school nurse letter

[devonshiredumpling]

got a letter this morning rom the schoolnurse service to say that after being weighed my dd has been catergorised as severely overweight. we also got a leaflet saying that her diet could be better (she has at least seven portion of friut and veg) we also need to increase her activity level but since moving to the country we cannot get her out of the garden and off her bike ,she is tall for her age at 122.8 cm and she weighs 29.9kg but you cannot see any fat on her she is five .any help would be good aibu to feel peeved about this (she is five and half)

under the 9 the centile is fine. there are 2 children in every class lighter !! are you trying to say an average school class of 30 has 3 kids who are inhealthily underweight
my youngest has always bumped along the second centile and as a baby was on the 0.4 and nobody has shown Amy concern the HV used to say she had a fairy build

Well that's not what the NHS website says!

I am not going to argue, the cents chart by the Child Growth Foundation above shows clearly the healthy range according to the way we work. Regardless of differing ideas of what the centiles mean - a 10kg difference is huge and takes a child right across from above that shaded healthy range to below it.

Well you better contact my sons medical team then and tell them they are doing it wrong and have been for the last 5 years where he has constantly been 3rd -5th centile!

This is a BMI centile chart, not to be confused with a height/weight one which is in the red book.

Rhino, with the very best of respect I will trust my GP who says DD is perfectly healthy, despite being on the 3rd centile.

According to information provided by Royal College of Paediatric and Child Health further assessment is only needed when the child's height, weight or BMI is below the 0.4 centile.

This is copied from their BMI chart:
Thinness
A BMI below the 2nd centile is unusual and may reflect undernutrition, but may simply reflect a small build. The chart also displays low lines at -4 and -5 SD for those who are severely underweight. Children whose BMI lies below the 0.4th centile are likely to have additional problems and if not already receiving medical or dietetic attention should be referred.

If his BMI is on the 3rd centile that is underweight, if they are monitoring him then obviously they are not concerned he is under.

If his height / weight is following the 3rd centile then that is in proportion.

He isn't underweight. He is a healthy weight. Every medical proffessional he sees says that as does the NHS website

Agree sirzy, nhs website bmi calculator does say 3rd centile and still says healthy weight. I was playing with it last night with different figures and even on 2nd centile I think it still said healthy despite the arrow being well into the yellow!

I am taling about BMI not weight.

With the OP's measurements -
29.9kg gives a BMI of 19.93 which puts her DD over that 2nd black line which means severely overweight (which generated a letter).

With 19.9kg that gives a BMI of 13.26 which depending on how many months above 5 the OP's DD is takes her to almost on that first black line under the healthy range which is hovering right on going from underweight to severely underweight.

I can only go by figures given and the growth charts we use.

I am going on the figures given. When put into the NHS website they put the ops daughter on the 3rd centile for BMI which is healthy weight.

Rhino, we are also talking about BMI!

Here are the RCPCH BMI Charts

A BMI on the 2nd centile indicates low BMI. A BMI on the 0.4th centile indicates very thin.

So the staff processing the weighed childrens' data are actually using different charts to what the nhs is telling us on its website? Thank goodness there is no room for confusion then, eh?

Here you go. One has been done as if she was just turned 5, the other as if she was just about to turn 6. There's only one percentile difference over the whole year anyway.

That link isn't suitable for children only for adults.

I wouldn't worry too much. My DD had always been a heavy child, never looked overweight, but when I picked her up compared with other kids she weighed a tonne. I expected one of those letters and duly got one in Reception. Eighteen months later, without changing a thing and she is in the healthy weight for her height.

I am not a big believer in BMI. It's not accurate for everybody. You can see if your child is overweight. Not all children fit into the charts. Just go with your gut instinct.

Sorry Mac but people going on their 'gut instinct' in relation to their child's weight doesn't work. Most parents of overweight children don't think their child is overweight.

Gut instinct that's what got us into this middle on the first place!

Which link not suitable for children, the nhs bmi calculator? It absolutely is, it states it can be used for adults and children and it asks you on the previous screen, if it is for an Adult or Child.

I agree bmi as a measurement alone isn't the best thing to go on. However it was only being talked about in the last few posts as one poster reckons that lower measurement the OP gave above, made the child underweight, which is not what the nhs bmi calculator says. Hence the screenshot.

A child on the third centile who has very petite parents is perfectly normal.
A child n the third centile with rowers for parents is a cause for concern.

OP
I'm sure you've hidden this thread long ago.
PLEASE get your portion sizes for your DD down.
Have a good half term.

Yy Daryl

Use the NHS child calculator.

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

Click the 'child' option.