The letter finally came. I’m really upset

[Hell0G00dbye]

Long story short DD has followed the 98th centile for weight since my 37 week growth scan. She has followed it perfectly and consistently which was applauded for the 6 months I breastfed and since then has been a big issue with the HV team. She’s at school and I’ve just received the letter saying she’s very overweight.

What can I do? She eats good, home cooked food, has the odd treat but generally healthy and normal child portions. She’s very active both structured (does dance, swimming and gymnastics) every week and unstructured (walks the 40 minute round trip to school daily, parks and long walks on a weekend, runs around the garden. She doesn’t look fat (to me) but she is solid and does feel heavy to pick up.

The letter says contact the doctor or HV but I’ve taken her before. GP says she’s absolutely fine and will grow into her weight and had no concerns. HV just weighed and said she’s still overweight and to watch portions. Day to day I don’t worry about it as she looks fine and is super active but the letter has taken me right back to her 2 year check and being made to go monthly to the HV for weight checks and their disapproving looks when she continued along her centile.

NB: she has followed the 98th centile but I think the issue is she isn’t 98th for height so her BMI puts her at very overweight.

@Lia198

They weren’t telling me that she was going to be very overweight in the future though, they were saying she was very overweight at that age at that size? She is 8 now and still the same build, which I still don’t believe is very overweight.

Because relatively speaking Her weight indicated she was not within the very overweight range.

So they flag up as an issue to be addressed now. So much easier with a child than with an adult decades down the line.

So yes it’s an issue to be addressed now.
To prevent it getting worse
And cause problem for both the child and later adult in questions AND the NHS

Her weight indicated she “WAS in overweight” I meant to say

@rogueone

Lia198 i agree with them. Your child has a wide waist and that and other factors at your DC age is used to suggest obesity. Your DC should have grown out of the baby belly but your DD hasnt. It is an indicator for future weight problems.

You can quite clearly see the child is sticky and solid

And as I say - at that age, stocky and solid ARE red flags for later overweight children

Seen time and time again

Stocky!

Fair enough, I’m not worried about her weight or lifestyle in the slightest and don’t agree she’s overweight but you are obviously entitled to think that!

@Lia18 I saw the photos before they were withdrawn and actually I think in one of the photos your DD wasn't standing up straight and was actually pushing her tummy forward which made it look bigger than it probably was ... my DS age 8 can eat a huge meal which makes his stomach protrude and it can disappear overnight. At the end of the day I think all we can hope for is that our children are healthy and have a good relationship with food.

I had this issue when I took my daughter to the health visitor, she told me straight my daughter was obese she wasn’t, the woman who told me this was very overweight so I put it to her how could she advise about weight when she was the size of a sea animal, it was never mentioned again

Fucking hell, talk about defensive! That poor HV was just telling you the facts, as his her job. You, on the other hand, were so unnecessarily rude and I dread to think how your DD is going to turn out if this is the type of behaviour you display in front of her!

@NdefH81

The excuses It’s fascinating

Isn’t it just - and we wonder why we have an obesity crisis!

@NdefH81

The excuses It’s fascinating

The smugness.

It's fascinating.

No wonder parents feel judged when doing their best to raise children in what is an obesogenic environment.

I'm with you Teapacks.

And there's so much material about the awful effects of undermining a child's body confidence, that you might think that some of the above smuggies would hold back just a little on their condemnatory remarks!

An overweight child probably needs all the help they can get, but not necessarily starting with an arbitrary statement of negativity.