To be upset with NHS over DDs weight?

[Fudgefudgefudge]

DD is 4 and is in reception. Recently she had her vision, hearing, weight etc measured at school and yesterday I received a letter from the NHS saying that they are referring her to Morelife. Having googled it I'm mortified, I had no idea my child was that overweight! I checked the NHS site which measures their BMI and using the measurements they provided it shows DD being obese and on the 99th percentile

Now I breastfed DD up until her 1st birthday and she was a big baby back then but over the years she's slimmed up if you know what I mean and to me she just doesn't look overweight. She has a healthy appetite and I am well aware of how to eat a healthy balanced diet etc but I do allow a treat for good behaviour. And DD is a very active, she would rather run than walk and I don't drive so she's used to walking places.

AIBU to be upset about this? What do I do? Ask the GP their opinion? It's made me doubt my abilities as a mother as I never even considered she could be obese.

I agree with others that we've lost touch with what a healthy child looks like,like we have with adults too. When I was in Primary (80's) hardly any kids were overweight. There are loads of overweight kids in my children's classes. My two are often called skinny,I think they are normal. They have six packs and you can see their ribs.
I think portion size is a massive problem alongside convenience food and sugary stuff.

So I think that means that if a child is in the overweight range then they weigh more than 91% of children of the same age and height as them.

No. It means if you lined up 100 children of the same age and sex numbered 1 (smallest) to 100 (biggest) they would be number 91.

Just walked past two primary age kids 8 and 10 for a guess with their mom and thought of this thread - Both had been given an adult sized pack of sandwiches as a snack!

I'm wondering who does the examination and how it's done? Do you not need to give permission? If they are being weighed and measured I would consider it a medical examination and would think they would need someone with PR to consent before they could do it. My DD is only 4 so I have not been through this process myself yet.

At Dc's school a letter was sent out just beforehand. You can withdraw your child if you see fit.

No. It means if you lined up 100 children of the same age and sex numbered 1 (smallest) to 100 (biggest) they would be number 91.

Why does the bmi calculator get you to enter their height then if they take no account of height? Makes it a bit meaningless if they don't take height into account.

Just checked the NHS site and it says
"For children and young people aged 2 to 18, the BMI calculation takes into account age and gender as well as height and weight."

Why does the bmi calculator get you to enter their height then if they take no account of height? Makes it a bit meaningless if they don't take height into account.

I didn't say it took no account of height. It's just how all "centile" measurements work.

So height and weight charts in the red book and BMI (combination of both) on he NHS site.

So the BMI calculation basically adjusts the weight figure to take account of height. And they're only compared to children of the same sex (do they really say gender? That's wrong.).

Bmi calculation doesnt adjust anything.
Bmi calculations are ratio of weight to height.
For children the NHS rather than give that ratio figure ,they use centiles so compare against children of the same sex and birthdate. Danica is spot on.

Of course BMI takes into account height! What do you imagine BMI is?

Not sure who you are addressing that to, but if me, I've always known it took account of height as per my 22.55 post. I was just questioning how another poster explained it.

Think 5to2 is referring to Hecantbeserious

Also my 23.05 post. Maybe you weren't addressing it at me though anyway.

Bmi calculation doesnt adjust anything.
Bmi calculations are ratio of weight to height.

Sorry. I should have said BMI factors in height rather than adjusts for it.

For children the NHS rather than give that ratio figure ,they use centiles so compare against children of the same sex and birthdate.

That's what I said.

I still don't really understand why being on the 92nd percentile doesn't mean someone weighs more than 91% of children of the same age, height (and sex.) Can someone explain that.

Danica you are not wrong. if you are on the 92nd centile you are heavier than 91% of an identical population for height, age and gender.

there's a thread on here elsewhere, where a woman has posted a photo of dinner for her 3 and 6 year olds, and the number of parents who are referring to it as an afterschool snack for their 4 year old between school and dinner is astounding... unless of course these kids are about to go and do a 3 hour decathlon training session they are eating way way way too much.

Weight centiles deal just with weight (height is not taken into account).
Height (or length for babies) deals just with height (weight is not taken into account).
So you have to look at both to get anything like an accurate picture of whether a child is underweight or overweight - looking at just the weight centiles does not give you enough information to make that call. A kid who is on the 5th centiles for height and the 95th for weight is overweight.
BMI takes into account both weight and height and places you in categories that have been pre-assigned (we think that females of your height should weigh between x and y and have set the marker at z for obesity for your height). It's still a fairly blunt instrument as it does not take into account musculature. So people with a high amount of muscle are often mislabelled overweight as the calculation only takes into account 'average' levels of fat/ muscle ratio for whichever sex, which presumably was calculated aeons ago when they made the charts.
A centiles chart on weight does not tell you whether you under or overweight, just where you stand in relation to weight alone for the same sex people born at the same time, as it does not know how tall any of them are (including you). The chart does not have enough information to give you that judgement.
That said, it is likely that if you are at the very highest centiles, unless you are at the very highest centiles of the height chart too, with high musculature, you are probably overweight.