1st centile bmi child...?

[AGrandUsername]

On the back of another thread.

My ds (6) I was shocked to see today has a bmi on the 1st centile and is therefore underweight on nhs guidelines.

He's VERY lean looking now, no bum. I've been vaguely aware of it, but he eats a fantastic amount so I wasn't checking. A healthy full diet with a fair bit of junk in addition to it. Weighed after a few school mums commented on him.

aibu to just carry on and presume he'll fill out, or is it a worry? He's a very healthy child the one I forget about

I'd speak to gp tbh.

I understood Bmi is not a trustworthy measure of children's weight or health tbh.

Mine is the same. I'm unconcerned as she eats as much as she likes, has loads of energy, pretty healthy and I was the same body shape (string bean, no bum) until I was 18. Bmi isn't perfect tool, but see GP if worried.

What percentiles was he on as a baby?

I'd talk to a doctor just to check there's no issue

My nephew is very light and small and it turned out he had coeliac disease - but he had a few other symptoms too

If all is well, ignore the comments. People aren't used to seeing naturally skinny kids as normal anymore!

BMI is utter nonsense, based on a European middle aged man in the 1930s, been debunked more than Katie Price.

See your GP. It might be something. It might be nothing. But if you're worried enough to post on here, then it makes sense to get them checked out.

Oh I wasn't worried.. a comment on another thread caught my eye...and I wondered if I should be...

His bmi is 1st centile, but his weight isn't. Similar to babyhood, just he's very tall so his vmi is low (weight for his height)

I say I was shocked to be so wrong on his weight, rather than worried shocked. He looked thin yes, but many kids are

Have you used the children's bmi calculator?

DS1 was thin as a stick for years, because he never stopped moving (not sporty, just a fidget). He's a strapping nearly 6 footer at 26 now and actually getting a bit of a tum. Healthy as anything though.

Don't panic.

eastpoint, yes, and double checked

My children all eat huge amounts (but healthy food) and DS was usually 2nd percentile. Really well illustrated when they had to line up for school photos and there were 92 in the year - he was the smallest. He is now a teen, when he started senior school at 13 there were 7 boys smaller than him in the year of 190. He was so excited. If he eats well and has normal energy levels I wouldn't worry (DS has eaten eggs for breakfast for the last 9 years to give him a more substantial breakfast).

Unless he's really extremely, noticeably stick thin, then a BMI on the 1st percentile is unlikely tbh, might want to check his height again as it's easy to make errors when measuring young children (and a small error can make a big difference to BMI).

If his BMI really is this low then you should at least have a word with your GP to rule out underlying health issues.

My DS has always been noticeably thinner than most boys of his age, but his BMI has never been below about the 15th percentile (and usually more like the 25th).

Sorry should explain he was short & v slight - elbows biggest part of arms, knees biggest part of legs etc. Looked like a marathon runner.

After a few school mums commented? If this was the opposite and he was overweight and a few school mums commented there would be an outcry!
Tell them to mind their own business. As long as you are happy with his health. And it sounds like he eats a normal amount with a fair but of junk!! - mine too!

You cannot use BMI (which is based on adults) for. 6 yr old child. They haven't even fully grown.
Research out this week says BMI not worth the paper it's written on.

Which centile was he born on? Ds(now 10) was born on 2nd and has grown at pretty much the same rate.

What is his day like. My ds is always on the bottom line. He is full of energy, walks too and from school, swims does loads of sports and eats adult portions plus snacks at 7.

If he is the same I wouldn't worry. If he's underweight and lethargic I'd get him checked.

Yes, just see GP and make sure weight and height are increasing at the same speed - here in the US the paed/GP will have a chart with height on one axis, weight on the other and as long as the curve is steady, little one is doing fine. It's when they fall off the curve one way or another that you have to do more looking into things.

1. worm him
2. check his baby book, has he always been low in the centiles? Someone has to be on the first centile, that's the way the curves work
3. if he has fallen through centiles, lacks energy or is constantly sick, then do the GP

My small child would have needed to gain 2+kg to reach the lowest centile curve from our baby book guidelines (in Oz, not sure if you guys have the same thing), but was born on the 90th centile. Paed said if he ate well, not out of energy, not constantly sick she wasn't worried at all - just a fast metabolism.

If he has a fast metabolism, my experience is also to feed snacks hourly/two hourly or their behaviour is BAD!

Or, use new RCPCH charts and if not somewhere in the middle, work out centiles for height and weight and then chart (from memory bottom right on first page) and you will, probably, find nothing to worry about.

Very confident with measurements, in line with last years reception weight check as well roughly, just taller with no weight gain. He's not tiny, just tall and low weight. Height bit about 75th, weight a bit below ninth so bmi is low, rather than his weight alone being very low.

To be honest I barely weighed him as a baby, think time I did he was between 9th-25th. Didn't measure his height until he could stand... Did look long and thin though.

He's (touch wood) amazingly healthy, around 1-2 colds a year which he quickly gets over. Sick maybe twice in 2 years. FULL of beans, little joker.

He does obviously look very thin, knees wider than thighs, can see pelvis and rib cage. Eats a lot, nice colour to his skin. Does bruise on the knobs of his spine or hips if he lies on a hard floor as he has no cushion.

DS2 was just like this. Very skinny, my mum used to comment all the time. I did take him to the GP when he was about 9. He was a fussy eater but still ate quite a bit of what he liked. GP said not to worry as long as he was healthy and had plenty of energy. He is still very skinny at 21 but it the healthiest of all of us - hardly ever ill, shakes off colds and walks miles every week. He did inform me the other day that he's too light to join the RAF or give blood but wasn't very bothered by it!

I really wouldn't worry if he's full of beans, my ds is exactly the same.

Grand
My DS was quite similar, the main difference being that he was about 98th centile for height and 25th for weight, so the BMI charts had him a little higher than your DS, but nevertheless still 3 curves (in the baby book) difference between height and weight IYSWIM.
He has kept pace on the charts - still the same proportion as before, although now 14.5 and well into puberty he is 6 foot 1 and 8.5 stone, I think 3rd centile for BMI (ish). Defined as underweight. But healthy, eats well, strong etc.
Funnily, my DS2 (age 10) is 99.6th centile for height and 90th for weight, which puts him into the overweight category according to the BMI charts, even though he surely must be more 'in proportion' than DS1.
Obviously can't win!

I am not worried about either of them. Same home, same food, same good health....