Childhood obesity - when does it start?!

[Smarshian]

So we all know that children are getting fatter and that we need to as a society tackle this problem.
My DD is 17 months. She eats and eats and eats and eats. I feed her a healthy diet, plenty of fruit and veg etc but she will keep going. She very rarely doesn't finish a meal. She always wants some of anything we have and won't be distracted until all the food is gone.
When I was weaning/ over the last few months everyone has told me not to worry and that she will self regulate. When do I worry? When she is 2? 3? I feel like everyone just dismisses my concerns and that I am going to end up with an unhealthy child.

She is currently 98th centile for height and 95th for weight (although this was about 3 months ago - not been to hv since).

My Dd is/ always has been similar, eats a lot and on similar centiles. She's now coming up 2.5 and I remember a point worrying like you are about where does 'trusting them to know what their body needs' end and greediness begin! I notice now however that there will be days she eats a lot less as she's so busy up to stuff and other days she eats portions as big as mine! It balances out. She is tall so quite wiry, despite being at top of centiles for weight. Main thing I think is limiting treats, we give DD fruit juice ice lollies etc as treats and try to keep sugar to a minimum so I'm not worried she's on a path to obesity.

Anyone?

I think if they’re generally on a similar centile for weight and height that’s good. But if they slow in growth height wise but continue weight wise then issues can arise.

It’s weird how some kids have an appetite thermostat type thing and others don’t. Neither of my boys have but both my girls have. All breastfed and all weaned similarly etc. Just different.

I would watch the snacking- check all extra sugars are limited (eg juice and biscuits) but she is still very young and has a lot of growing to do so I wouldn’t worry too much.

It's an excellent question op. Talk to your health visitor, you should have a review on the next six months or so anyway so that would be an ideal time to raise it if the issue hasn't gone away.

Isadora I agree. I have a ds and dd. When I breastfed ds as an infant he would feed and feed until he fell asleep. If he startled and woke up he'd feed more. When dd came along she had a feed and stopped. I couldn't work out what was wrong - eventually I realised she'd had enough! Now as children ds would eat sweets until he feels sick, dd loves them too but has some them says she's had enough. Ds takes after me, dd takes after dh :o

It’s all about the centiles. If height and weight are similar all is fine.

I think I just worry that she will become another overweight child.
When do children officially become "overweight children".

I do try to make sure she doesn't snack on much rubbish, generally fruit/cheese/crackers etc etc. She doesn't seem to have much of a preference for sweet things anyway and almost never has chocolate/sweets etc.

Her portions are just huge though!

This is how it starts. With limiting foods. Pushing some foods and restricting others. Then it goes on with comments by benevolent adults on a child’s weight and/or appetite. Then schools police what kids eat.
I recommend you read “Your child’s weight: helping without harming” by Ellyn Satter. It answered my questions and it might answer yours.

Audree that sounds good but I'm not sure it's accurate.
Op your child might be weighed at their health visitor check. If not it'll be when they're 4-5. But as you know it doesn't happen then, it creeps up over years

Her height and weight are on similar centile lines so are in proportion. I don't think you need to worry at 17 months. If she's eating healthy, proper food - then that's great. With an older toddler you might want to limit the snacks so they eat better at mealtimes but at her current age, she still needs regular food.

Now is the time to be trying new tastes and the more different foods she's happy to eat the better. My DD ate non stop at a similar age - finished every meal, asked for more but since the age of 3 has been super slim (normal) and is a fantastic eater.

I wouldn't worry until 2-3 years, just concentrate on ensuring her diet is balanced and healthy.

I think the stage to be wary of is the pre-schooler age when it's natural to lose the baby/toddler chubbiness, and they stretch out to a leaner look. Except parents are used to the look of their chunky child, and by infant school an overweight look is quite subtle and easily missed. We're also so conditioned about weight gain in the baby phase being a good thing that it's hard to change the minset.

My DCs can pack their food away, but they will self regulate and eat less when they need to. I don't put pressure on them to eat and tend to ask "Is your tummy happy? Will it last until... (insert next meal)"

We've never had a need for a morning snack and an afternoon snack is upon request if they feel they need it. Mostly water for drinks and keeping sweets etc to a moderate frequency and quantity go a long way to helping. A filling breakfast of slow release energy helps a lot too.

Thanks M5. Yes I'm not overly concerned now that she is overweight (I don't think she is!) but I'm just very aware that there seems to be no off switch with her eating.

Maybe I do just need to trust her more and continue with the types of foods she is having. It's just startling to see the contrast between her and other children her age in terms of food quantity they consume.

When I breastfed ds as an infant he would feed and feed until he fell asleep. If he startled and woke up he'd feed more. When dd came along she had a feed and stopped. I couldn't work out what was wrong - eventually I realised she'd had enough!

I think it can change within an individual child too because my ds sounds like yours when he was breastfed, he would feed and feed and feed and resist being removed from the breast. Now he's 3 and picks at food, he's not a fussy eater, he just doesn't want too much to eat despite being really active.

I had the same worry. under 2 they are babies and supposed to be fat. after 2 you can work out her bmi. you are supposed to do this 3 x per year according to the red book. I don't think you will end up with a unhealthy child because you seem very loving and determined to do your best by her so she will be fine. xx

So my DS was what someone (very unhelpfully!) referred to as a 'Buddha baby'! He ate and ate for England (still does!) and was 98th percentile all through baby years until around 2 to 3, when the activity kicked in. He is v active. By age 4 I think he was around 75th centile. Once he started school the activity ramped up and now age 6 he's less than 50th centile - haven't weighed him recently but he's actually quite skinny so might even be down toward 30th or 40th centile.

Some of the kids he was same size of at nursery are now pretty big kids (over weight I'd say, perhaps obese). It seems to b lack of exercise.

I think it's hard. My DS loves sport and the more he does, the fitter he gets so the more he can do and the more he enjoys it. Some of his friends get puffed quite easily so don't bother and are getting less an less mobile.

I wouldn't worry what your kid eats - as long as it's generally healthy. I would suggest starting them on regular exercise and encouraging a love of it though, as it seems that if they can't keep up fitness-wise, that's when they start doing less and the cycle of inactivity begins.

Ps. Forgot to say, he is and has always been 50th centile for height (so at 98th centile for weight you can imagine how chubby he was!!!)

Strangely enough dinosaurs ds was incredibly fussy too. Cereal, yoghurt, fruit etc were pretty much all he ate. I remember a call from his nursery worker who was in tears as he wouldn't eat. But he loved chocolate and sweets and I'm sure would have eaten them until he vomited.

I wouldn't worry too much at this stage. My middle son was really chubby, and at playgroups he'd always be the first to sit down at snack time and the last to get up. His first word was biscuit.

As he progressed through nursery then started school he got much leaner. He's now skinny although he still loves his food. As long as you are feeding your DD mainly healthy food she'll be fine. Obese kids are generally not eating healthy food. E.g. the ones I saw on holiday waddling around with a bottle of Full fat Coke in one hand and a Magnum icecream in the other...

Thanks all for the reassurance- do you think it's worth taking her to be weighed/ measured again at the hv? Just to make sure she is still tracking at similar centiles?

I think if her weight matches her height then her instincts are ok. Remember - you choose what food and when it is offered, she chooses if she eats and how much.

The latest research (it was related to BLW) is that they don’t self-regulate when it comes to eating. Well some might, just like there are some adults who seem to be better than others at regulating what they eat. But you can’t just leave it to the child and assume they’ll stop when they’ve had “enough” - you have to monitor portion size. There’s no need for them to be aware of that though!

Up to you! But personally I wouldn't worry about weight til she's at least 2 to 3, and even then if she's eating healthily and exercising she'll no doubt be heding in the right direction! I think age 4 to 5 is when you'll notice the starts of a problem (if there is one, which i doubt there will be in your case as you sound like a caring mum who is conscious of providing healthy Meals and will support exercise)

By the way i’m not saying you have a problem with her weight now, just that as a general rule kids can’t be left to self-regulate.

no not worth going to hv, you can measure/weigh at home and save yourself the journey

If her weight centile is 95 and her height is 98 then she is technically underweight for her height.