On average, how much should a 6yr old weigh ????

[nutcracker]

My dd is 6 and very very skinny. She has always been skinny, even as a baby she was never in the lsightest bit chubby. When she was weighed just after starting school, they were a bit concerned about her weight, and rechecked it 6 months later. They didn't actually tell me what her weight was though. I assuming it was o.k, else they would of said, but i'm not happy with how skinny she is. She has a school dinner, and also a cooked dinner at night (in the hope of building her up), but she is just skin and bones. Her clothes, especially yrousers, just hang off her. She is also a very pale child, which again, she has always been, but she has big dark circles under her eyes, which can't be due to triedness as she gets a full 12 hours sleep a night.
Anyway, i have no idea how much a 6 year old should weigh, so have no idea if i'm worrying over nothing or not.
What do you think ???

Right, i've just found a site that says, the average weight of a 6 yr old girl is 47 1/2 pounds, and the average height is 46inches.

Have also just checked her red book, and when she was weighed at her school check, she was on the 9th centile, when previously at 3 1/2 she was on the 25th. Am i getting this completly wrong, that doesn't sound right to me.

I don't regularly weigh my kids - but my Aunt and Uncle are a bit weight paranoid and encouraged my two to weigh themselves last year when my dd was 6 - she weighed about 4.5 stone (she is very tall for her age but is slim). If you are really worried then I would see your gp but as she is eating properly, gets no more ailments than any other child then I, personally, wouldn't be too worried. I am often amazed at the difference in size across one school year - some are really skinny, some are quite podgy, some are really tall, some are tiny - it takes all sorts to make a world. What were you or her dad like as a child?

I also have a skinny-malinky dd. She weighed 2st 10lbs for absolutely ages when she was 6yo and was around 120cm tall. She's nearly 8 now, I'm not sure what she weighs, must weigh her on her birthday, lol! If your dd is energetic and keeps well apart from the usual coughs and colds, I wouldn't worry.

Thanks Jaybee. I'm almost certain that my dd is around 3 stone. I think she is of average height for her age, maybe slightly taller.
I was skinny as a child (my mom had to take in elasticated skirts), but i don't think i was as skinny as dd. My mom has comented on her weight too.
I think i will try to check her weight tonight, if i weigh myself then she'll usually have a mess about on the scales, and i'll sneak a look. I don't want her to think i'm checking up on her weight. If it's on the low side then i'll see the health visitor.

Nutcracker - the link here is pretty reassuring.

My five year old is the same, skin and bone! he weighs 2 stone 12. I have the opposite problem with my 8 year old, don't whether i am right to think it but i worry he might be overweight (or heading that way) at nearly 6 stone! I feed them both similar sized portions.
I do know though that you can't rely too much on those charts. My friends daughter is absolutely tiny and pale and was referred to the hospital but has now been discharged with a verdict that that is just the way she is.

Hi Nutcracker
Step DD (6 and 3/4)is a little dink - very skinny - I constantly have to take in skirts and trousers to keep them up. She weighs just over 3 stone and does nothing but eat all day - if she could she would eat biscuits constantly!
She too is very pale and lost lots of weight last year when she had some terrible bug and didn't keep anything down for 2 weeks - she went down to under 3 stone which I thought was quite worrying but she is slowly building up again.
Not sure how tall she is, but seems quite small in comparison to DD who is 7 months older.

oh heck, my ds is 4 1/2, stands 3ft 8in, and weighs about 3 3/4 stones. Not at all fat, but well built all round (actually very proportioned, adams age 5 jeans a perfect fit).

My childminder's dd is 10 months older, a good 5 inches shorter, and very skinny, and pale. I always think she looks so delicate compared to ds.

If you were a skinny kid nutty then it's probably just a genetic predisposition. These charts and stuff are just there to give us something else to worry about.

my son is nearly ten and is so skinny about 3 1/2 stone not as tall as some of his friends either but full of energy and life.I do worry from time to time about him as he is also pale and has dark eyes at times but he is as happy as larry!I was the same and now I dream of being skinny again

Thanks everyone. I think it has just started to worry me because, she looks unhealthy to me.
Anyone got any idea about what foods i can give her that will help to build her up a bit ????
She loves pasta, which is good for bulding you up isn't it????? I'm hopeless at things like this.
Also would someone mind giving me an example of what their child eats in a day. Then i can see if i'm feeding her enough

OK - trying to think about what we ate at the weekend -
Breakfast - 1 weetabix with milk - gobbled up in 2 seconds (really) at about 9.30am
Morning snack - jam tart and 3 rich tea biscuits
Lunch - 2 roast pots, 2 slices of lamb, spoon full of peas (yeurk do I have to eat those?) and good helping of brocolli with gravy. Followed by 2 big helpings of strawberries
20 mins later - I'm hungry - had a banana
20 mins later - I 'm still hungry - Grandma snuck her some grapes

Afternoon snack - another jam tart and more rich tea biscuits

Tea - Ham sandwiches (2 rounds of bread) pack of crisps and yoghurt

PM after swimming - packet of Monster munch

In between all this, DP was feeding her haribo's too!

This sounds like lots to me, but she still stays skinny. Actually this also seems like lots of junk to me too - anyone help with alternatives??

Thanks Mof2.
On a typical sunday my dd eats

Breakfast : Bacon and egg sandwich

Lunch : A sandwich, with crisps and a yoghurt

Snack : Biscuits

Dinner : Chicken, mixed veg, roast pots and mashed pots

Before bed : biscuits with hot choccie

Doesn't sound alot does it ?? I'm never very sure what to give as a snack though, as she won't eat much fruit.

I agree Nutty - especially as compared to DD step DD seems to be a fussy eater - ie she only likes chicken so we still lie and tell her all roast meat is chicken (bad mother alert)
It is the snacks that I have a problem with. They always eat their meals without a problem, but are full when they finish, but then seem to be hungry fairly soon after.
The only way we got her to eat fruit was because DD eats it, when I first knew her all she would eat was crisps and biscuits - I used to have to make the food look fun - like make ham sandwiches in the shape of a face on her plate LOL.
Now she will polish off a bowl of peeled apple, grapes and even I was surprised about the strawberries on Sunday as she has always hated them.
Jelly is another like of hers and angel delight so sometimes I let her have that as a snack.

DD has a big problem with meat. She just cannot chew it properly, even chicken. I think she sucks all of the juice out of it first, so then it is so dry that she can't swallow it. I always give her extra mash to eat it with and a glass of water but she still leaves most of it.

Hope you've been reassured by all the comments
They do vary so much don't they? In dd's class (same age as yours) the variety in heights, builds, skin tone is quite amazing, yet they are all healthy, run around at playtime, do PE etc.

Anyway just for another comparison, my dd who is 6 and 3/4 weighs 4 st and is 125cm tall.
Today she ate:
Breakfast: bowl of cornflakes and a banana
Lunch: (School dinner): sausage, potatoes and sweetcorn, biscuit and milk
Breaktime: pear
After swimming: crisps, apple
Tea: Princesspeahead's fantastic tuna and pasta recipe, yogurt
Bed: milk

Just to add, although a lot younger, my ds and my nephew are the same age, and whereas nephew was a fab eater and ds was appalling, ds was up on the 75th centile for weight and nephew was struggling to reach the 9th.

Right, i've just weighed her and she's dead on 3 stone. How many pounds are in a stone ???? Oh and she's about 110cm tall (maybe slightly more).

14lbs in a stone so that's 42 lbs, Nutcracker. That sounds fine, to me.

Oh, it's not as bad as i thought then, as the average is 47 1/2. I will be keeping a close eye on her though, and still try to beef her up a bit.
Thanks for all of the advice everyone

nutty, does she drink milk? DS2 was also very skinny and pale when he was littler and was not a good eater at all - is a bit better now he's 10 and in fact is beginning to develop a tummy!

Anyway he loves strawberry Nesquik, which is a great way to get milk into him, which has always been a good way to build them up a bit (whole milk has more fat, so more calories, but he prefers semi-skimmed). Muller crunch corners are popular too.

He is also not keen on fruit but has an apple in his packed lunch every day and a banana after school (under protest) and occasionally some grapes, and sometimes drinks fruit juice but prefers squash. He also loves bread, pref a French stick but a slice of plain white bread is just as good. And when I remember he gets a multivit + iron (Tesco kids' ones, teddybear shape.) HTH!

Have just found this, Scroll down abit and there you go.

Thanks for that Furball. According to that she is of a normal healthy weight, for her age and height

Great site, I`ve just checked both my 6 y.o and 2 y.o.

My 6 y.o is the pale thin type too. We have been refered and subsequently discharged from a pediatrician and dieticians due to his weight (or lack of it).

My top tip is vitamin tablets (that include iron) and Boots chewable calcium and vanilla tablets.

Recently asked my hv about ds1 and his weight as according to my calculations he'd dropped to the 2nd centile from the 25th ( although he had been poorly a few weeks beforehand). He is quite a skinny little thing and is prone to coughs and colds, but hv reassured me that his weight was ok ( mind you I think her scales were weighing over). She did say that she would only worry about a childs growth/weight gain if they hadn't changed shoe size over the course of a year-apparently this is a good indicator that something might be amiss.

Can someone please advise, my daughter who was suffering terribly had her tonsils out just over a month ago, her appetite has now gone through the roof, I had issues when I was younger, I was thin but used to get called podgy by family members , which caused me a lot of issues growing up,though I’m fine now I realised it was just then being malicious. I don’t want that for my daughter, I do t know how to go about telling her she needs to eat healthy she is only 6yrs old but tall. She has put 14lb on since her operation. Could anyone please advise how I go about it so I’m not making her feel like she’s eating too much. My little girl is my world and I couldn’t bare it if anyone was to say anything to her. I have 4 grown sons so there was mercer an issue with them and my other son is 7 and very active. Sorry for the ramble 🙂