Managing a primary aged child's weight

[Hei3htfi]

Ds has always been an ok weight. He was born 91th percentile for height and 75th for weight and it always carried on this way. Now he is 8 and this past school year, he has put on more weight. Initially I thought it was just growth spurt but it doesn't seem so. He has also noticed it. His dad and I are both skinny and so is everyone in the family. We have never restricted his eating and he mostly just has a small breakfast plus lunch and dinner. Hates sweet stuff and we don't snack as a family. I get that it isn't good and I would like to nip it in the bud but how? Obviously don't want to say anything to him as it would make him feel bad. Any tips on what worked? How do ithers manage their kids weight. We always just went by him eating what he wants and it worked. Until now.

Look up the correct portion sizes for his age.
Give him a smaller plate than the adults.
Offer a wider variety of foods.
When he's finished his portion of main that's it, no more. You can say no to your child - he won't die.
Fruit only for snacks and pudding except maybe once a week.
(Mum of one very "hungry' child who had no off switch as a preschooler!)

You need to give a bit more info re: meals if youre wanting some constructive advice.

You say he does a sport after school but how active are you rest of the time?

Do you walk to school/ anywhere? Does he scoot or bike anywhere? You could do the kids park run.

At the weekend, what does a day look like? We have 3 kids so would spend a couple of hours at the park or the woods and then still go for a few mile bike/scoot and that's after swimming lessons. I wouldn't consider us particularly active just getting the kids out.

I do think sometimes only children are more chill, happy to sit and it's less needed to get them out so they are less active. Said as an only child myself!

Seems harsh to restric eating given what you say he's eating and if both parents are slim then I think he just needs to run around a bit more or grow.

Don't agonise over it. Just introduce some new hobbies or sports and focus on meals and snacks that are high in protein and healthy fats/fibre, so it's filling. Glasses of whole milk, eggs etc important for growth and height
I wouldn't be restricting as his diet sounds fine and don't let him call himself fat etc. Just focus on talk around growth and being healthy, satiating food types
Lots of kids pudge up then shoot up taller.

Boredom eating is different
Maybe something more filling than cereal for breakfast, porridge or baked oats or eggs ?

Have you put the stats into the NhS BMI chart for kids? It’s a really broad banding for healthy weight. My kids are both healthy weight but one is sturdier than the other, so it was interesting to see the variety of weigh considered healthy.

what meals are eaten in a typical day?

that aside - in response to your questions, the following could help:

• switching to fat free yoghurts / milk
• switching to lighter alternatives
• portion control - smaller portion for mains and then light yoghurt and fruit for after
• Fill his plate with veggies and protein for the majority of the plate and then healthy carbs less so

healyh visitors can help… school nurses the kids periodically too, if he is actually overweight this will be picked up.

He doesn't have a snack at school at break time. We never send one in because he never eats it. He is offered a plain roll and an apple at 4.30 pick up but doesn't always have it.

He has swimming three times a week for an hour at a time, tennis twice a week, and football once per week. Honestly, that's as much as we can timetable.

He's probably loafed around a lot over the summer.
After supper, everyone get up and go for a stroll around the block. It's lovely for bonding and will take his mind off being less full than he'd like.

Lighter alternatives just add sugar instead of fat, they are terrible 🥴

You can Google weight centiles. He is within the range of normal and as other pp have suggested may be headed towards a growth spurt. It’s very common for children to grow outwards before spurting up.

Just don’t buy low fat yoghurts and he will be fine.

He’s not overweight, mines 99th percentile and tips into the overweight category before a growth spurt and the school holidays also mean a little extra weight. The thing with children is they grow in spurts, so restricting is not a healthy thing imo. Watch the sweet stuff, make sure he has healthy options, lots of protein but I wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. I don’t like restricting too much because mines still growing and is also quite active, my mother was very restrictive and it gave me issues with food. If he’s not actually overweight theres zero need to intervene.

@Hei3htfi he doesn't have a bad diet and may well not be overweight, just not skinny.

No one here has seen him or a has any accurate knowledge but you're going to get page after page of often conflicting and alarming advice about making him do more, eat less, more protein, smaller portions, problems for life... I think you should talk to your GP before you worry and definitely before you make any changes

DS ballooned when he started Reception and other people commented on it. We changed to packed lunches and that did the trick. School lunch we discovered was often chips and jam rolly polly.

OP that weight and height sound fine! What is it that concerns you; is he actually carrying extra weight/fat around his middle which would suggest an issue or just that he’s gained the weight across the year (which would be fine)?

You’ve not mentioned what he’s actually eating but I’d say really focus on veggies and protein at meal times and as others say, you can absolutely say there’s no more when he’s done. Of course my kids still have pasta and pizza and beans on toast etc but I’d say 70% of the week its chicken/fish, loads of veg, a good healthy meal we’re also eating basically. Protein is especially good at keeping you full, too, so would hopefully negate him asking for seconds. If mine plead starvation after dinner I offer some extra veg which they turn down: you’re not starving then, are you haha.

But as others have said, we don’t know him and you do and if you’re worried don’t hesitate to have a chat with the GP.

He has 3 hours of swimming a week at age 8? I don't know anywhere that even offers that where we live (a reasonably large city).
Is he in training for something?

Does he look a healthy weight/can you see his ribs? Kids BMI/percentiles have a much broader healthy range than adults - for context DS1 (10) is at the 90th percentile for weight but you can see his ribs and wears shorts 1 year or 2 younger than his age.

He does a fair amount of sport, are you sure he's not just a bit heavier because of muscle?
DS1 does sport every day and you can see he is visibly muscly.

@Tunaboona He is in a swimming club and a tennis club.

In terms of what he eats - same food as we do. So rice/meat/veg or pasta bolognese, chicken and noodles etc.

We were in Frnace recently and it really reminded me how kids used to be or are meant to be as skinny as a rake. Dh and I were.

Unfortunately, we will 2mins away from school so he doesn't get to walk much functionally and if we go to a park with friends - he isn't the kid who rushes around.

My 9 year old daughter is the same weight and height. She does gymnastics 4 nights a week. You can see her ribs, wears clothes within her age range and i dont think she looks chubby at all.

That sounds great.

Most kids are starving when they come out of school though! maybe he’s due a growth spurt

OP, you seem to be ignoring any posters telling you that hes not overweight.
Have you checked on the NHS BMI for children calculator? He is well within the healthy weight range for his height.

I don't think he is conventionally overweight. But he has certainly packed on a lot of fat this past school year and he himself complains about it. And whilst obviously I have never said anything, he isn't as thin as he used to be. As he is in the water at least three times per week, he can see how others are and how he isn't anymore.I think he is probably fine ish for now but not if he continues on this trajectory.

He sounds fine OP - a good diet, lots of exercise, weight within the normal range. You and your DH were skinny as kids, but maybe he just has a different build? I have three DC, they're all healthy weights but one of them has a naturally bigger physique whereas the other two are very slim.

He's not overweight op, you need to stop thinking that he should be skinny as a rake.

My son was like this until year 6 when between the start of year 6 until the end of year 7 he went up 5 shoe sizes and is taller than me. He definitely noticed it but we didn't make an issue of it.

Is there any reason he should be skinny as a rake? Because this sounds like aesthetics rather than a problem with his actual weight. You want him to look a particular way?

We put out raw veg whilst dinner is cooking so the kids fill up a bit on healthy fibre before eating dinner. You could try carrot sticks and cucumber starter.