she won't make five foot.

The trouble is trying to do everything by averages. None of my daughter's primary school friends was overweight as a child, but too many of them grew up to be obese and I can only conclude that the ones that grew up to be obese were the ones who were taken to McDonald's as a treat and then when they started going out as teenagers they always ended up going to McDonalds.

At what age do the centiles become important? my 6 month old EBF baby is above 91st for weight and only on the 50th for length. The exact opposite of my DS who was also breastfed on demand but was long and lean. Is everyone lying. Is it actually possible to overfeeding a BF baby?

We are starting weaning this week and it will be a while before she is on a full diet but when is this not okay. Or is it okay because these are her natural centiles?

She is certainly not as lean as her brother but I think her major problem is her short legs, lovely long body and wee legs .

Dd is 99.1 centile for height and weight, she turned seven last month. I got the letter too. Rather than faff with the charts I took her to the doctors where they weighed and measured her and agreed she was not overweight. They are health care professionals not a piece of paper. If you're in any doubt I would say seek advice.
As an aside I'm 5 ft 7 and dh is 6 ft 6 so she's genetically tall.

Can I ask do the dc at the other end of the spectrum get letters too?

Yep. My titchy daughter got a letter in Reception because she was below the 2nd centile but on the 10th centile for height (it was the discrepancy that bothered them). She's just shortish and skinny (like me and her dad).

I read the links re height and obesity, and they said if a child is overweight they will grow at a faster rate than their normal weight peers up until puberty, but will slow down post puberty whilst the normal weight children have their growth spurt.

The studies said tall children with normal weight were ok and final height is not linked to height as a child.

Lucked, DD was similar at that age, although she was was quite a tall baby she was really very fat. She started slimming down once she was able to walk at 15 months or so. She was a perfectly normal sized toddler and a slim child. She was still wearing the trousers I bought her when she was 9 months old when she was 3 as she just stretched out longer. She is now (aged 7) tallish for her age but last time I checked she was on the 30th centile for BMI, so in no way overweight.

I'm currently staying in a rather deprived part of the UK and I cannot believe the number of clearly overweight children I'm seeing.

I get that fatter children grow quicker than their normal weight peers until puberty - evidence of DS1 tells me that. My point is that that doesn't necessarily mean that the fat child will become a fat adult. Being tall and fat as a child may not matter, and as it is only possible to diagnose in retrospect, what is a parent to do?

1 and 3 look fine and so does the girl in ilovepowershop's link.

No idea carabos, imo you can't stop a child from getting taller, so this is something I am filing under 'ignore'.

I think they look a little chubby but I'm used to my boys who are on the skinny side, so a lot sharper round the jawlines.

I don't actually know any children that are plump though.

I live in a deprived area and the opposite is true. Out and about I can't remember the last time I saw a chunky kid.

My DD was def overweight in reception but we received no letter - through monitoring her diet and increasing exercise - she now at 12 is normal/average size. However my D'S who I thought was skinny in reception (but tall) received obese letter - I was furious and phoned/emailed LA - I think parents need to use their common sense. I don't hink we have lost sight about normal weight (in he main) There were fat kids in my day too - but now we have a nanny state tell g us what to do all the time - kids are not bricks - they come in different shapes and sizes

the thing is that children look chubby just before they have a growth spurt.
yes, they should normally be skinny, but if they're aboit to grow in.height, they are heavier than they "should" be for weight.

In my experience, the parents that I know with overweight children are in total denial about it.

My nephew, who is 8, is extremely overweight. He is quite short but needs to wear age 13 clothes because of his size. Each time we go to SIL's house he eats and eats and eats. Last time we were there he ate a whole box of chocolate fingers. He gets bullied at school because of his size. Yet SIL insists that he eats very little and that he's just solid and that he'll slim out as he grows up.

The other parents are both very overweight themselves, and have four overweight children. But they actually seem very proud about how big their children are, as if it's some great credit to them as parents. There are endless Facebook photos and statuses about the children eating. The mum describes her children as "Loving their grub", and always boasts about the clothes sizes her children wear. I would imagine that if she got a letter saying that her children are overweight she would be the type to go to the national press, and bang on about how "solid" and "healthy" her children are, when in actual fact she needs to face the fact that they are all going to grow up to be obese like she and her husband are.

Ah yes, and the good old 'growth spurt' chestnut that the parents of overweight children often refer to:

"She eats loads as she's having a growth spurt"
"He's chunky at the moment but he'll probably have a growth spurt soon"
"It's only puppy fat, he'll grow out of it"

I've seen it happen

People don't want to admit it, no. That's why I like mil, DP was chubby when he was a kid, she doesn't deny it, she goes through his photos and says he was a "porker" and sneaked pork pies from the fridge, she told him as a child why he had a belly, he has no eating disorders, he is a healthy weight and has a good relationship with his mum. I'd be honest with my DS to if they fell in the overweight catagory.

I think portion sizes are a lot to blame. When i go round to people's houses with kids, some serve their kids the same portion sizes as the adults! I stick to bowls and side plates for ds, he is a healthy weight but then active to, he is always playing outside on his bike (refuse to buy ipads etc where they sit on their bum, no consoles here either) people are defintely in denial about it, there's more bigger children now than there was when I was a kid and that wasn't overly long ago (I was a 90's child)