To think we’ve lost sight of what a healthy child’s weight should be?

[Winniethepoohandtiggertoo]

Walking through town today as kids were leaving school and I was quite shocked by the size of them (primary kids). But then I noticed that so many of them were overweight that in a way it isn’t surprising that maybe their parents haven’t noticed or realised there is a problem? When I was little kids were skinny things, now it seems the norm for them to be built like shot-putters! I know a few parents with overweight children but they insist they’re ‘strong’ or ‘solid’, or ‘they run around so much they just burn it off’. When so many kids look like theirs it probably isn’t surprising they think that?

People are over complicating this with that socio economic BS. McDonalds is quadruple the price of a home cooked meal, even spag bol is more nutritious. Do these people not have 20 minutes in their day to cook? I expect they do, they have to drive to McDonalds!

Even one extra biscuit a day (100 cals ish) will make a child put on near enough a pound a month/stone a year. You might not think they eat a lot but even a small surplus equals overweight if it goes on long enough.

Years ago people were slimmer, photos of me in my dads shop in the 70's customers were slim. Now you look around you in the supermarket and people are so chunky now.

I don't know what the answer is. We've all got mirrors.

@smileladiesplease with the greatest of respect I think you're talking nonsense. I was a teenager in the 80s and was a size 8 and all of my friends were around the same size. We would have been horrified to be a size 12.

I don’t think anorexia/bulimia/understand is anywhere near significant enough in numbers that it is the main priority here.

Look around you. How many adults would you au have ‘lifelong issues’ with under eating versus those who probably know they’re ‘a bit on the large side’ but just keep eating regardless?

This. We live in an affluent area and see a few 'solid' children, lots of apparently skinny ones, but very few obviously overweight children. It's not the done thing to allow your kids to become overweight and most parents book their children in for sports or other camps during the holiday, even if they don't need the childcare, to keep them active and busy and cut down on the boredom and snacking. The problem is much easier to address if you have money to throw at it and you're not trying to juggle a million other things.

DD (14) has had it all through primary school (Spain) and now thinks she is too skinny. She is tall and slim.

Horrible. Really horrible. At times I could tell parents thought I underfed her (and myself)

Should the government offer free fruit and veg?

People wouldn’t take it. They’d go for the expensive but quick and ‘tasty’ junk.

You can’t ‘educate’ your way out of every issues because a lot of people frankly aren’t that bright. If you tried telling them they wouldn’t listen.

I’m laughing at the comment upthread about EBF babies being “chunkier”. There’s data somewhere that shows that FF babies are more likely to have problems controlling appetite and therefore weight when older. EBF babies just stop and pull away from the breast when they’ve had enough.

Not meaning for this to become a bun fight over EBF babies vs FF babies, but wanted to point out that the earlier comment on this thread is inaccurate.

The loudest voices in the field of regulation of foods are trade and industry representatives. They consistently push for more salt, more sugar, more empty calories because that means more sales and profit.

The Commercial Determinants of Health is a very interesting read.

Ultra processed foods are so common we don't even recognise most of them any more. We're pushed and conned in to thinking they are healthy. As well as being unhealthy themselves ultraprocessed foods make you eat more. By the age of 2 around 61% of calories intake comes from ultraprocessed foods.

We can tell people to eat less and move more all we want but there is a much bigger problem to fix.

Might just be me, but I know of quite a lot. I’m in my 20s though so maybe it’s a generation thing.

but, equally, what about the other way? It can cause them to potential have issues with food as their older as they’re no longer restricted etc.

You’ve still not answered - how do you approach it in a healthy way to ensure it doesn’t cause under or overeating etc. as children grow up? Surely that’s what the focus should be.

I work in a shop that sells clothing for particular external activities and I have come across one set of parents who were totally in denial about their child’s size and weight. The child was 12 years old, 5ft tall and needed a 54” waist and 28” inside leg trousers. We could fit a 16/17 year old Saturday girl in each leg. The mother complained that it was unfair we had to sell her adult trousers for her 12 year old as he was just a boy. Clearly they don’t make childrens clothes to fit teenagers now. The largest size of children’s trousers for the club he attended are a 30” waist and a 32” inside leg. Plenty of parents though claim their children are just a bit bigger than their friends but still a healthy size. In this clothing a 40” hoodie is a big size for a 9 year old if they need it for the size and not because they are tall.

I’m laughing at the comment upthread about EBF babies being “chunkier”. There’s data somewhere that shows that FF babies are more likely to have problems controlling appetite and therefore weight when older. EBF babies just stop and pull away from the breast when they’ve had enough.

And FF babies spit out the bottle. Some babies struggle to self regulate and I imagine they are likely to end up FF. Thus FF babies are more likely to have weight problems. Or FF is more likely to lead to issues with self regulation. Or both. But most babies both FF and BF self regulate fine.

@PuddlesPityParty I agree with you. I think eating disorders of one type or another are massively common. Obesity is also surely an eating disorder.

Excellent point.

And the 61% statistic, if true, is just horrifying.

I EBF, I think breastfeeding is more likely to be used as ‘comfort’ than bottle feeds. The number of posters who say their answer to a baby’s every murmur is ‘boob’ suggests maybe that connection between ‘upset/tired/bored = food’ is being made early on. But 🤷🏼‍♀️ That would need study.

You should meet my daughter she is so skinny and bottle fed because I struggled with the breast. She has never over indulged she saves food for later. I guess my child beat science and she is studying to become a chiropractor. It could be her education that keeps her in check not boob milk.

Affluent SE commuter town less than an hour from London

I actually can’t remember the last time i saw an overweight child at my children’s schools.

Well it’s disordered in that they’re eating too much. But I don’t think a lot of food issues are as ‘psychological’ as some people would have you believe - a lot of it is over eating because food is very tasty and the more you eat the more you want.

Add to this the fact that many councils sold off school playgrounds in the last 40 years, meaning kids now can't even exercise at break.

People come in all shapes and sizes regardless of exercise snd diet unless they are morbidly obese or anorexic.

It really doesn't matter to your health if you are size 10 or size 14., chill out

Sorry, but 😂

Agree with this. If you feel crap about yourself you might try to starve yourself - or you might go for the quick and easy fix of comfort food and snacks.

It‘s import to like yourself to properly look after your body - I agree with that concept of the body positivity movement, even though I also think they take it to the extreme sometimes.

Not breastfeeding is linked to obesity. There are various contributing factors but using breastfeeding for comfort as well as food is absolutely biologically normal and not linked to obesity.

😂