HV rant - my toddler is 'overweight'

[sleepcrisis]

Well clearly he's not, he looks totally normal to me and any sane person. My HV on the other hand is massive.

DS was born on 25th centile for both weight and height. His height has remained steady on the 25th but as soon as he started putting on weight it crept up to bang in the middle of 50-75 centiles at 6 months and has stayed there ever since.

HV at his 2 year check this week told me that such a discrepancy must be monitored and that I should cut down his sugar intake.

The boy has a massive head (99 centile) and always has. Surely that weighs a fair bit?

I have found myself doubting his diet! He does eat a huge amount of fruit, fresh and dried. HV commented on sugar content of fruit. HE also has a Ellas kitchen cereal bar every day or so. She was scathing. Other than that he loads of veg and a balanced diet with portion sizes roughly 1/4-1/3 and adult size ( I have in the past wondered if he eats enough but never forced him to eat more)

When I have a cake or an ice cream (probably every other day) he shares it with me but rarely has his own. Although he likes to think it is his own - I just make sure I eat 3/4 of it! SHould I cut this out? He clearly does have a sweet tooth but he very rarely has biscuits (toddler group only), never juice, never sweets. The HV was banging on about sugar and sweeties and biscuits etc - he never has them!

Am I in denial about DS's diet and should I be more concerned than I am?

Oh and the other thing she critisized was that he eats little and often - for example he has a barely there breakfast but then 2 morning snacks at 930 and 11. (a banana and then later a box raisins or more fruit). She told me to cut out all snacks and just give him 3 meals a day.

Disclaimer: I was on here about a month ago listing his food intake and questioning whether he eats enough. Clearly I was wrong about that.

[breatheslowly]

You could check his measurements on a child BMI calculator (different to an adult one), I think there is an NHS one, but I could only find www.mendcentral.org/aboutobesity/obesityexplained/bmi as the NHS one doesn't work on my iPad. Toddlers sometimes do round out and then stretch up. Height measurements can be inaccurate too. If it is bothering you then a GP appointment is worth having as they often take a common sense approach rather than a rigid one and could also check the measurements. Afaik you can switch to semi skimmed milk at 2, I'm not sure if the difference is worth it, but we did switch for DD. plum yogurts do have sugar (from fruit juice, but sugar is still sugar), but about half as much as other brands.

[YoniRanger]

Beans are full of sugar!

His diet sounds fine to me, most 2 year olds I know eat all of that and a bag of quavers a day!

Some humans like to graze and some to eat big meals, as long as the calories even out it doesn't matter.

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

OP don't stress, seriously. And keep him on full fat milk - there is increasing evidence that people who eat and drink full fat dairy carry less body fat than those who don't.

As for what he eats - my two year old eats about twice that. I have no idea how much milk he drinks, and he still has BF morning and night and whenever else he thinks he can chance his arm :)

Children self-regulate with food much better than adults, so imposing rules on them like 'no snacking' and 'low fat milk' is utterly bonkers and totally at odds with how their body is set up to work.

The only thing that I would change is to think about adding more protein to his diet. Peanut butter on his toast in the morning, ham/beef/chicken sandwich for lunch, or some quiche, and perhaps some more traditional 'meat and two veg' dinners.

And I would ditch the raisins as a routine thing, they are very sugary. But don't beat yourself up, you are giving him a healthy varied diet.

[LastOrdersAtTheBra]

It really doesn't sound like you have that much to worry about. My work colleague has been in a similar situation, we have the same HV and her DS1 and my DS2 are almost the same age, also almost exactly the same height and weight. I get 'no concerns' she has been told to come back for monthly weigh-ins and finally got referred to GP (who had no concerns). The only difference between us is that I have DS1 who followed the same toddler centiles and is now a skinny 5yo, so I did all the worrying for nothing last time round.

Children who have a healthy diet will generally even out eventually, this won't hold true for children who have an unhealthy diet and those are the ones they're trying to catch.

I hate seeing my work colleague made so miserable and stressed when she does all the right things, cooks from scratch, healthy diet, etc. You'd be negligent if you didn't worry at all but please don't take it to heart too much.

[breatheslowly]

I agree with Alibaba about protein. My DD doesn't have a model diet by any means, but her fondness for protein, which tends to fill you up for longer, is probably the main thing keeping her from obesity.

[HorryIsUpduffed]

Beans aren't all full of sugar. We choose whatever brand is lowest in salt and sugar and flavour which isn't necessarily the "reduced sugar and salt" versions

My boys like hummus on sandwiches or toast as another alternative high in protein and (good) fat.

[IWipeArses]

For goodness sake don't restrict what he eats, that's how obesity happens.

Of course as it's taken me 30 years to learn that fact you can ignore me as I'm both massive and huge.

[RegularVoltaire]

I was told at my daughters 6 week check (I hadn't even considered weaning!) that she was "likely to be obese when she was older"

She was 25 centile height and 91 centile weight.

She's now 10 and has been measured at school. She's 50 for both.

[prettybird]

Another vote for not ditching the full-fat milk. Quite apart from the fact that a toddler needs it for energy, it also contributes to brain development.

[breatheslowly]

Full fat milk has about 10 calories per 100ml more than semi skimmed. So if he was having as much as 500ml, that would be 50 calories more. A box of raisins is 45 calories. If you are going to stop either, then I would stop the raisins. I switched DD to semi skimmed because it seemed to be then done thing, but I think she may drink less milk now as a result. I didn't think very carefully about it. I am not advocating calorie counting for toddlers, but it can be useful information when weighing up choices.

[Splatt34]

Threads like this upset me. Do you want to give a2 year old a complex over food this early.

My DD is 2.8, weighs 17kg and is 96cm putting her on 91st centile for height and weight. She's been in 3-4 clothes for months and we recently had to ditch the car seat which was supposed to see her tilshe was 4. I am overweight, as is DH and when she was younger I constantly worried about her weight as she skipped her way from 50th down to 9th (BF disaster) and up to 98th by 8months. This is all for weight, they never did height til she was 2.5.

She eats a load of fruit which I won't discourage but yes she will have a mini milk, we will share a packet of pom bears at lunch and gid forbid she has an occasional biscuit. Healthy, balanced diet with occasional treats. Your DC will likely have a height spurt soon . I would seriously not be this stressed about a child who is bang in the middle of the charts.

[Splatt34]

Threads like this upset me. Do you want to give a2 year old a complex over food this early.

My DD is 2.8, weighs 17kg and is 96cm putting her on 91st centile for height and weight. She's been in 3-4 clothes for months and we recently had to ditch the car seat which was supposed to see her tilshe was 4. I am overweight, as is DH and when she was younger I constantly worried about her weight as she skipped her way from 50th down to 9th (BF disaster) and up to 98th by 8months. This is all for weight, they never did height til she was 2.5.

She eats a load of fruit which I won't discourage but yes she will have a mini milk, we will share a packet of pom bears at lunch and gid forbid she has an occasional biscuit. Healthy, balanced diet with occasional treats. Your DC will likely have a height spurt soon . I would seriously not be this stressed about a child who is bang in the middle of the charts.

[MiaSparrow]

OP, this is really interesting to me because I'm in the same situation with DD - always 25th for weight and height (big head, mind!) then, totally out of the blue (OK, I hadn't had her weighed for ages), at the 2 year check she came out just below 25th for height and 91st for weight. It was quite a shock!

To look at her nobody would say she's overweight at all. Normal toddler pot belly, yes, but perfectly in proportion. HV too was shocked and had to triple check it, thinking that can't be right.

BUT... major difference between our experiences is my very good HV just said, oh well, she must just be really solid then and not to worry about it. Didn't even mention diet other than to ask if she's eating well. Yes she is. Good. End of.

Personally I thought at the time (this was about 4 weeks ago) that she was about to shoot up height-wise and I think now she has. I reckon I took her along just before the growth spurt. That's my theory anyway. Absolutely haven't changed her diet at all.

Hope that helps? Try not to stress and as always, your instincts over your own child's wellbeing are paramount. x

[ithaka]

Oh good good, children change shape as they get older, 2 years old is far to young to predict his adult weight. Stop obsessing over his food!

I was quite a round, cute, chubby little thing growing up. I have been a lean fit adult all my life. I think a lot changes around puberty, personally. That is when I lost any roundness - my face shape in particular really changed.

I know plenty of people who were skinny kids who struggle with their weight now. Lots, actually. To me, the time to be vigilant is puberty, as many teenagers take little physical activity.

And sorry, I would not be impressed by a big fat HV Tlecturing me on diet & weight. I would listen to people who have actually got it right themselves.

[RobotBananas]

maja00 I just checked, and you're right - the sainsbury's ones do have de-ionised fruit juice, whatever that is!

[Fraxinus]

Jilted John's Julie...... I love it,

watch the baby not the scale

[LadyEdith]

Ignore

Ignore

Ignore

I had all this s**t thrown at me when ds1 was that age. I worked out on the charts that if his weight and height centiles matched perfectly he would be just half an inch taller.

I fluffed his hair up a bit at the next visit.

Then I realised HV visits are not compulsory and never went ever again.

He's now a 6 foot beanpole.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

alibaba its really interesting to think there is evidence like that. I wonder why. Do you think its people like me who just don't think the alternatives are very healthy?

breathe I didn't know about the calorie difference so that is interesting to know too

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

at Fraxinus

[Ginderella]

I agree with LadyEdith - ignore, ignore, ignore - and don't bother with HV again.

"Watch the baby not the charts" - brilliant piece of advice. If your DS is happy and healthy you have nothing to worry about. Ignore HV and her outdated advice.

[RNJ3007]

I got that spiel... They do weight against age, not height. So my DD who is not on height chart as so tall is apparently obese. Even though you can see her spine and ribs.

I was told her food habits were to blame - how do you say that to a kid who has 3 meals and 3 snacks a day that are fruit/veg/whole grain/lean protein or quorn?! What do you cut out?! Today at nursery she had weetabux for breakfast with a glass of milk, water all day, melon and mango for morning snack, chicken with veggie rice at lunch and a fromage frais

[Sirzy]

I do think as a society we have become to accepting of childhood obesity and too quick to write if off as "tubby toddler" - DS is 3.5 and as you should be able to you can see his ribs clearly yet people say he is too skinny/underweight rather than seeing that as a healthy weight (he is 9th centile weight 25th height at last weigh in)

I am not commenting on any individual but I don't think advice to ignore weight concerns is good advice, nor do I think encouraging good eating habits is setting a 2 year old to be obsese/have food issues later in life. Balance diet and an active lifestyle are vital and should be part of normal life from a young age.

[lovelyredwine]

As others have said - I'm no expert but he sounds fine to me. His diet sounds pretty good too - he eats veg and fruit, protein and carbs.

Using BMI as an indication of being too heavy (if this is what was used) is not a good process in my opinion. My DH always comes out as being overweight on these - this is a man who is in great shape - ran a marathon recently in just over 3 hours and trains most days for a triathlon he's doing soon, so is by no means overweight.

[RNJ3007]

Oops... Premature post!

I got that spiel... They do weight against age, not height. So my DD (4) who is not on height chart as so tall is apparently obese. Even though you can see her spine and ribs.

I was told her food habits were to blame - how do you say that to a kid who has 3 meals and 3 snacks a day that are fruit/veg/whole grain/lean protein or quorn?! What do you cut out?! Today at nursery she had a weetabix for breakfast with a glass of milk, water all day, melon and mango for morning snack, chicken with veggie rice at lunch and a fromage frais, then cucumber sticks and a rice cake for afternoon snack, baked beans and scrambled egg on whole grain toast for tea, then a banana and a handful of blueberries at home with another glass of milk. Hardly an unhealthy diet, right?!

Ignore the HV, frankly!!!