Two Year old “overweight”

[oopsididitagain66]

My son had his two year review last week, at which his weight and height was recorded. The nurse went on to tell me that after working out his BMI which was “very high” so he was overweight and suggested I see a nutritionist. He is a healthy happy boy, maybe a bit on the chunky side but absolutely nothing unusual in my eyes. I assume by pointing us towards a nutritionist it was to help him lose weight. I politely declined as he has a very healthy, varied diet at home and eats well.

Is this the norm?

I would take up their offer of an appointment. Sometimes people think their diets are good and they’re not, sometimes portion size is an issue. He may become a healthy weight as he grows but take advantage of the service being offered to you as they may be able to help.

IANAD but two seems to be a little early for making such comments. Both DDs were pretty chunky as babies and toddlers and a high centile, (particularly DD2 who was 9lbs 2oz at birth) but started to slim down at three and were a far more slender once they started school and have never been overweight. They are now 20 and 17 and are both bang in the middle of the healthy weight range.

Why do people try to make others feel small with the silly 'bingo card' jibe?

If it's said often, it's because it's very often true.

Depends who it is. Some of them I wouldn't trust to water my plants.

It's not happening to any of the other posters giving their opinion on the thread either. That's usually the way it goes here. There is 1 op and people give their thoughts and opinions on the topic at hand.

Well that's true.

But the comments of 'Well I wouldn't because my child was fine', probably aren't very helpful.

Especially as they're being made retrospectively.

The OP can't possibly know whether her child will become one of the many children starting primary school, who live with obesity.

My sister could not see that her daughter was obese (massively so).
She literally could not see it. It was extraordinary - I couldn’t believe it. My sister is educated to degree level, works as a primary school teacher and was very weight conscious herself back in the day, but somehow the way she saw her own daughter was totally warped.
You may see your son exactly as he is, but I’d be open to the possibility that your view of him may be different from the reality, if I was you.

My ds' diet was low in processed food and high in nutrition. It was also very high in calories....

Then why are you posting on here?

You say he's 95th percentile. If this is for height and weight it isn't an issue. However your child needs to be on the same percentiles for height and weight.

95th percentile for BMI - BMI takes into account height and weight.

I was a fat baby and a really fat child. I’m old, so no UPF back then, all home made and healthy, desserts only on weekends, no sweets everyday and I was very active. But, looking back at pictures I was very, very chubby. DM says she was worried because DB was the exact opposite. But I got to about 7 and it just…went? Neither of my parents have ever been overweight and I have never been overweight since.

wow for the hv in the uk where most ppl are overweight, to tell you this, i suppose id take her advice to go see nutritionist. a lot of parents overestimate portion sizes even if healthy food

My son was like a little sumo wrestler at that age. He's 25 now, 6'3" and disappears when he turns sideways. No UPF or sweets. He was a big baby and always around the 99th centile. As long as your child's eating a healthy diet with age appropriate portion sizes I wouldn't worry too much.
Edited to add - we are a tall slim family.

My DC was always over 90th percentile. In nursery around age 2 the woman who owned it (and had about 40 years of childcare experience) randomly said to me one day that my dc was completely normal and if anyone made weight comments just to ignore it. By the time DC was in school they were still tall, but very lean and healthy. So they grew out of thr toddler baby fat. I never worried about if because of what she said and I did trust her view. It’s a bit anecdotal but as a parent you will know when to worry. If they are running around and eating healthily it may just sort itself out.

My daughter was always on 95th+ centile as a baby but once they started doing BMI she dropped to 50th as she was heavy, but also at least a head taller than the kids in her nursery- so definitely not overweight. She basically is tall and scrawny which is how I’ve heard kids should look. Does he have any weight on him? He may be slightly overweight

Although lots of posters seem to have had overweight toddlers who quickly thinned out, I must say the children I've known who were overweight at 2 are generally still overweight or obese at 5 or 10.

Hi - my 2yr old was in the obese range, however! And this was the critical piece, they were born 98% percentile. In their red book, they had tracked exactly as they should against the line.

HV look for large rising and large falls - that don't track against the line because that indicates an external or medical issue.

For example, if you have a child born 50 per centile and at the 2yr review they are 25 per centile that indicates that there could be an underfeeding or medical issue. Likewise if that child rises to 75 per centile it indicates an over feeding or again medical issue. These issues don't automatically mean - 'bad parent' but it merits a discussion.

As my child was born 98% then this just automatically put then into the obese range at 2yrs but the HV took one look at the graph and said - absolutely exactly where they should be and we were sent away. I was worried about it, so was asking lots of questions. HV was very clear that they are only interested in cases where a child has dramatically 'left the line'.

Between 2yrs to 4yrs old DC dropped from 98% to 96% to 93% - very very slowly over 2yrs (so not dramatic).

Then they started school, had a massive growth spurt and dropped to 81%. Their weight hadnt changed, but their height did. A drop from 93% to 81% by age 5 is not 'dramatic' when their height has shot up.

Now we have a healthy per centile child who just has a stocky build but is a perfectly healthy weight.

So look back in your red book you can see and calculate where your child should be weight wise based on their birth rate and other weigh in checks.

Weird that you would track the weight of other people's 2yrs olds all the way up to 10yrs. How many children have you tracked exactly? Do you go round nurseries taking charts and then follow these kids through to year 6? How do you make the assessment that a 2yr old is overweight - based on their length, weight, and diameter of their skull? Do you go around with a tape measure?

Or is your experience actually just based on a couple of kids from close family members - in which case extremely limited and purely anecdotal?

How much cows milk and is it full fat, reduced fat, or skimmed?

A two year old does not need full fat milk and should only have a couple of ounces of milk at mealtimes.

Full fat milk fills a toddler up, does not provide a full range of nutrients including iron, and leaves less room for foods that do provide a range of nutrients.

Even if the PP's experience is purely anecdotal, 1 in every 5 kids in the UK aged 10 - 11 are living with obesity according to the NHS.

I'm a childminder so I do see a lot of children through from toddlers to teenagers to be honest!
I don't think it's hard to tell that a 2 year old is overweight, you can see by looking at them.

https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/health-survey-for-england/2022-part-2/childrens-overweight-and-obesity
Interesting as well that 72% of the mothers of overweight & obese children felt their children were the right weight.

OP has had it explained clearly to her. She's been told the child is overweight

She might not agree and she might choose to disregard it given he is so young, but she has been told clearly.

What an utterly bizarre response. Have you literally no imagination to know that some of us work with kids, and work with the same kids for many years, in all sorts of roles??