Child height and weight measurement programme

[Imamumgetmeoutofhere]

My daughter is 11 and in Year 6 at school.
For those who may not be from the UK, in the UK children have a height and weight check in Reception class (age 4-5) and Year 6 class (age 10-11) as part of the child measurement programme.

When my daughter was in Reception hers came back on the 99th centile putting her as “very overweight”. I was shocked at the time. Yes she was a little bit chubby but it still looked more like the “baby fat” if you know what I mean, and she definitely appeared so trim down over the years.

Shes recently had hers done for Year 6. Once again it’s come back on the 99th centile putting her as very overweight again.

She’s 5 foot 2 tall and weighs 9 stone 7lbs and she wears a ladies size 8 clothing. I’ll add she’s been having her periods since she was 9 and has to wear a bra so she is quite grown up. She looks more mature than the majority of her peers.

She’s eats healthily, as a family we use slimming world meals for a lot of our food but she doesn’t have the half fat cheese or milk etc as I want to make sure she gets the right calcium as she’s still growing and is allowed the odd treat, we usually have ice cream on a Sunday evening but that’s it, no puddings in the week.

She swims 3 times a week minimum for an hour each time for our local swimming club (she recently swam a kilometre in 20 minutes).

She also walks to school and home each day which is a mile each day.
Then there is PE at school twice a week and then an after school club of dodgeball once a week.
I honestly don’t know what we are doing wrong. To me she is beautiful, she looks perfect and she does so much sport and eats well.

She is so self conscious anyway having gone through puberty much earlier than her classmates, now she’s worried as they told her when doing her height and weight they would write to us.
Her elder brother has had exactly the same bringing but has always been either underweight or lower end of normal weight, even now at 17 he’s 6 foot 2 tall and only around 9 stone so very slender.

What are we doing wrong? I’m stressing now that she is going to have weight problems into adulthood.

Are slimming world meals healthy? From recollection they rely on a lot of carbs whereas more protein and decent fats would keep a tween fuller for longer. What are her portions like- what does she eat in a day?

She usually has Weetabix or porridge with semi skimmed milk for breakfast.

Wholemeal roll with ham or cheese for lunch along with carrot sticks, cucumber, and orange, bottle of water and a yogurt. Or a home made soup at the weekend.

Evening meals are things like chilli con carne, bolognese, chicken curry, jacket potatoes, fajitas etc. I usually weight out the spaghetti / pasta / rice etc and give a smaller portion of that, more of the protein and veg based portion.

snacks are things like carrot sticks, cucumber, fruit, hummus, yoghurts.

How is her muscle mass?

Why allow school to do this ?

That would be at the top end of a healthy bmi for an adult female which I guess equates to a top 90s centile for a child?
Has anyone actually said she’s an unhealthy weight?
The letter is probably some of the nonsense outdated healthy eating advice the NHS still spouts for kids. Keep a watching brief and try to reduce carbs and increase protein a bit

We weren’t told they were coming into school or I would have not given consent

It’s a government and NHS initiative. Nothing to do with schools.

As per the NHS Guidelines you should have been advised of this in advance to be able to opt out. My son has recently had this and the school shared a digital letter from our NHS trust’s child and family health team.

My son was 4ft 9 inches and 5 stone 9 pounds. This puts him on the 53 percentile. I find this nuts as he is very lean but with muscle-y calves and arms. I wouldn’t want him to be any leaner!

You haven't mentioned any sweets, puddings, crisps etc. If she is never having those things at home, I would think she is probably getting them elsewhere. I have nothing to comment on her weight and don't know what she should be, but the food intake sounds too healthy to be true.

Not necessarily. Portion sizes could be an issue. Metabolism and hormones could be an issue. She might have a high muscle mass (swimming) rather than just body fat. She’s pretty tall for her age , and since she has been having periods since she was 9, she’s developing differently. All these things could have an impact on. Or , of course, she could be wolfing down full sized chocolate bars in secret, but it’s not a given.

If she keeps up the swimming/other exercise then she will be ok at that weight if she has stopped growing/nearly stopped growing but doesn’t gain more weight? I doubt the child’s BMI works really for girls who are developed as it will come out high % wise. Having said that I’d definitely want to ensure she isn’t gaining weight so would perhaps try and weigh her yourself every few months to keep an eye? For context, I have a 12yo who is a similar height and post-puberty, c cup bra and she is around 8 stone and a size 4-6, slim but not skinny.

it's probably the portion sizes. Also, snacks - you probably don't see it all. Doesn't she even help herself to a bowl of cereal? Maybe a toast? Snack here and there really adds up.
A friend of mine has a very overweight daughter and she can't figure out why, daughter also swims and they eat healthy homecooked meals. But their portions are absolutely massive. Huge. And my friend piles her DC with snacks at every opportunity - school pick up snack, before swim snack, after swim snack, before dinner snack, bedtime snack etc. Can you take a look at everything and all quantities she eats?

Weight problems can be addressed and worked on at any age.

I don’t think a child BMI is necessarily relevant for her given she’s already well through puberty tbh. If she’s stopped growing or slowed down I would just track to make sure there no big gains.

She’s physically active and she’s probably absolutely fine. Mines always been at the top of her weight range but she is very strong (she does sports 6 times a week outside of school). She looks leaner than a friend of about the same weight because she just has a bit more muscle mass.

I tend to do all the cooking and food prep. Leave things in the fridge for when I’m at work and it’s only husband at home (he works from home).

She doesn’t walk to school or home alone so I know she’s not buying stuff on the way home and doesn’t go to the shop alone. The only thing I can think is her nan may give her stuff when she has her but that’s only one afternoon a week before she swims so she’s unlike to be able to give her loads of junk in that time as she doesn’t like to eat before swimming.

I might need to look at portion sizes. She tends to ask for a bit more food than I dish up at evening meals but with the amount of exercise she does I didnt think it would be an issue 😣 she’s definitely not eating adults size portions though, and that fact that she’s gone through puberty makes me feel she’s going to have a bit of a higher calorie need than a child her age who hasn’t?

ill definitely take a look at everything suggested though so thank you

Is she still growing? By age 11 I was fully grown at 5’2”, had boobs, and was about 9 stone. I’m now 46 and still the same. She may just have reached maturity pretty early? I eat well and do a lot of sport. I just have a pretty solid gymnast type build. My younger brother is thin as a rake and tall.

It took me a long time to realise it’s my body type and accept it for what it is. Unfortunately we can’t all be willowy!

This. Why are you eating SW food?

Switch to basic food, grilled chicken breast, potatoes and veg, or home made chilli and rice, or pan fried salmon, mash and veg. Cut out sugars and sweet stuff, aim for 30 different fruit & veg a week. She'll be fine.

Looking at her weight, she's 5'2" and 9.5 stone at 11.

I was 9.5 stone when I left for uni, and I'm 5'8". So yes, she is a little heavy. But she does lots of exercise and with a change of diet she will soon lose it.

exercise burns a surprisingly low amount of calories, so don't even count that in. Very easy to eat everything burned in an hour back in 2 minutes.
And I would suggest you check portion sizes and weigh and measure everything, just to see where you are. If you know everything she eats and say she's not secretly eating a ton of extra food, it must be the amount she eats during family mealtimes.

She's on the 98th or 99th centile for height too, dependant on her age. So not out of proportion. She is at the upper end of the BMI range for an adult and likely will only grow 1 or 2 more cm at the most since her periods started at 9.

I honestly wouldn't get too worked up about it