To ignore BMI as an indicator of a child being overweight?

[HappyHolidays22]

My DD is 4, 5 in 2 months time. She’s tall for her age and looks older than she is because of this. (Just for context, her dad is 6 ft 5 and I am the shortest female in the family at 5 ft 6… so she doesn’t come from small stock!)

Today we had a letter from some NHS service to say that they have done some measurements in school (with our permission) and that she is overweight. Her height is just over 118cm and weight slightly over 26kg. According to the BMI calculator this puts her over then 90th percentile and therefore overweight…

but my problem is that she looks totally in proportion for her height! Never in a million years would I have thought to say she was overweight…

we eat healthily and encourage DD to eat a range of foods (with varying levels of success as I think is normal for a 4 year old).

my question is - AIBU to ignore this BMI calculator/info from the NHS if I believe my daughter is fine? Or should I be doing something to trim her weight down? (Of course, I’d never ever tell DD this as don’t want her to ever have a complex!)

@Ladyfird @Ladybug14 @lostinthoughts - thank you :)

Signed DD up for a 30 min swimming class on Saturday that I think we will be so excited about (it’s been really meant to be actually as I didn’t realise the classes actually start this weekend!)

I’m also going to bite the bullet and head to Asda shortly (with a cranky 7 month old in tow so wish me luck haha)

I do promise I will stop updating with these mundane life updates soon - and I’ll just post an update of how we are getting on with the weight over the next month or two xx

*she will be excited about

@HappyHolidays22 please don't stop
Updating! Would love to know how you're getting on.

I do promise I will stop updating with these mundane life updates soon

Oi Mrs. Enough self deprecation. People can not read if they don't want to. Post as much mundanity as you'd like. It's not like the rest of us are scuba diving the Seychelles or climbing Everest on the regular!

Another positive thing you can do (although admittedly more difficult with a baby in tow as well) is start cooking together. For example, a chicken nuggets made with chicken breast dipped in flour, egg and breadcrumbs, then baked in the oven is a world away from the over processed "biege" freezer ones.

Ps... well done on being brave enough to look honestly at the situation and make changes.

Look forward to more updates.

@HappyHolidays22

Glad to see I'm not the only one breeding a giant. My four year old turns five in April. I measured & weighed him tonight and he's 118cm and 30.4kg.

He's been on the top centiles almost from birth and has topped out the centiles on a couple of occasions during a growth spurt.The first thing people comment on when they see him is always how tall he is.

Those measurements are also overweight on BMI aren't they?
My daughter is also top of the centiles, has been since birth, but her BMI says she is just overweight - really interested in this thread and have started implementing changes.

Bloody hell that's almost morbidly obese!

Have you spoken to the HV or GP about this? He’s 4kh heavier than my 9 year old.

is he "in proportion"? My lad was always ... wide.. he still has a massive arse because for some reason his hips and shoulders are really broad - and is now a muscly 19yo. However, you could always see his ribs, no rolls of fat/ 'muffin tops', no belly etc. Is your lad healthy? or is he he actually just overweight and you're minimising it?

You'd expect a 30.4Kg child to be around 9-10 years old. But his height indicates he's an "average" 6-7yo. So, even if you age him up by a year or two, and measure him as a 7yo, he's still pushing 95+ centiles, which is hugely overweight.

www.rcpch.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Boys_2-18_years_growth_chart.pdf

it would be interesting to see photos (anonymised of course) of these kids that parents think are just fine in weight.

Like is aid in a PP, my lad was always pushing centiles, but he was genuinely broad, and 'heavy' - not a scrap of fat on him, ribs and backbone visible etc - just weighed a lot (must have had dense bones LOL)

Small children that are overweight generally don’t present as flabby/rolls. They’re what their parents would call ‘solid’ or ‘chunky’ - they have bigger arms/legs/torsos than their peers and look ‘strong’.

Yes, this is exactly how I would describe my DD 🫣 … but hopefully not for too much longer in this house! Another day I’d happily walking to school, no desserts and actually a much more well- thought out dinner menu (if I do say so myself) is starting to be established with a successful two days so far… although we have a few months to go before I think we will notice a difference.

Just try and make sure she isn’t gaining anymore. Then when she has a growth spurt you will notice she will start to even out.

My middle DD was ‘solid’ in reception. She wasn’t overweight on the check that they did, but wasn’t far off (85th centile I think).
Shes 7 now and with just making a few minor changes (walking everywhere, fewer ‘treats’ etc) she is now down to the 50th centile and just looks long and lean (she was always tall for her age).
It’s difficult because her 9 year old sister is verging on underweight so we have to balance the needs of them both… if we reduced calories for the 9 year old she’d very soon tip into the underweight category.

But they can just have different versions of the same thing? So underweight DD might have whole milk and butter on her porridge and toast for breakfast Overweight DD has skimmed and lower fat spread for example? but they both have a little dollop of jam/honey on their breakfast

Yeah that’s kind of what we do (although I'm not buying low fat spread for anyone, it’s rank). They both have packed lunches for school so the underweight one has the more calorific options.
It’s funny though that they’ve both been raised on exactly the same foods and doing the same activity and they have such different body shapes. DD2 was much heavier from the start, and put on 1lb a week in the first 6 weeks of her life (EBF).

And to add I also have a 4 year old who is severely autistic and has a very very limited diet, so meal times are fun here!

Middle child was never overweight by the way, but wasn’t far below the threshold.

@WaddleAway that makes my meal planning situation look like a doddle! Sounds like you have it well under control though!l and thanks for the example of your middle DD evening out as you made those tweaks to her diet. I’m hopeful that the same will happen for us over the coming months - as @Sunshineismyfriend as said :)

Wowweee DD didn’t even ask for dessert tonight! And managed to move dinner to 5pm without any problem… which meant she ate all her dinner which included wilted spinach and brown rice (two things I wouldn’t have dreamt of her eating). and I’ll be honest… it’s me that craving some sort of sweet dessert!

Just goes to show how much you project into your kids when it comes to food choices… long may this continue!

Long may it continue indeed.
Bloody well done.

I agree. Bloody well-done. As I said previously....superstar Mum

Brilliant OP :-)