My little girl is fat- Help.

[tallulah]

I've just realised that DD (just 4) is getting fat. I've weighed and measured her today and at 101cm and 17.8kg she apparently has a BMI of 17.4 and is classed as overweight (2 different internet charts)

She has weetabix (no sugar) or porridge for breakfast; lunch and tea at nursery, then comes home and her first words are "I want something to eat". We generally give her whatever we are having for dinner.

She is very fond of crisps, cake and biscuits, and I've been trying to cut down the amount she has. I've been out of action for a couple of weeks and DH has been seeing to her. He gives her breakfast then follows it with a lump of cheese or a piece of cake..

She is a very active child and never stops moving. At nursery they tend to be out in the (huge) garden most of the time. She does ballet at nursery one morning a week and has a swimming lesson once a week. Nice weekends she is out in the garden, and every Sunday she goes to the play park after church.

I need to tackle this now before it gets too hard but how? HELP!!!

My 6yr old is on the larger side and has the most huge appetite. I notice that sometimes she puts on a bit of weight then suddenly shoots up in height so it evens itself out. She won't eat fruit but loves vegetables so I make sure she has heaps on her plate. She has a very sweet tooth too so we have a few treats but I try to stick to the lower cal / fat ones. Agree about the artificial sweeteners though. Much better to have real sugar but less of it and less often.

Your daughter isn't fat or 'chunky'! She looks like a normal toddler to me. Agree about the cutting out cake and too much yoghurt, limit treats to weekends. Its easy to get into a rut of pudding every night....

I have two children. The eldest (a boy) couldn't give 2 hoots about puddings/sweets etc. If they're put in front of him, he'll eat them but very rarely will he ask. The youngest (girl) is the complete opposite. She has the most sweetest tooth ever, and she will keep on and on and on. I have to admit finding healthy snacks she will eat is very hard, she will eat strawberries and apple for fruit, thats about it. I have to be strict with her and me....

She is big, has a big belly & from what you say, has got into the habit of eating too much. She eats more than my tall 7 year old !

I would cut all the biscuits/crisps from her diet & get start giving her a big drink of water when she comes in from nursery, she's probably thirsty rather than hungry.

hi there my DD is nearly 7 and has adhd, she also has no 'off switch'. when she was same age as your DD this is what i gave her brekky - weetabix lunch and tea at nursery the home for a drink of milk and piece of fruit then bed. At weekends for lunch she would have a sandwich one yoghurt and piece of fruit. For tea she'd have same as us but on a side plate to make portion smaller then fruit or rice pudding or similar for pudding. Then milk and maybe 1 biscuit or fruit for pudding. My dd was on 91st centile for weight until she got to 5 so she was a tad chubby and she ate very healthily. Now shes older she does lots of sports and is skinny as a rake but is still on 75th centile so you cant go too much by charts but def watch what shes eating

She doesnt look that big on the photos to me, however I ould be more concerned about the bad habits che is developing.

You know what a healthy snack is. Make sure she has one or 2 snacks avaialable to her if she asks. Perhaps for supper rather than a 2nd tea so she doesnt get into the habit of demanding food the moment she gets in.

Offer water first.

My 5 yr old asks for snacks all the time - she's starving - despite having porridge with sugar, followed by yoghurt for breakfast. She has two slices of bread and ham sandwich with yoghurt or biscuit plus fruit for lunch. She comes home and has a "treat" which means an iced lolly (smoothie healthy type), or flapjack or sometimes chocolate. She then has a slice of bread and butter before tea. she then has protein, veg and carbs for tea. She'll then probably have a banana. She's on the 9th centile for weight and people comment on how emaciated she looks. We do gymnastics once a week, swimming once a week. Apart from that she's generally milling about playing, watching tv. My point is they are growing massively at this time of life (I think she grew 4cm in height last year), I really wouldn't worry about her being slightly off the norm for charts - they are all very different - it will balance out later and I would definitely not be denying her food at a time of growth. Would agree with trying to encourage healthy eating - but I must say I struggle with it. One thing I find helps is giving tea really early, say 4.30pm.

To be honest, she does look chubby to me in those pics, but it sounds like you are getting some good advice here on how to help her.