Weight...

[frillynat81]

Does anyone else worry about the weight of their child? My wee one is 7, 125cm and weighs 3 stones 9lbs. Apparently this is healthy but he just looks so thin

My little one is 7 in April 113cm and 2 stone 12 your little one sounds fine, my little one is fine at her size as well just petite :-)

Yes, DS is 5, 101cm, and about 2 stone 7, but I try to console myself with the fact that he's hardly ever ill, and has gallons of energy. He is just not going to be big. I am quite glad that is all I have to worry about TBH!

Remember that due to huge increase in childhood obesity, your DC may well look thin compared to many of their peers even at a healthy weight...

Try and find some photos of kids in the seventies to compare yours too..

I'm sure DD was about that weight & height, too.

If child has plenty of energy and a healthy tone to their skin then scrawny is a perfectly healthy body shape.

He is a very energetic little boy and always looks good. But, for the past month he has been so ill and you can clearly see his ribs. Other people are beginning to comment that he looks really thin and I'm worrying. I'm going to try him on build up shakes to see if I can get him to put a few pounds on.

Very prominently though TravelinColour?

I have the opposite problem.

My 5 year old is classed as overweight (Reception screening).

She does 5 hours gymnastics a week, 2 hours dancing and an hour of swimming. She walks/cycles a lot, eats healthily and is very fit.

She is still classed as a concern.

I'm not sure what else I can do ...

Who told you that your child was overweight youonlysingwhenyourewinning?

We signed a form to allow the health service to check her height and weight in Reception and Y6.

The letter that came gave us her weight (I don't know it now because I binned the letter) and height, and stated that she was in the 'overweight' category and that it is a concern.

Ah, at school. We don't do that in Scotland. Maybe she has a slow metabolism?

I have no idea frilly

She is 91st centile, was born 91st centile and has stayed 91st centile.

But then, someone has to be, don't they?

She sounds a perfectly healthy little girl to me. Are you sure it isn't just puppy fat?! Excuse the term! My boy had major hamster cheeks when he started school.

She's chunky, there's no doubt about it.

She doesn't look overweight to me, just sturdy. She's quite muscly, though she's not very tall. I do appreciate that we often don't see what others see in our own children though ...maybe she is fat, but I can't see it?

She's physically very fit and healthy (learnt to ride a bike at the age of 3, runs around all day, is always upside down cartwheeling etc) so I'm not concerned health-wise.

It just bothers me that she's seen as a 'concern'

Hopefully she'll have a massive growth-spurt too and grow into her weight

Frilly & YOSWYW: have you been to see your GPs to raise your concerns?

In reception, DS was recorded as healthy weight when I am convinced he was actually a bit too fat. I worked on reducing fat content & portion size in his diet. He's a bit of a boredom snacker so tried to address that too. Seems to have worked. He'll always be a solid build (big rib cage like me) but not looking pudgy any more.

Tbh it's more their concern than mine, iykwim.

She's a very healthy active girl. Maybe if she's still very solid in a years time I'll go then.

What BMI percentile is she on, YOSWYW?
DD is the small skinny one in her gang of friends (all tall & plump). I would be worried if I were mother of one of the others & I sometimes wonder if their mothers instead think that's normal because they're so used to how their own child looks. Some parents can't see their own children objectively.

But DD is y6, the kids are closer to adult proportions than 5yos, they don't have relatively huge livers any more giving them huge tummies, for instance. The 3 heavy girls have all started periods before 11th birthday which can be a sign of over-nourishment, too.

Or so they claim... Starting periods might be a bragging point at this age. One of DD's tiniest peers claimed to have started periods at age 8, didn't admit it was complete fiction for 2 years.

"Remember that due to huge increase in childhood obesity, your DC may well look thin compared to many of their peers even at a healthy weight."

That is so true. I took DD to see the doctor recently, and among other things, I mentioned that I was concerned at how skinny she was. The doctor examined her and said she was the right weight and that most girls her age (12) carry too much weight. To be fair most of her friends are quite chunky.

Unfortunately clothes manufacturers make clothes for chunky children - are you listening M & S? Luckily at age 12 DD can now look for adult size 6 and her clothing options have increased massively.

Yes children are supposed to look skinny, we're just accustomed to seeing overweight kids these days. If he's not medically underweight, I would not be trying to make him put on extra weight.

I don't know lljkk because I didn't keep the letter.

It just said she's in the overweight category.

I agree totally that I may not view dd objectively ... maybe she is fat and I don't see it. She's certainly chunky and always has been.

I have two older girls too, who were also chunky. One is now 13 and an adult size 4/6, one is nearly 10 and although I'd say is still fairly chunky she fits easily in age 8/9 clothes.

If he is a healthy weight don't try to "fatten him up". My parents did that after I was I'll and I have been obese since I was 8. It's no fun!

Ds is 7 next April is just over 4 stone and about 133cm. You can see his ribs and the vertebrae in his spine and he has a wicked set of stomach muscles. The poster up the thread is right we have got use to people being over weight so normal weight children look skinny. Ds is very broad though as well