Underweight child?

[Forgottheshelfelf]

We've just been measuring our BMIs using the Nhs website and apparently my 4yo DS is on the 0th centile and is underweight for his height.

I'm now frantically worried. He seems quite healthy, has energy and eats.

I have a feeling he's lost weight, I'm sure he used to weigh more but can't remember for sure.

I'm going to make a doctors appointment, am I being paranoid?

If he has energy,and eats OK I wouldn't be too concerned. I am not sure BMI's work too well for children.

No, you aren't being paranoid. Are you sure you have calculated his BMI correctly? Is it worth checking his weight and height again and re-performing the calculation?

Perhaps you could post his height and weight and we can check his BMI and I could check how that features against my Red book graphs for you.

I would pay more attention to your gut feeling than a website.

Remember, the NHS are notoriously poor at IT projects!

Thanks - he's about 100cm and is 13.4 kgs. DH and I are both quite slight, my BMI has always been quite low.

The website says the calculation is suitable for adults and children.

It's hard to see what he is in the red book as he's sort of between charts (he's four and a bit).

He's a few cm taller than my 3 year old and weighs more than a kg less, and DS is pretty skinny - ribs clearly visible, knees the widest bit of his legs etc.

Does he look underweight? No harm in having him checked out.

that doesn't sound a lot to me for his height. Are you sure the scales are right? dd was nearly 16kgs at 105cm which made her 25th centile bmi I think.

DS2 who is 3 is 95cm and 14.3kg and is quite skinny looking. Perhaps take him to be weighed at the childrens centre to make sure of the weight before you go to docs?

I'm going to take him to my mum's in the morn and weigh him there. Come to think of it, DH has clearly put on weight recently but swears he's the same weight so it could be the scales that are wrong. If so, DH will be gutted

Thanks for your help everyone

bmi's work differently for children though.

Mine is about 96cm and 12.6kg. He's very slight yes but was prem and growth restricted. He's had all sorts of monitoring but no-one is worried about his weight. He's on the 9th centile for height and the 2nd for weight. I expect your DS is fine, someone's got to be the lightest.

I've just typed a long answer and lost it!

The gist was that BMI calculation is done the same for children and adults but the healthy ranges are different. explanation

Your son does sound a little bit slim and I think it's worth checking the figures on different scales and then going and checking with the doctor. You're not being paranoid - but equally, try not to worry. The fact that he eats and has lots of energy is great.

Thanks all, I've checked it at my mum's and he's actually 13.9kg, which is slim but ok. He's always been on a very low centile so I think it's fine. Phew!

I was panicking a bit then. Thanks for all the advice.

A new set of scales is on my birthday list