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???

@Chouetted
I think 13 stone at 13 sounds pretty unhealthy.

@RandomlyChosenName

This is my understanding of centiles too and therefore it’s a load of wank

Hip to waist ratio isn't appropriate for children though as their waists are proportionally bigger the younger they are.
If you take into consideration BAI, VAI, waist to height, to hip and BMI it's generally fine for children (6+ at least) as developmental rates are taken into consideration and overall body fat can be calculated far more accurately than with purely height, weight and a chart.

This is a commonly used Australian growth chart.

There’s a completely different BMI chart for children compared to adults though and 22 is overweight till about aged 12 (for girls).

Ok, so why the centiles?

Sorry, didn’t upload. Will try again.

This is my understanding of centiles too and therefore it’s a load of wank

Why does being based on hundreds of thousands of measurements taken in the 1980s make it a load of wank?

If you take into consideration BAI, VAI, waist to height, to hip and BMI it's generally fine for children (6+ at least) as developmental rates are taken into consideration and overall body fat can be calculated far more accurately than with purely height, weight and a chart.

Agree - but can you imagine the outrage at having all those measurements taken at school, not to mention the length of time taken, or trying to explain to parents why little Jonny's VAI means he's a bit of a porker!

His sister was the same, over the BMI that the nhs recommends. Had a similar schedule to ds, but dance instead of kayak. She's 15 in 2 weeks and a size 6/8, 5ft 3in and 7st 6lbs. Definetly not overweight.

No, she is definitely not overweight. But you are wrong in saying she is over what the NHS recommends. Her measurements put her BMI at the 25th centile so actually towards the lower end of healthy weight. So not the same as you DS.

@titchy

Because you aren’t evaluating the individual - whether or not you like BMI it is a ratio with clear results. It’s based on the actual height and weight of the person being measured.

When you use centiles you say ‘you’re heavier than 80%’ of kids your age. That tells you zero about the individual.

I’m particularly irritated by this stuff I admit because of my giant children but simply saying ‘he’s heavier than most kids his age’ is useless as he’s also taller than most kids 2 years older.

I think weight is such an emotive topic, for parents and for young people. And bmi, although indicative can be a pretty blunt instrument. Especially in y6, when some children can be entirely prepubescent, and others (particularly girls) can be quite developed. I also don’t think it takes into account ethnic origin, which can obviously affect body shape.
Saying all that, I know that my ds2 (12) is on the heavier side of ideal. He likes his food a little too much, and his interests are fairly sedentary ones. I’m going to try to encourage him to up his activity levels over the summer though.

Ok, so why the centiles?

Adult BMI references use them too; if you look at the “healthy” BMI ranges for an 18 year old (so presumably post-pubertal, fully grown) woman the range of 18-25 incorporates about the 8th to 80th centiles, so the wide range of healthy weights.

What gets me about these threads is that the children seemed overweight always have really healthy diets and do tons of exercise according to their parents.

I know two children who are really overweight . Both aged 9. One is on the short size for his age and he weighs 7 stone 10. He is embarrassed about the size of his tummy and gets frustrated because he can't keep up with the other boys. His diet is shit...packed full of carbs...pasta and bread for a meal. Giant milkshakes . He has a really unhealthy relationship with food and always wants more, the biggest, the first choice.

The girl has started puberty already and is huge. She has trouble walking up steps, none of her clothes fit her properly. She never looks comfortable. Her mum and her siblings are all overweight too so it's a family diet issue .

They will get the letters....do they ignore them?

I’m particularly irritated by this stuff I admit because of my giant children but simply saying ‘he’s heavier than most kids his age’ is useless as he’s also taller than most kids 2 years older.

But BMI takes height into account

Can I just add that my 6' 7" son weighs 13 stone and hes not skinny just slim. So a 13 stone 13 year old is unlikely to be slim at that weight!

He letter i got from school had both height and weight.
I then worked out her bmi from there.

And surely even giant people’s weight should be relative to their height.

Agree - but can you imagine the outrage at having all those measurements taken at school
Yes true, it wouldn't be very practical for school, however in instances like the OP where a child isn't clearly overweight, information for parents on how to more accurately measure fat and more importantly health would avoid a lot of the issues that can arise in basing outcomes purely on BMI.

@Bigearringsbigsmile i used to work in children’s nutrition research - parents usually have really bad recall of what their kids eat. we used to compare video food diaries (done by the parents!) with their recall on what their kids ate. the difference was mindblowing. same for exercise. human memory is usually based on what we WANT to remember, not on reality

Oh come on, a 5 year old being 5 stone is clearly fat, whether the OP sees it or not.

Op’s Child was not 5 stone.
She never mentioned weight / height.

Just said she did not look overweight. That may be true. We have seen no pics.
Or it may be that OP doesn’t quite see what others do.

That 5 stone at nearly 5 years old comment has gained legs - it wasn't the OP, it was someone else who appeared to have plopped that in and then disappeared!

@titchy

Yes BMI takes height into account but the centiles don’t - that’s my bloody point.

The centiles are based on average weights and heights which is entirely unhelpful if you are an outlier.

My doctor has seen my son and said ‘he’s clearly not overweight’ so we’re in the position where the program at schools is sending some people letters advising children are very overweight yet it’s just not true in some cases.

@Tallgreenbottle was this a typo?
I was 8 stone at 8 and stayed that weight for a long while until puberty.

That is unusual to stay 8 stone at 8 and into teenage years.

Okay OPs son is not 5 stone, but he is on the 94th percentile, which means he is fat. Many parents do not see that their kids are fat though.

How tall is this 5st 4 year old? My 13 year old is 5ft and just over 6st and looks very average, not skinny

Yes, I think it must have been a typo, I'm not much more than that at 34 years old