Help. My daughters weight

[irishchick93]

Hi. I have an 8 year old girl (just turned 8) shes noticably a bit pudgy lately. However, clothes are now really tight and ive just discreetly got to weigh her as the health visitor needed a weight update for baby. (Who ironically isnt gaining weight)

She is 125cm and 68ibs so i convert that to 31kilos. Ive then just checked the NHS website and shes in the 91st centile. I am so shocked.

I really need some ideas of what i could do to help.

She eats cereal in morning packed lunch. Sandwich fruit frube. Dinner is normally fish or chicken casserole, stew type things. The odd biscuit or sweet after. Which i will obv stop. Im hoping the brighter weather will help she will be out playing more. She currently swims twice a week. PE once a week. A daily mile in school they walk around the yard. Drama class once a week and an irish dance class all the above being 30/40mins

Please help i want to do my best to help my girl

She could be about to have a growth spurt. Also this may be about portion size.

Have you weighed how much cereal she usually has and how many calories in it?

She sounds active and it sounds like she has a healthy diet. I would focus on these things rather than on weight loss. It could be that she is about to have a growth spurt. I wouldn't stop all treat food but would buy it less. You don't want her to crave this kind of food which cutting it altogether could lead to. I'd have a proper look at what she is eating to check you are happy that it's nourishing, nutritious and mostly whole foods. And then try not to stress about it. She will pick up on your stress if you do.

Don’t stop the sweet or biscuit. That’s not the answer. That could cause all sorts of issues with food later on. Make portion sizes a bit smaller maybe. Does she play sport? Football, hockey etc?
Have you discussed your concerns with the GP?

I used to be an overweight child. Don’t make a big deal out of it, especially to her

just reduced portion sizes, sugar and increase exercise where you can x

I would suspect like pp above suggested that she is due a growth spurt. Dd has always done this.

If you are worried look at portion size but stopping the odd snack isnt going to solve your issue, only create a different one

Thank you all. Yes im very conscious of not stopping everything as i dont want other problems! No GP yet What could they do?

Do you think more sport would be beneficial?

It sounds like your daughter has a helathy diet and does a reasonable amount of exercise.
Can you add more activity as part of a daily routine? I'm wondering, for example, how you get to school each day? Can you walk or cycle rather than drive, or if you already walk/cycle and the journey is very short, can you extend it some days? It's been shown that making exercise part of a daily routine (rather than an additional activity), can have huge benefits in the longer term.

I have been through this with both of my children. The odd sweet treat is unlikely to be the issue (obviously its different if it's a LOT of sweet treats). Portion size and balance was definitely an issue for us. So think about how much she is eating and if the portions are too large, how can you adapt? For ds, it was not about smaller portions- he was (and is) permanently hungry. Instead we shifted what he ate from classic "kids" food which is often heavy on protein and carbs and, if they are hungry, requires a lot more food than they probably need, to a lot more chicken/fish/meat with lots of veggies. For dd that has been more complicated as she is a fussy eater with intolerances!! But we keep trying. And, bless her, now she thinks that bolognaise is only delicious and filling when it has added veg and lentils!

The other big issue at this age is movement. This is not the same as exercise. I think its a tricky age - they need a lot more but formal exercise is often relatively short bursts- a 30 minute swimming lesson, a 45 minute dance class or an hour football , with lots of breaks waiting for the other children. My children both landed up with more independence, earlier, than many of their peers as a way for me to encourage increased movement in a natural way - if they are heading to the park with friends or walking to school or whatever, they are moving around. In ds case, he also took up basketball which, as it turns out, is a sport where even st this age they keep them moving the ENTIRE timeand he spent hours practising on a net at home! 🤣🤣. With dd we tacked just "fun" swimming onto swimming lessons and encouraged her to practice swimming multiple lengths without stopping. We also made a point of getting out and about for long days in london or whatever because if I said, "let's go for a walk" she would whine and complain. But if you can encourage that, all the better (and I did manage it sometimes!). Family cycles can be good too or whatever random thing they get into- skateboarding, roler skating etc.

The final piece is to realise that they do often chunk out at this age. That's not to say you shouldnt keep an eye on it, but its not unusual.

At 8 she may be building up weight ready for her big growth spurt. Girls grow quickly at the beginning of puberty reaching their optimum height at around the time their periods start. The reason why girls often tower over the boys towards the end of primary school and the beginning of senior school. Once they have grown upwards they then start to develop hips and breasts.

Have a look at her peer group they are all probably starting to fill out a little.

Boys go through puberty later and their major growth spurt is towards the end of puberty. Even my DS who was always a tall skinny rounded out between 13-15. We called it the barrel stage. Storing up food and energy ready for the big growth spurt. The body is strategically clever at managing growth but it often confuses parents when they grow outwards just before growing upwards.

The reason the average height of the population has increased noticeable over the last 100yrs is because we are well fed and can reach out genetic potential. It’s not a coincidence that the height of more affluent Victorian’s was significantly taller than the poorer classes.

I would encourage healthy eating as opposed to restrictive eating. Then at least when your DD reaches potential height she will be able to maintain her weight with healthy dietary habits. Cut out unhealthy snacking but encourage balanced nutritional meals.

Obviously if she is eating a very high refined carb diet then you need to address this but not by reducing calorie intake drastically just alter the content so the carbs are more complex.

Absolutely growth spurt. I notice mine goes out then up, out then up... repeat over and over. Is she tired/out of sorts/eating more? Growth spurt incoming. Also, if she does a lot of sport, muscle weighs more than fat. It is why BMI is actually not a good scale for measurement. And as someone who grew up with disordered eating caused by a parent - do not cut after dinner treats unless it is a cake/donut each time. If she is living on crisps/chocolate/cake it is a different story, but your daughter's meals sound good, and exercise is right.

If you look at BMI ( not adult) she is just hovering under the overweight band so top end of normal. So don’t panic.

Can you up the swimming? Age 8 is a good time to start swimming club rather than just lessons, and they really quickly start to get a lot of lengths in. It's boosted my DD's confidence and fitness no end. To the point I'm totally left behind in the pool.

It is probably worth speaking to your school nurse or GP and get some advice.

The aim with children is not to get them to lose weight but to minimise weight gain and with time they move into the normal range. They could be due a growth spurt, children tend to gain the weight before they grow upwards.

My daughter was borderline overweight at 3.5. She was almost 50th percentile for weight but only 1st percentile for height which put her BMI as ~85th percentile. Her paediatrician and dietician weren't concerned as she had a normal shape, was still wearing 18-24 months clothes, was a low percentile for height and didn't want to risk height growth slowing further. She also already has a limited diet due to allergies, reflux and toddler diarrhoea.
At 4 she was about 35th percentile for weight and 2nd for height moving dropping her to ~80th percentile. At her next review 10 months later she was 25th percentile for weight and 4th for height and is now at 5.5 under the 9th percentile for weight, 4th for height and 40th percentiles for BMI she has grown about 9cm in 18 months but only gained 1kg. She's now dropped 2 percentiles and as this has been a conscious decision. Since July she has only gained 200g and the paediatrician is slightly concerned. We have brought forward her next dietician appointment forward to get a review on her diet to see where we can make changes as well as getting another check on her weight/height

Strange question, does she drink a lot of milk ,smoothies or fruit juices

Please be really careful here. I speak as a parent who had a daughter with anorexia and a son who has spent his entire childhood being stocky and overweight despite being really active. He has overnight grown inches and is now tall and slim. Growth spurts have a lot to answer for. Don’t make her afraid of food or having a treat. Don’t make food an issue. I agree that you need to keep an eye but what you’re describing is an active child with a reasonable diet. Both of my kids were chubby before a growth spurt. For my daughter it took one comment from somebody that ended up with her being really ill with a long recovery and mental health intervention. She’s fine now thankfully but I feel so angry about a stupid comment that triggered it.

I'm surprised at everyone saying her diet is healthy. I mean it sounds okay, but aren't frubes sugary yoghurt? And cereal for breakfast - are we talking chocolate cereal or weetabix? What else is in her packed lunch? And what does she drink most days?

The odd biscuit doesn’t make a kid overweight. Plenty of skinny kids eat stuff like that all the time.

I’d be looking more at portion sizes. And what does she drink?

Portion control, healthy snacks and some family exercise.

Her diet IS healthy from this description. She is active. Her BMI is still normal. She's at a classic age for a growth spurt.

Your response, however, suggests orthorexia on your part.

@ChangePrivacyQuestion You're way off. I wish you could see me - you'd get a shock! But whatever.

I'm not saying it's a bad diet, more that there is a lack of information about her diet. The one specific is a yoghurt with added sugar that makes up 7% of the product. That's all.

My children used to go slightly outwards, then upwards 😛Try not to worry too much and just see what happens with her growth spurt over the next 6 month or so

You're not wrong. My mother insisted we had a healthy diet and I was a big pudgy at this age. When I look back - sugary cereals (with sugar sprinkled over the top), tea with sugar for breakfast. Sandwiches with jam or other sugary filling for lunch, chocolate milk. Tea with sugar and bikkies for afternoon tea when we got home from school. Good dinner but dessert every night. Seriously a sugar nightmare with plenty of room to improve. Not 'puppy fat', probably too much sugar! It can add up very quickly. I was a very slim, bordering on underweight teen though, so it did come right by itself.

That said, I think it needs to be handled carefully, DD not spoken to about it and small changes made if needed. It's a delicate situation. Cutting out all sugar isn't necessary but maybe taking stock of what might or might not be going on.

Get her to stretch her arms up to the sky, if you can see her ribs, even slightly, she is gonna be a healty weight. Children should be slim/ish. It's not natural for children to have excess fat around the body.

*When I say see her ribs, it"s not in a shocking way, children's ribs should be noticeable when they stretch up
Hope this makes sense

What size are you and her extended family?
DNA definitely comes into play with weight.

My brothers are all over 6 ft, I'm 5.1 and have struggled with my weight all my life. The OP is right in trying to work this out.