To be horrified the NHS classes 5yo DD as overweight?

[mommathatwearspink]

DD (5) had her school night and weight check at school earlier in the week. Received a letter today saying that she is on the 94th percentile and classes as overweight for her age and height.

Im horrified! She doesn’t look overweight, does gymnastics and swimming each week, doesn’t over eat, treats are limited and I cook healthy meals from scratch most days. What the hell am I doing wrong???

Nothing bin the letter and forget about it.

How tall is she and how much does she weigh?

Ignore. I had the same letter. It’s a pile of arse.

Agree with ArnoldBee. It sounds like she has a healthy lifestyle, and that's all that matters. Threads like this don't go well though - you may get a lot of posters asking about your weight, or accusing you of being in denial.

Is she on a similar percentile for height?

Bin the letter. They reckon my skinny as a twig son is overweight. You can see his ribs through his skin, he has not a scrap of fat on him, he is forever eating healthily and prefers an apple to a chocolate bar (true story!) and he weighs about 5stone at nearly 5. I think the majority is muscle and he’s a runner too. The NHS can go to the Stone Age with their stupid weight classes

Don't worry about it. Apparently my DS was 'very overweight ' aged 10, if you were to see him now aged 15, tall and slim, you'd laugh at that description. As long as you're happy with how she looks and what she eats/levels of exercise, don't give it a second thought.
(Loads of posters will now come along to give you earnest advice about her weight.... )

Yeah we had the same letter at the end of yr ,completely ignoring ds1 is very tall for his age he's just finished yr 7 and talked than his cousin in yr10.

BMI - particularly in children is such a load of arse! I’d file the letter in the bin personally.

Ha! Or more succinct, what merryoldgoat said

Nobody on this thread can judge whether the OP's DD is overweight or not. She may very well be overweight in which case telling the OP to stick her head in the sand is not going to magically make it go away.

It's not always easy to tell whether someone is overweight. Our perceptions are so skewed now.

If she's genuinely living a healthy lifestyle then bin the letter. Both my DC are massive because that is how the men in my family are. Chubby children, lanky teens and built like a rugby player as an adult with no fat on them.

@underpompeii

Can you see her ribs op? You should be able to on a young child who is not overweight.

I’m going to disagree with PP and say to take a step back and honestly ask yourself if there is anything to it because being overweight now is likely to stay with her for life.

She doesn’t look overweight
We often don’t realise what overweight looks like anymore. Look carefully again and see. Remember overweight isn’t obese.

does gymnastics and swimming each week
What other exercise does she do and how often/long does she do gymnastics and swim? If an hour each and that’s it, two hours of exercise in a week is not enough.

doesn’t over eat, treats are limited and I cook healthy meals from scratch most days
Look again at the portion size. Be honest with yourself about the sizing and what she has. What about puddings/drinks and intake of other calories like that?

@ToffeePennie your son is 5 and he's a runner with muscles?

Interesting responses since no one above has ever met your child, so cannot possibly tell you if she's overweight or not.
As long as you're 100% sure she eats healthy, and does plenty of exercise, I wouldn't worry about it.

What percentile is she on for height?

well we had this letter in reception also and to be frank she was a bit porky. as was her mother if we're really honest we cut down on snacks and calorie heavy drinks and now she's grown she's fine - one of the sturdier girls in her class but nothing problematic. none of us know your daughter. if you know she's fine then ignore it.

Having read on here portion sizes it doesn't surprise me at all that they are running classes for obese 5 year olds. I only need to look in the school playground to see lots of chunky children!! I think it's a good think and hopefully a wake up call to some parents.

My SIL refused to have her children weighed (this was years ago) clsimimh puppy fat. Now they are in their 20s and battling through slimming world due to being morbidly obese!

Oh i hate this, BMI has been widely discredited, i had a letter to say my son was overweight , swims and plays rugby but aside from that he is 5 years old ffs!

I told them not to weigh my son again, i was not happy at all! ( he isn't fat btw )

85% of children who come up as overweight in their reception screening will be obese by the time they're in year 6.

People really have forgotten what children should look like.

That said OP someone has to be in that section that's just on the overweight, there has to be a cut off somewhere and it could well be where she has fallen. Take a look at her diet and if you're sure it's all fine then don't worry. You could always phone the school nurse to discuss it they'll take a look at the measurement.

At the risk of everyone chasing me with stakes I do these measurements for a job and I'm yet to have a child who I couldn't see was overweight before I did the measurement.

BMI has not been widely discredited at all. If it had been they wouldn't still be using it.

BMI may not be perfect but it is a reasonable measure for most people.