worried about my 5 year old's weight

[classyinpink]

My gorgeous 5 year got a letter after they measured her weight and height at the school and she is on the 91st pencentile for BMI. She is just at the end of of healthy weight and beginning of overweight area. I have food issues myself (used to have bulimia for ages) and this letter completely threw me. I was always proud that she would eat whatever was put in front of her and never thought that she would be overweight.

We made a pact that I wouldn't drink caffeine anymore and she wouldn't drink sugary drinks and just one healthy treat a day.

I tried to look at her with objective eye and she does have chubby belly and tiny bit of boobage which I never noticed before.

I don't want her to develop food issues at all like I did so please push me in the right directions. I just told her about starting healthy eating and left at that for now.

I hate this.

I wouldn't say much to her about it, just slowly make changes for the whole family moving towards increasing fruit and veg intake, making sure meals are the right size and balanced so it all seems normal to her.

Also encourage lots of activity whether that is a run in the park or going to a class of some sort.

I agree with cutting out sugary drinks. DD's have diluted apple, orange, pomegranate juice or water or milk. My eldest is 6 and I'm still getting away with not giving her sugary drinks. How do they get to school? Could you walk, scooter or cycle?

Try cutting down portion sizes a bit and then offering fruit if she is still hungry.

best possible thing you can do is to increase her activity.
walk to school if you can and if you don't already, or get her a scooter to go on.

go out to the park after school, or out for a walk or a bike ride.

do something at the weekends that involve you all getting into it together.

Also though, be aware of portion sizes. I think sometimes people say "oh s/he eats really healthily" which is true, but they're eating too mcuh of whatever it is.

If you're not sure then why not see the GP and ask if there is someone you can be referred to (dietician or something?) who can just talk to you about what your DD ought to be eating and how much?
Because it isn't necessarily obvious I don't think, how big a portion to give a child.

I think you're heading the right way though!

thank you for all the input. I send her to gymnastics once a week and try to do running to the park whenever it's dry. I will get that book and have a look. I reduced the portion size and she eats every single morsel now that's put in front of her and I feel awful. I do not limit food intake and I tell her that she can have fruit if she's still hungry. But I don't want to give her too much fruit as she loves fruit and will eat endlessly if I did give her as much fruit as she wanted. I hate to be controlling food wise. I will get the book that you suggested and see. Thank you.

is she asking for more after clearing her plate though?
if not then it's probably enough,

if you're not sure then I think it's sensible to give a smaller portion than usual, but tell her there is more if she is still hungry.
that way she doesn't feel she has to eat an entire plate of food, but if she is still hungry after a smaller one then she can have a bit more>

I would try to get her to exercise as much as possible. Running, playing with friends, cycling, swimming, going for walks/cycling with the whole family in the weekend etc.

I would not discuss the letter with her, as you don't want to worry her and make her self conscious.

You could also give cucumber salad as a side course each day as it is very low in calories (as long as you don't use a dressing), or water melon for dessert (again very low in calories), similarly, piece of cucumber in lunchbox or piece of melon (hot school dinners can be quite fattening, no matter government advice IMO). Does she drink a lot of water? If not, increase water intake (for the whole family, so she doesn't feel singled out). You could also try to give her muesli in the morning (from health food store, unsweetened and not with lots of dried fruit etc, just grains with a few nuts) with skimmed milk or low fat yogurt and a grated apple and juice of an orange mixed through (don't add sugar/honey etc). Very healthy and quite filling. You could start with having muesli once a week for the whole family and then more often.

Good luck.