At what age would you start to be concerned about a child’s weight?

[Motherofdragons24]

My DS is 22months, he was born very chunky, 9lbs 6oz at 39 weeks so 98th centile and he has remained on this line. The problem is he is quite short, (25th centile) so technically he is quite heavy for his height. I haven’t worried about it as a baby as he was ebf and a very enthusiastic feeder! I just assumed he would slim down when weaned/running about etc but he hasn’t really. I don’t think he looks fat just a healthy young toddler but I’m mindful that as his mother it’s difficult to remain impartial and I don’t want to be one of those mothers in denial about their child being overweight! My 4yo daughter was born heavy as well (almost 10lbs) but she is tall and in proportion, in fact if anything she’s a bit on the slim side. DH is 6 foot and I’m 5’6 so I wonder if he will just shoot up at some point? He eats a pretty good diet if not completely perfect. He’s definitely been exposed to a bit more convenience food than my daughter thanks to having a big sister but it’s kept to a minimum.

What's his projected adult height @Motherofdragons24?

5’9 according to his red book, which seems quite short to me considered DH and my height and we both have tall families. DH is the shortest out of his 3 brothers at 6 foot! My 4 year old daughter is sitting between the 75th and 91st line for height.

Sorry to keep asking questions, was he born on that height centile? And what's his head centile doing?

No he was both on the 75th but he dropped very quickly to the 25th, within the first few months and has stayed there. I did raise it with the HV but as there was no concerns about his weight, failure to thrive and he wasn’t continuing to drop they kept an eye on it for a while then had no concerns. And although going from 75th to the 25th is a fairly big drop it is still only across two centile lines which apparently is in keeping with a normal deviation. There are no concerns at all with development. He’s hit all milestone on time or slightly early including gross motor.

Sorry his head height hasn’t been checked since he was born, that was 75th as well, I would guess it’s still about there, both me DH and DD all have pretty big heads!

Can you go to the next weigh in clinic and see if they'll do height, weight and head circumference?

We’re in Scotland so there’s no weigh in clinics here. Weigh ins are done by HV at check ups, he’s not due another appointment until 27 months I think. I suppose my concern is that although BMI shouldn’t be used for children under two, I don’t expect his height and weight to change much in the next two months given it’s been pretty consistent his whole life. And if when if he is two I put his details into the NHS child BMI calculator it will tell me he is obese. I don’t really want to ignore that and have it become a problem throughout his childhood.

I'm not a huge fan of BMIs at all but it's the disproportion of the centiles that's usually the thing the HCPs look fur st this age. If he's gone down any in the height centile at his next check or up in the head or weight centiles then I'd book in with your GP