My toddler is overweight and I don't know why

[WaitingForSunday17]

Well originally I know why I guess. She didn't drop down the milk when she started solids. However since July she's only been having one cup of milk a day and that's it. I expected her to slim down but she hasn't.

She's nearly 2 and is 92cm but weighs 2stone 8lbs which makes her 99th centile and very overweight.

Usually she has water and a weetabix for breakfast, sometimes one and a half weetabix. Lunch is one piece of wholemeal bread with peanut butter or cheese and she will have some fruit and dinner is a roast dinner but with lots of vegetables, or a bolognaise or a quiche or jacket potato. Sometimes pasta but she's hit and miss with eating that. She doesn't seem to eat anymore than any other toddler. Indeed some days she eats hardly anything. She is good with fruit and vegetables. Probably twice a week she will have a biscuit or a Kinderegg. If she wants a snack she usually has berries or a banana.

So why is she still so overweight? I don't want her to lose weight necessarily but to get taller and not put weight on. She is in she 3/4 because I cannot fit her in her own age and her arms and round her waist are particularly tubby.

I meant water to drink for breakfast. Not over the weetabix!
During the day she drinks water and has a cup of milk before bed still.

Does she eat petit filous / yogurts etc that are packed full of sugar?

Have you switched to semi skimmed milk?

Is sh active? Does she have the chance to run around when you are out?

Does 99th percentile mean she's overweight or does it mean she's at the upper limit of what's normal? I'm not quite sure.

My DS is and always has been 91st centile. He's a big lad, chunky but I don't think he's overweight. He eats like a horse but his diet is very varied and we are strict on unhealthy snacks - I work really hard to limit things like cakes and biscuits, which his smaller friends have loads of (no judgement from me, I just know he can't get away with eating high calorie snacks because he eats SO much regular food). He happily snacks on fruit like bananas and vegetables etc so I'm not overly worried.

He might be 'big' but he does have a more balanced and varied diet than the majority of toddlers, so I let him get on with it.

Milk wise he has it on his cereal and with his mid morning snack at nursery but that's it. Milk is actually not as high calorie as you might think - does she drink semi skimmed?

It's not clear what your portion sizes are like? I suspect they are quite large, because the weetabix, which is one thing where you indicated amount, seems a lot. I'm an adult and I only eat 2, and my 4.5 year olds eats 1, plus a small amount of fruit. A pasta serving for a 2 year old should be about 2 tablespoons

I say more exercise. When mine were that age we’d do something every day that was physical. Park, toddler groups, soft play etc

My 14 month old eats 1 and a half weetabix

He is bang on size wise

Doesn't sound like she eats an excessive amount. Did she jump up the centiles then when weaning? Is that what makes you fear she's overweight rather than just a bigger child as opposed to a smaller one?

I should say my two year old can eat five weetabix some days. He's 91st centile and has been since he was a few weeks old. He's not even chubby-looking, he's just a big kid.

As long as she's eating a healthy diet with appropriate portion sizes I'd worry more about exercise at the age she is. Lots of playing outside and walking.

If her height and weight are in proportion and she has been tracking the centile rather than jumping up them I wouldn't worry too much. What she is eating (if that's all she is eating) sounds fine. 99th centile is still normal.

Have you spoken to a Health Visitor or GP about it? She's at an age where growth will slow down - as she gains in height she probably will start to slim down though, what she eats doesn't sound excessive.

I don't have DS's red book handy, where does her height put her on the centile chart (on it's own, for her age)? DS used to go 'along' the height chart and 'up' the weight chart for a bit, then reverse the two (so he'd pudge out then shoot up) - he never grew perfectly proportionately. He still doesn't - he's nearly 6 and whenever he develops a bit of a muffin top we know he's about to outgrow all his clothes...

First off this is just thoughts as I know nothing but....

• Portion size
• Activity levels (physical play)
• Eating outside home without you knowing (snacks from somewhere?)
• 'Hidden' calories - peanut butter, wholemeal bread, cereals, sweet sauces and fruit can all be more calorific that you realise.

With the exception of something medical it's got to be a calories in versus energy used issue at that age, and I'm guessing it could be a very fine line. Hope you work it out, without it becoming too stressful!

Where does her height sit on the chary? 92cm for a girl less than 2yo is very tall.

If height and weight match in centile lines I wouldn't be worried.

Continue on same route as current and she will likely slim down as she grows taller.

You say if she wants a snack she has berries or banana. How often, is it twice a week she wants a snack or twice a day?

What is her dinner portion size like?
Does she have desert?

Also, have you tried writing a food diary for a couple of weeks. Often it’s easy to underestimate, thinking you give chocolate twice a week when it could be you go to friends house/grandparents/cafe/soft play and she’s having biscuits/treats here and there that you forget about.

No she doesn't have high sugar yoghurts etc. She doesn't really like yoghurt much in any form really.

She's always been biggish but I think the issue really started when I allowed her to keep having the milk when she started solids. She has semi skimmed milk.

I don't think one and a half weetabix is that much as she doesn't eat again then for four or five hours... Portion size for each thing tends to be about the size of her fist as per guidance I've read on the NHS website. She doesn't even eat it all a lot of the time.

Usually a mid afternoon snack when her brother gets home from school as he has something then too.

DS was super chunky, he's a beanpole now ... try not to worry the diet sounds fine - growth catches up soon enough

There's a lot of sugar there. Weetabix alone is 34g of carbs. That's a lot. Add in the milk, bread, fruit, pasta, potatoes, biscuits. Not all sugar is sweet!

Height is between 90th and 95th centile.

But if I plot her bmi on the NHS website it still says she's very overweight even taking height into it.
She's very active in the summer as we go to the park etc. I take her for a walk most days now but somedays the weather hasn't been good enough particularly with the ice and snow we've had. She is less active now than she was in the summer. She also used to go in the garden after dinner but now it is too dark.

No but berries are lower in sugar than most fruits. They are low GI.

Looks like she’s 99th percentile for height too so she’s in proportion, just a tall child. Are you and her father tall?

My son was a bit like this. He is 3 now and hasn't gained any weight (maybe 0.5kg) in a year but has grown a lot so has sort of levelled out on size. It can just be the milk in my experience, mine was a milk monster. He didn't lose any weight but grew and is now a solid built average. He still has too much milk. His brother wasn't as chunky but was still "solid". He's skinny at 4.

Her dad is, I'm average. Her dad is 6ft 3. Her brother is quite tall. He is 8 and 148cm. He has to wear age 11-12