Is my child obese?

[madcol]

Saw that article about 2 stone 2 Lb 18 month old described as obese. My son is about 2 stone and is now 20 months. He has been about this weight since 2 months ago when he was 75th centile for height and weight.

He doesn't eat the stuff that girl is eating. Hates chips/potatoes has never had coke in his life. May have v. occasioanl chocolate button but eats loads of fruit and rice cakes- so that may be bad. He won't eat meat. Runs about loads but alos likes to be caried.

He is a bigger frame than other children - taller and broader int he shoulders- but has lean arms and legs with a sticky-out tummy.

Should I worry or re-think his diet.

if he's 75th centile, then he's not obese

don't worry, he sounds perfect

sounds fine to me, if he's eating a healthy balanced varied diet and is happy and active then you're just right

Message withdrawn

He sounds fine to me. I would only be concerned if he only ate chocolate buttons!

All little ones love to be carried, its perfectly normal. He sounds normal

If my dd weighed that much, she would likely be obese, but she is on the smallest centile, cant remember what that one is, but its small!

To be honest - I only saw head shots of that little firl but I didin;t think she looked too bad, I may have thought she was a little round but toddlers often are.
Her diet was not something I would give my son butI wonder whether many toddlers who are rounded wold be classified as obese?

Sorry that should be ' little girl'

madcol, my dd is 21 mo and weighs 2 stone, she's 75th centile for weight and 50th for height; like your ds, she eats well, fruit, an odd bit of chocolate, is veggie, runs around a lot. i used to worry about her weight but apart from the sticky out tummy, i'm now convinced she's just fine, after much reassurance from hv and gp!! try to not to worry.

my 18 month old dd is over 2 stone. she's on the 91st centile for height and the 98th centile for weight. She is chubby but there is nothing wrong with a chubby toddler fgs! when did we start getting so obsessed with babies' weight? If you are feeding them a decent balanced diet then their weight will even out as they grow taller.

My ds was HUGE when he was a toddler (way, way off the centile charts) and now he is a tall, scrawny 5 year old.

No wonder girls are getting eating disorders from such a young age if we are already worrying about them at 1 years old!

madcol, my 4 year ds is obese according to his BMI (and yes, I did use the children's BMI range). He is so not in reality though, he is very muscular (like dh) and lean (not like dh). You can see his ribs and very clear muscle definition on his abdomen and arms/legs. I think this obsession with children's weight is a very fashionable thing at the moment and causes so much unnecessary anxiety - if he looks fine and in proportion then he's just how he isn meant to be.

2 stone is average for a 2 year old. So normal for a 75th centile child at his age.

I saw the article and did not think the toddler looked obese at all. Not in her face anyway. Could not see her body. It demends on waht they eat. You can have a skinny child who never eats a piece of fruit (my ds2) and a chubby child who has 5-a-day and is very healthy. I think we are too obsessed with weight. The most unhealthy people i know are the skinny people I know.

I also only saw a headshot and from that I didn't think she looked huge. You sometimes see fat children and adults with puffy faces but she looked fine. After leaving the UK I didn't start up with the monthly visits to a paed. which is considered necessary and normal in this country. I haven't had dd2 weighed since she was 3 months old. She's fine and healthy. To be honest I found HV's a MAJOR PITA. They didn't have any info more than a baby magazine had and also had wrong info. in my opinion. I remember with ds that I was being told that I must give him solids at 4 months from one particular HV. Then when dd2 was born she was spouting 6 months. I was arguing 6 months with her when I had ds.