Does my 7 year old look too thin? Pic attached.

[Sunbeamsandshadows]

I have severe health anxiety and find it very hard to be objective so please be gentle with me.
My dd7 is very prone to picking up viruses - always has been. Various tests over
the years have shown nothing apart from viruses
and no underlying conditions. She is petite
for age but always has been, but I can’t help but feel she looks so slim now it’s now thin not slim and not healthy looking
☹️I’m aware I do all I can to get her to eat higher fat foods but she naturally is more
of a grazer and loves vegetables and fruit and would always choose them over higher fat snacks.
this picture was taken at a pool party last
week and while I obviously can’t include the other kids there they all look so much bigger than her - not in Height but much much thicker legs and rounder bellies and just look so healthy! literally both her legs = the width of one of the other girl’s
leg.
I just wanted an objective opinion on whether I’m over obsessing and she’s fine if slim, or if you’d be querying why she’s so thin given I try and feed
her up constantly.
thank you ☺️

I don't think there is anything to worry about. My daughter is very slim as was I when I was her age. From the photo she looks normal to me. It's hard not to compare to her peers but we are all genetically different in that regard. As long as she's eating and she's healthy that's the main thing.

She looks like a normal healthy 7 year old to me.

I wouldn't look at her and think she's underweight!

X

She looks like a naturally slim but healthy weight to me. Remember that it's common these days for lots of children to be slightly overweight ( and some very overweight!). Our idea of what's "normal" has shifted to accommodate this ( not necessarily a good thing for slightly overweight to be the new normal IMO).

fine to me- looking above her elbows and knees, I’m no nutritionist but she appears to be a healthy weight from that photo

Perfectly normal.

How tall is she? Yes she is slim but judging by the photo she doesn't look unhealthy, not overly bony and appears to be in proportion. I think we have become accustomed to seeing people who are overweight, children included, so healthy weight people look smaller by comparison. Also children grow at different rates so not always helpful to compare.

How are her energy levels and appetite in general? Is she able to keep up with other kids in terms of exercise and play? How much does she eat on average? If you are concerned take her to the GP, but without other symptoms I wouldn't be concerned.

Looks totally normal and healthy to me.

Does she do any sport? That can build muscle.

Goodness no, she's fine

No, she looks a really good weight. Just how kids should look! She looks healthy!!

She looks totally fine to me - you can look up what percentile she is on the height and weight charts for reassurance (either google or if you still have her Red Book, the charts go up to 10yo IIRC)

Looks normal and healthy to me!

She looks like a normal, healthy seven year old to me. Her weight is just right.

Why on earth would you post this picture???? Get it removed. Poor kid.

Oh you guys - thank you. I may actually
sleep tonight thanks to your reassurances!

she’s not naturally sporty (prefers baking, cooking, playing with dolls, she’s adorably old
fashioned) but she does like swimming.

when not poorly with a pesky virus I’d say she eats Well- today for example was active as was a pool party then a softplay party 😅and she ate (without sounding the the hungry caterpillar book)

Breakfast: 2 x scotch pancakes with nutellla
3 rashers of bacon

lunch: 1/2 small ham sandwich with butter
small bowl lentil soup with a roll

snacks: 1 smarties ice cream, 1 bag of baked crisps, 5
raspberries

Dinner / supper:
1 small bowl of Mac cheese she proudly made herself😇
4 chicken nuggets
handful of Chips

I fully appreciate this is a high sugar diet but it’s partly due to a party food day and partly because she lost weight over Xmas so I’ve opened the floodgates to try and build her back up.

Totally normal.some parents have lost sight of what is ‘healthy’. All my kids were string beans with ribs showing-particularly my son who was underweigh for his height but hestill had bags of energy and ate like a horse.He didn’t change much until he was late 20’s.

I posted it for the reasons I stated in my
OP, blacked put her face for anonymity and will delete the post when I’ve had some
more helpful comments. Not sure why you don’t understand why I’ve posted it 🤷‍♀️

She looks totally normal for a 7 year old. My DD is similar, I'm also offering her lots of high fat foods as she's been ill for the last 10 days or so and has started to look skeletal.
That said she is just below the weight centile she was born on so I'm not too worried.

Completely normal. I agree with pp that we’ve lost sight of what’s healthy as so many children are actually overweight. When I was growing up in the 80s/90s there was a girl in our village who had some sort of medical issue and was overweight, she was noticeable and I remember as a child worrying about why she looked so big. I recently saw a photo of us at that age and from the lens of the 2020s unfortunately she just looks fairly average.

My DD is 6 and had a horrible illness over Christmas that just wrecked her appetite for about 2 weeks, she is tall and very bony any way but usually eats like a horse. After the illness she honestly looked terrible. Quite a bit slimmer than your daughter in that pic!

She has had tests for deficiencies and all have come back fine, as she has a very low BMI. Her dad and I are slim though and he’s tall. It’s just her body shape I guess! I have health anxiety too and when they first told me they were referring her for tests I spiralled badly and like you kept comparing her body to other children and panicking she was too thin. Have you checked her BMI and had her checked with a GP? Our GP was very supportive and thorough making sure there weren’t underlying issues/arranged blood tests etc. Worth a chat with them if you are worried she might have an issue absorbing certain foods?

As a pp said, many children are bigger these days than we were as kids. Several of my DD’s friends are obese, at 5/6. She is very slim but she is a normal, active, healthy eating (she too loves fruit and veg to snack on) child. Don’t worry about giving her high caloric/fatty foods unless a health professional advises it. I’d say it’s better long term to nurture her natural love of healthy food and just give her more protein maybe?

Oh, have a day off for goodness sake.

OP, she is the picture of health. She looks fit and strong. Stop worrying

I was expecting her to be painfully skinny from your post, but she’s really not, she’s nice and slim.

She looks absolutely fine to me, although on the slim side. Definitely not unhealthy and if she's always been that way she's even more fine. I wouldn't keep trying to get her to eat more either, what you've listed seems to reflect a healthy appetite.

She looks like my daughter looked at the same age. She’s now a tall, slim 17yo.

I wouldn’t be trying to feed her up, in the next few years her appetite will probably increase naturally as she enters puberty. I would try to encourage more physical activity as she gets older to build strength, balance, coordination and flexibility. My DD did swimming, dance and netball.

To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if she was slightly over the absolute centre of the BMI charts - my son was spot on height and weight and everyone used to call him 'too thin' and 'skinny' but he wasn't - it's just everyone else's children being too heavy.