HV has told me that my 20 month old DD is overweight. I'm at a loss

[Unappreciatedandfat]

I've always put in every effort to make sure she eats healthily, she loves fruit and veg and I make every meal from scratch, no junk etc. She has small portions and they fill her up easily. She has the very occasional treat and only drinks milk or water.

We live on a farm so she's a very active toddler (she's been walking since 11 months) and just generally loves being outside. I'm so disheartened because I really thought that I was setting her up for being fit and healthy. I've recently lost 3-4 stones in weight jus through doing more exercise.
I see my friends with their toddlers who are a similar age and the right weight and they're fed chips, crisps, chocolate and given fizzy drinks and are sat inside all day long watching TV. What the hell have I done so wrong?

Gralick

I don't know, but the doctor asked me if I expected him to 'pump it up' .

Even now she is 11yrs, needs age 14/15 clothes for length but has the waist of a age 8/9.

Witty doc you have there, Clutter

OP, my dd was similar to yours, I can't remember numbers but she was a little chunk, however she hardly put on any weight between ages 2 and 3.5, she just grew in height so got leaner.

However, she is still even now a little overweight, I think she is one of the unluckly ones like myself who cannot eat anything without putting weight on. She does not stop moving all day long, we go on long walks each weekend, she walks half a mile to pre school and back each day etc.

Its just her build I suspect, just teach her to stay healthy and encourage her to move as much as you can. Don't stress or obsess over it.

Bluesky- sorry but how can a baby be 'muscly'

My DS had muscular upper arms at birth.

She looks like perfectly normal rotund healthy toddler, mine were both chunky monkeys and DD2 didn't start to look leaner until well over 2 (didn't walk until 17mths), she has now gained very little over two years and grown taller, your DD will do the same. I wouldn't change anything you are doing.

one thing I found was that you have to be deadly accurate with your plotting on the graph paper. exact month/week and exact weight. the health visitor sometimes plotted to the nearest line, or the wrong line and a slight adjustment to the position of the dot brought things more into line.

children often chunk out and then spurt. both mine have elongated staying the same circumference but putting on height as they get older.

also measuring height/length can be tricky. remeasure that. a centimetre error can make a big difference to the graphs.

your weight loss is amazing.

I would urge you not to worry, I was told by HV that DS1 was overweight when he was small, he was quite chunky until about two and a half, probably similar to your daughter in weight and build...then he shot up and didn't put any weight on for about 18 months. Of course then the HV expressed concern that he wasn't putting weight on! At which point I thought right, here's a healthy wee boy who eats a good diet and runs around nonstop, I'm not listening to her! He's 6 now and there's not an ounce of fat on him. His wee brother is following exactly the same pattern. By all means keep an eye on her, but I think she'll be just fine

Op I hope you feel a bit better now you've reweighed?

For what it's worth I had a 91st centile weight and height monster he's been up to 99th centile for both at times and at 3 has rested back to 91st. I've been terribly worried about his weight at times as he always looks bigger/chunkier than other children. his dad is obese and I'm bordering on being overweight at 5'10 myself he isn't going to be a small boy but it's my job to make sure he's healthy.

Glad the health visitor was wrong, OP. My dd was always overweight as a baby and young child, but she didn't eat hardly anything. She felt like lead when I went to lift her. Then when she was eight, she started eating and slimmed down and nowadays loves her food and is one of the slimmest people I know.

So, within reason, babies and toddlers come in all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately being slim is also no guarantee that a child is getting a good diet, like yours is.

At 20mo some children have only just mastered walking a few weeks ago, and OP's daughter has been yomping around fields after livestock, so surely it stands to reason that children develop muscle at different rates?

Ignore the HV, go to GP. I've been given wrong, and dangerous, advice by HV in the past.

The amount of muscle a small child has isn't going to skew their BMI.

My large baby was 98th centile until he was 2, then suddenly he lost the baby belly and slimmed out. He has been 75th ever since, and is very slim and strong.

Please check for yourself. I recently got a consultant antenatal referral and all the lectures for being morbidly obese. The midwife calculated my BMI wrong - as 37.1 instead of 27.1. When done 'properly' ie not off just a chart but with fat measurement I am only 23.5 as I have high muscle mass and huge boobs. I too cook everything from scratch and get 2-3 hours exercise a day and 6+ at weekends.

But she just would not be told she was wrong...

They sometimes get it wrong and even if they get it right it's not always completely reflective of health...

Actually OP what has surprized me more is that the HV deals with babies and toddlers every day. If you are used to weighing babies, you sort of get an eye for what their weight would be give a kg here or there. There is a BIG difference between 12 and 16 kgs! Surely when the HV weighed her she must have had a thought in her head that the weight didn't seem quite right.....

She should have double checked, reweighed her or used a different scale. I think its shocking that she has put your through this unnecessarily.

What a lucky little girl she is OP. She has a wonderful mum, sounds like the most wonderful life on the farm.

Please don't read too much into this episode, it most definitely seems like you are doing everything right.

Haven't read the full thread. just wanted to say WELL DONE on your AMAZING weight loss!!!! The fact you are aware you need to keep am eye on things is great. toddlers usually loom a bit chubby regardless of how little they weigh. I'm. glad you have realised the mistake and are a bit more relaxed now. I'm sure with all that access outside she will be fine.

and again WELL DONE

Just wanted to add a not entirely relevant anecdote - my DH once had a health check with the practice nurse at our GP. He is a lanky chap, 6'2" and weighs about 75kg/12st ish. So very far from overweight. Anyway, the nurse weighed and measured him, put the numbers into the computer, then lectured him about how he was severely overweight and needed to lose weight. Turned out she had entered his height as being about 25cm shorter than he actually is. I still can't understand why she didn't actually look at him and figure out the numbers must be wrong.

Glad it's all sorted, OP!

How the hv didn't realise that the child wasn't 15kg is amazing. She looks like a healthy weight and similar to my 18 month old ds who is also 12kg. 3kg is a lot of a difference in weight at this age. Glad you got it sorted. Those who posted that she looked overweight obviously don't have much experience with toddlers xx