Is it normal for girls to chub up at puberty....

[DrFish]

....or should I be watching her diet a bit more?

I am really clueless about all of this. It seems like suddenly dd1 is almost 11 and needing a bra and just looking....different. She always had a slim but athletic build, average height, likes her food and is pretty active. In the last year she has gone from slim to quite bulky-looking, although you still wouldn't consider she was fat, I don't think. Her shape has changed as expected but she also seems to be laying down fat around the middle and her tummy sticks out now.

She eats a healthy diet, mostly home-cooked meals with the odd less healthy thing. She is in a swimming club and running club and swims and runs twice a week each for an hour at a time.

Is this normal?

Having fat on your tummy is never a good thing.

YES! You carry on doing exactly as you are - feed her the same, more if she's hungry.

DD chubbed up round the tummy and got fatty boobs for about a year/18 months and had arms and legs like sticks - she was fatter in yr 7 than she is now in yr 9, her trousers now sit on her hips rather than up 'over' tummy and she's a size 8 with nice hips. Her waist used to be 28 inches, now it's 23/24.

It was all to prepare her to start her periods and give her boobs. I just used to reassure her that this squareness round her middle would drop to her hips.

My DD has done this and is just starting to grow it out.

I wish my too skinny 11 year old would chubb up a bit. Buying clothes for her is a nightmare.

Thanks, that is helpful. She has commented on her change in shape and size really, apart from talking about puberty in general and going to buy bras. So I haven't either. She doesn't have stick arms and legs though, they are looking bigger too although quite muscly still. I think that's just her build - she seems to have inherited my body shape!

She is not like me with food - I eat for hunger and have to eat regularly. DD will eat hardly anything at school and bring home a lot of what I put in her lunch box, saying she wasn't hungry or didn't have time. Then she cleans her plate at dinner and will basically eat up whatever is put down in front of her. At parties she will seriously overeat because she wants to try everything! I have told her to stop when she's full but don't want to make it into a big deal.

Sorry, should say she HAS NOT commented on her change....

My sister did this (I was a chubster throughout childhood so didn't notice any change, she on the other hand was a stick until puberty). I wouldn't worry about it as long as she's usually eating healthily.

Btw, if she notices that she is getting stretch marks on her stomach/boobs/hips etc and gets upset, please tell her not to worry because that happened to me too at that age! They do fade, it's just a sign that she's growing quite quickly and NOT that she's overeating. It sounds like you both have similar body types, which will be reassuring for her because she won't feel like she is the weird one amongst her friends (I totally did).

Yes it seems like she will be looking for jeans that make your bum look smaller - we can shop together for them!