25kg and going to High School

[KThnxBye]

I’m a little concerned about how my DD is going to manage at High School. I’m looking at buying uniform ready for starting and everything is huge and baggy. I know they grow quickly in year 7 but she understandably wants clothes that fit. 30 inches is the smallest blazer size they do and she looks like she is wearing clown clothes. More concerningly we have tried on the smallest size of compulsory gym shorts they do and they fall straight down without her even moving. But they are also very short shorts in length because she is very slim but an average height (148cm) I could maybe take in the width but I’m not the best sewer, how do I fix the length? We have some sensory issues too about things that are baggy or don’t fit and I have no idea how to find the four pairs of shoes she needs either but that can wait til august!

Anyone else have a lower weight child and how did they manage in the crowded corridors? Or with the heavy bags? She will have a 2.3 mile walk to school and the same again home so I need to get her a good bag but even that seems problematic (all the ones that fit aren’t cool obvs)

I often have to feed extra elastic in waist bands for my tall but skinny boy.

I cut a small slit in the inside of the waist band and feed the elastic though with a big safety pin, then sew it down. Sometimes they are stitched so they have a central seam which requires two incisions. It's very easy to do and requires little sewing ability. Your efforts are only visible inside the waistband.

Might work for PE kit.

I think it's really hard as a parent to know though (much like it's hard for parents of overweight children to realise that they are objectively overweight, and not just 'cuddly'). Looking back, although I was worried about DD1 (and begging for support for her) I don't think that I realised how thin she was. I was used to her prominent spine, her jaunty hips, her tiny waist. It was when her feet were turning purple and she was feeling dizzy when she stood that I really knew something was wrong. Now, she has put on 20kg and she looks right.

Just to put this in context - my DD was 4 stone 11 pounds which is 30kg and counted as dangerously underweight, she was about 145 cm. This was when she was diagnosed with Crohn's in October of year 7. We bought a skirt that was "age 9" and it hung off her waist.

Your scales must be wrong, or your DD is not a healthy shape and size.

Yes, DD1 was older (15) but she was 165cm and 37kg just before she was admitted to hospital.

Agree that these things can be hard to spot when it's your own child, who you see every day.

DD became severely underweight aged 9 and it took me ages to put everything together and realise that something was really wrong. She was still physically active (too active in fact - obsessively exercising), doing well with school work etc. But she was also cold all the time, had very dry skin and discoloured hands, displayed anxious behaviours. When swimming lessons started up again (this was in 2021 so during lockdowns etc) I saw her in her costume next to the other kids and it was suddenly obvious that she was skin and bones. I think she was just under 23kg and 142cm tall then.

I wouldn't hit panic stations about her weight, but I do think it's worth a trip to the GP, getting some bloods done etc.

It's very very thin, but I couldn't see them hospitalising her if she's fine in herself, more they'd start some investigations maybe.

I have a below first centile child (13kg at 5). She does have a serious health condition, but they don't 'think' its the cause. Maybe. They are pretty reluctant to do much, though she is on high calorie supplements etc. The difference is she's short as well (just under 1m) so slightly more proportional (3rd centile for BMI).

There is a huge range of 'healthy' weights for an 11 year old. Most are somewhere from the high 20's to mid 40's.

My older daughter at 7 is only 20kg.

It's not something to panic about, but don't ignore either.

Not sure a child that underweight should be doing more strenuous exercise.