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Managing a primary aged child's weight

102 replies

Hei3htfi · 28/08/2026 23:29

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.

OP posts:
bridgetreilly · 04/09/2026 09:04

Hei3htfi · 31/08/2026 19:39

Interesting about fish fingers. I would probably give him three but that would go with plain rice and broccoli. In terms of adult portions, it's more that the kids portion is quite small for him so he orders the adult one. But he doesn't have juice or puddings so the calories that bulk up kids menus he never has and otherwise they are quite small.

However, clearly his portions must be too big so will try cutting those.

HIS PORTIONS ARE NOT TOO BIG.

TheJuryIsOut · 04/09/2026 10:15

Hei3htfi · 31/08/2026 16:34

To come back to this - the point is the change. Ds was pretty thin till this year and has now piled on the weight. He has obviously also grown, but in general he is a lot stockier than he's been before. It's not just a straight forward comparison to how I think a child should look like.

This is really worrying. You're saying a perfectly healthy child is "piling the weight on", no he's not! Kids will go through phases like this where they will fluctuate within the normal range. Do not reduce his portions to that of a 3 year old for god's sake.

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