Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Children's health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

Overweight 6 year old

22 replies

Loveoasis · 18/08/2025 20:08

DD is tall and has always scored on the higher end of the centiles since birth. However this holiday I think we’ve been way too permissive with treats and portions. I really noticed a couple of days ago that she’s developed a double chin and a belly. I feel awful and have cut out all the crap. Now I’m worried about her going back to school noticeably chubbier. She’s happy to be very active so will up that. Anyone got any experience of getting a child of this ages to loose some weight successfully. I’m feeling like the worst mum atm

OP posts:
Hohofortherobbers · 18/08/2025 20:11

If you keep her active and feed her healthily she'll grow into the weight, try not to focus on losing it

Bobbie12345678 · 18/08/2025 20:14

Well done for noticing you have a problem. I would focus on not having junk food in the house ( not as a big deal, just say you forgot to get crisps this week/ ran out etc), make smaller amounts of pasta and more veggies (so that there are less beige carbs but still plenty to eat if she is hungry) and try to up the family activity levels (eg turn off the tv and all head to the park after dinner). Good luck.

Parksinyork · 18/08/2025 20:16

In children the advice is not to get them
to lose weight but to allow their height to increase and to come inline with their weight.

Original poster
Loveoasis · 18/08/2025 20:27

Thanks. All good advice. Just feel awful that we’ve let this happen and I don’t want her to get teased.
With regards to growing into her weight-sorry if I’m being stupid but she’s already very tall (we’re all 5’10 plus in the family) so that could take a while?

OP posts:
Original poster
Loveoasis · 18/08/2025 20:28

Thanks. All good advice. Just feel awful that we’ve let this happen and I don’t want her to get teased.
With regards to growing into her weight-sorry if I’m being stupid but she’s already very tall (we’re all 5’10 plus in the family) so that could take a while?

OP posts:
Plinketyplonks · 18/08/2025 20:32

We’re the same, my daughter is seven. I was shocked to see she’s gained nearly 6 kg since Jan.She eats healthily but is always after food and it’s a constant battle to say no when she says I’m hungry which is about once every hour. The snack cupboard has mostly crackers and oatcakes or breadsticks. Other stuff like crisps and biscuits are kept out of reach. We do a lot of overnight oats, porridge, yoghurt and stewed fruit… it’s really hard because her older brother is skinny as anything and just lean with muscle. I want to feed him up! But without my daughter getting a complex

babasaclover · 18/08/2025 20:33

If it’s just one summers worth of over indulgence and she was otherwise fit and slim you’ll nip this in the bud no problem.

can I just commend you on noticing immediately - so many live a lie and it’s to the detriment of their kids health!

ColinVsCuthbert · 18/08/2025 20:34

Is your child active? Cut back on juice/sugary snacks and just give it a bit of time. Ours is that age and has always been at the high end of the chart, but weight and height more or less proportional. She's 50lbs and bang on 4ft right now. I sometimes notice my DD eating more and packing on weight before a growth spurt too, so maybe it is that. My FIL jokes that SIL when growing up would do a spurt of up and then out, up then out and that they all hoped that she would end on an up (fortunately did).

StrokeRecovery25 · 18/08/2025 20:35

Plinketyplonks · 18/08/2025 20:32

We’re the same, my daughter is seven. I was shocked to see she’s gained nearly 6 kg since Jan.She eats healthily but is always after food and it’s a constant battle to say no when she says I’m hungry which is about once every hour. The snack cupboard has mostly crackers and oatcakes or breadsticks. Other stuff like crisps and biscuits are kept out of reach. We do a lot of overnight oats, porridge, yoghurt and stewed fruit… it’s really hard because her older brother is skinny as anything and just lean with muscle. I want to feed him up! But without my daughter getting a complex

Crackers, oatcakes, breadsticks, all carbs, she needs some protein!

StrokeRecovery25 · 18/08/2025 20:39

Loveoasis · 18/08/2025 20:28

Thanks. All good advice. Just feel awful that we’ve let this happen and I don’t want her to get teased.
With regards to growing into her weight-sorry if I’m being stupid but she’s already very tall (we’re all 5’10 plus in the family) so that could take a while?

Well it's not going to be an overnight fix, but she's 6 & even though she's already tall she'll keep growing like 6 year olds do. You've already reduced the 'treats' so just up the FUN exercise & it'll come right! 🤗

be careful what you say to her though & don't take away ALL the treats!

Original poster
Loveoasis · 18/08/2025 20:45

These are really supportive. Thank you.
We are being ultra careful about the language around this as I don’t want her to have any disordered attitudes towards food. It’s not her fault and I want it to be resolved with no lasting damage!

OP posts:
Original poster
Loveoasis · 18/08/2025 20:45

These are really supportive. Thank you.
We are being ultra careful about the language around this as I don’t want her to have any disordered attitudes towards food. It’s not her fault and I want it to be resolved with no lasting damage!

OP posts:
itsabeautifuldayjuly · 18/08/2025 20:54

Also, what do you consider to be active? Kids need a lot more exercise than we think and it’s easy to over estimate how much they do!
If she likes exercise, you could add there as well for an all around healthier family lifestyle: swimming, out on the bike, discovery walks . Added benefits is that you can’t really eat while you are being active:)
Its harvest time as well, so a good time to get in seasonal fruit and veg as healthy treats while learning:)

Original poster
Loveoasis · 18/08/2025 20:57

We usually have a long dog walk everyday. She scoots or plays on the trampoline. That sort of stuff

OP posts:
Plinketyplonks · 18/08/2025 21:19

StrokeRecovery25 · 18/08/2025 20:35

Crackers, oatcakes, breadsticks, all carbs, she needs some protein!

Show quote history

She has peanut butter, houmous, eggs. She won’t eat cheese. Eats yoghurt. Meat and fish at proper meal times but if she’s starving I do eg an apple and a splodge of peanut butter or an oatcake and houmous. We buy a really good quality peanut butter.

Conversensational · 18/08/2025 21:24

Loveoasis · 18/08/2025 20:57

We usually have a long dog walk everyday. She scoots or plays on the trampoline. That sort of stuff

You can probably do a lot more. My ds who is just turning 6 has done an hour of swimming, 30 mins on a climbing wall, a one hour dog walk, 30 mins on the trampoline and lots of dancing about inside today and he's still going (jumping about rather than being in bed!). I suspect he has ADHD and it has been very busy today but my point is that little bodies can do a lot!

itsabeautifuldayjuly · 18/08/2025 21:29

Loveoasis · 18/08/2025 20:57

We usually have a long dog walk everyday. She scoots or plays on the trampoline. That sort of stuff

I think the recommendation is 1 hour of medium to intense exercise per day. Its so easy to overestimate how much kids are doing, so there is probably room for improvement.
My 8 year old is pretty active, walking at least 1 hour per day, plus organised sport most days for at least 1 hour plus loads of outdoor free play.

Original poster
Loveoasis · 18/08/2025 21:30

Conversensational · 18/08/2025 21:24

You can probably do a lot more. My ds who is just turning 6 has done an hour of swimming, 30 mins on a climbing wall, a one hour dog walk, 30 mins on the trampoline and lots of dancing about inside today and he's still going (jumping about rather than being in bed!). I suspect he has ADHD and it has been very busy today but my point is that little bodies can do a lot!

Show quote history

Wow. That’s a lot!

OP posts:
Original poster
Loveoasis · 18/08/2025 21:31

Okay. So maybe we’re not getting her to do enough during the holidays. When she’s at school I know she’s v active

OP posts:
Hiptothisjive · 18/08/2025 21:38

Sounds like you are taking good action but a few things come to mind here for me…

Just be slightly mindful that heathy isn’t always low calorie. Peanut butter can be very fattening. Juice is all sugar. Bread isn’t a good snack or toast for example.

Exercise (or fun activity) should be upped. My kids are active all day. It’s great they are scooting but what are they doing all the rest of the day for example? Long walks are great but not going to push things very much.

just some things to consider but you know your child best.

scaredfriend · 18/08/2025 23:36

Hohofortherobbers · 18/08/2025 20:11

If you keep her active and feed her healthily she'll grow into the weight, try not to focus on losing it

This. Children shouldn’t really need to ‘lose’ weight unless they’re massively overweight / obese. She needs to keep the weight the same as she grows so that she becomes lighter in proportion.
Cut the snacks and treats, look at portion sizes (most kids are served and eat way more than they should for their age) and focus on healthy eating with lots of veggies and some fruit.

Original poster
Loveoasis · 20/08/2025 20:29

I’m so grateful for all the supportive comments. I’m keeping it in perspective- that she’s a bit chubby but we can totally get a handle on this.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page