childrens body shape

[yoko]

my son is 4 1/2 and slightly under average height,he is slightly skinny all over (arms,legs,back)apart from his tummy which is pretty pudgy!(its not hard or bloated)basically ,its like a babys tummy!is this normal.i dont think he overeats,has a healthy diet etc,so when do kids lose this tummy?god,i realise i sound like a hung up body facist!!i'm not,just wondering!1

ds1 was like this .. can't remember when it went - I think probably around his 5th birthday. Can't help as to reason why ... just know it was helpful as it meant his trousers didn't fall down

DS2 (just 4) has a skinny waist, as well as all over, and it's impossible to find trousers to fit

I read somewhere once that the reason babies and toddlers and small children have fat tummies even if they are not fat is because of the size of their liver .... it is big in comparison to the the rest of them and it takes until they are about 5 for the rest of them to catch up.
I may be totally wrong about this but that is what I seem to remember reading ...

yoko, my oldest son was a bit like yours at this age - average all over apart from a sticky out tummy. He had quite broad shoulders, though - it runs in the family. I see yours has a skinny back, so it sounds like there are differences.

My son started to fill out when he was a about 6/7 years. He's now 9 years and at the moment he is pretty solid all over. Chubby definitely. He's very active but loves food. He still has a tummy but it's not getting any bigger - he can still wear the same waist size trousers as he could a year ago. I am assuming as he grows taller at puberty his tummy will diminish in proportion. I was the same - I had such a big tummy aged 7 - 10 that my clothes were made specially for me. At puberty, all came back into proportion again (sort of).

My youngest son (nearly 4 years) has a totally different body shape so far - no tummy at all.