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???

I think lots of people are in denial. Binning the letter may not be the best thing to do for your child. It's information; what you do with it is up to you.

Do women and children have a lot of muscle mass? The answer is no

I have twins, nearly 3

DT1 - 4.5lb at birth, now 88cm and 12.4kg
DT2 - 3.5lb at birth, now 88cm and 12.9kg

As babies, DT1 got really chubby and then went through ages age 1 where he got taller but gained no weight. DT2 was skinny but solid - in photos of him as a baby you can literally see defined biceps before he could sit up and as far as I know he wasn’t doing pull ups when he knew I was asleep. He is just more muscular than his brother.

They have very similar body shapes (DT1 has a distended belly but his ribs and shoulder blades stick out), eat the same food and same portions, wear the same size clothes which fit the same but DT2 is just heavier and more muscular despite being less active.

So yes, I think body type plays a part.

My 6 year old boy is 3 st 2 - 3 hours of gymnastics a week, school PE and 30 mins football class.

My 2 year old is 1 st 12.

I’m not sure if these are ‘normal’ weights or not but both look slim as they are quite tall for their age.

They both grow out before growing up. Maybe that could be the case for your DC?

If you don’t think it is right, maybe you could see your GP?

toffeepenny 5 stone at nearly 5.How tall is he? My DD is only nearly 6, one of the tallest in reception and is not even 3 stone? She is not emaciated? That sounds pretty heft to me?

This is why they send these letters out. All the disillusioned parents saying their child is fed home cooked healthy food and does 2 clubs a week and we limit treats honestly. Yet there is a need now for school uniform for large children and a whole generation not knowing what normal portions are.

what I have noticed in many many many years of childcare is that dc often put on a little weight feet grow than they sprout in height
you can see if dc is too plump otherwise don't worry

This thread just shows why we have an obesity problem today.

Please don’t ignore the letter. Make an appointment with your doctor who will not be wearing the rose tinted glasses we parents wear. Then if the results still show she is over weight for her age and height for God’s sake do something about it.

You might find an 11 year old gymnast who trains 25 -hours a week (yes gymnastics is insane) who is strongly buillt to start has enough muscle to tip the bmi scale. Especially as gymnasts tend to be small height wise

I can guarantee you that any decent gymnast training for 25 hours a week will be a healthy weight, and probably right at the lower end of the BMI range. Despite all their muscle

No @Purpletigers a five stone 5yr old can be on the top percentile for weight and height and be perfectly healthy.

I was 8 stone at 8 and stayed that weight for a long while until puberty. I have biceps and thigh/calve muscle to rival Arnie. The women in my family are all 5ft8+ and broad shouldered, with long legs and small busts, my Nan was 5ft 10, solid size 12 still when she passed at 94yrs old.

My DS is top percentile for both and is 2yrs old and in 4yr old clothing. He is not fat, at all. He is all broad limbs and shoulders, and still has ribs on show. The men in my family are all 6ft 2+ vikings and broad but lean/muscular. My uncle was 6ft 6 and totally in proportion for example... My DS is going to be the same.

So you're wrong basically.

Children’s bmi is given as a percentile worked out based on weight, height and dob. So 94th percentile bmi will be overweight

That’s weird. It always gets broken down here as well.

So x for height, y for weight, z overall.

So you can get a better idea of the issue (being heavier than 94% of kids isn’t such an issue if you are taller than 99% of them but massive if you are much smaller than average).

OP: She’s on the 94th percentile.

Poster: What percentile is she on for height?

🙄

Oh please! The OP says her child has been classed as overweight for her weight and height. If both her height and weight was 94th centile she would not be classed as being overweight.

For comparison i remember being 4 stone at 4 ( was proud of it! ) I was definitely fat and much bigger than other kids at the time ( 80’s)

My 11yo is 4.5st, can't imagine her 6yo brother being heavier, he's half her height!

Oh please! The OP says her child has been classed as overweight for her weight and height. If both her height and weight was 94th centile she would not be classed as being overweight.

All I was wondering was how much of a difference there is. Overweight by one or two percentiles is something to keep an eye on and make a few changes. Overweight by lots is a problem not being seen by the parent.

I'd be a bit concerned about a 5 year old with enough muscle to tip the scales onto overweight. I have personally never met what I would class as a muscley 5 year old. I have met one or two muscley older children, normally gymnasts or swimmers training hours a day

Some DC are naturally broader than others, probably naturally heavier. However generally BMI is a fair measure. If he says your child is overweight, listen to it and review the exercise they are doing and what they are eating.

It's not case of panic, or a judgement on your child. But I think it would be silly to just ignore it

I think too many parents still subscribe to the notion that chubby kids will just grow out of it. It happens - I was a chubby kid and wore the same size clothes at 9 years old as I do now in my 30s. Problem is that nowadays a lot of that 'puppy fat' is actually just the start of obesity and isn't going to drop off at all.

My daughter is a keen gymnast (3 times a week), 10 years old and average height. I'd describe her build as muscley and strong. She weighs 4 stone 10.

My DS, nearly 13, average height, similar strong and muscley build as DD. He's just over 6 stone.

Unless your DD is very tall for her age, I'd say 5 stone and 5 is overweight. Sorry.

The best thing to do is to go and see the GP. My dds year 6 letter said she was overweight. The GP weighed and measured her and said she isn't. She's 8.5 stone which may sound heavy for an 11 year old, but she's very tall for her age and well into puberty.

Most posters on this thread are ignorant about BMi.
Its not BMI but BMI centile, so same height and date of birth, compare by weight.
OPs dd will be heavier than over 85% of children born the same day and are the same height.

and he weighs about 5stone at nearly 5

So he's still only 4 years old and he weighs 5 stone??

Jesus wept

Actually meant 94 % not 85%

I don't think OP said her DD was 5 stone? Not in original post and I can't see update from her

Of course children ha 3 different build. My DD was very tall from birth but very light weight. You always expecged her to be heavier when picking her up. What a shock it was with DS. He was even taller, very slim but so heavy. He's always been heavy, but he was still in the normal range of height and weight at 5 and 11. Kids have to weigh a lot to fall in the overweight range.

My 8, nearly 9yo is 3.6 stone. 23kgs.

He is only slightly taller than average height there are about 4 boys in his class that are taller. He is muscly from head to toe, eats like a horse, we give him very little by way of junk or processed food, and he came up as perfect weight. If a child three years younger and I’m guessing much shorter, is almost half that weight again, then yes I can very much see how that adds up as overweight.

Posted too early. OP, I have 3DC. Two are well below the 50% percentile, the other is overweight (this is fairly recent). There are two reasons from what I can see, the overweight child does less exercise (structured and un-structured, we push the former as much as possible but the latter is harder, the other two just don't stay still) and is a 'better eater' so always finishes her food and asks for seconds whereas the other two go between eating two bites then running outside to play and eating like they have hollow legs. We're still working out what to do beyond encouraging more exercise and trying subtly to reduce her snacking and seconds. Aware she's getting close to puberty as well so may shoot up shortly.