Obese children "set" before the age of 5 - how to tackle it

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So, the latest research indicates that 90% of excess weight is put on in girls before the age of 5, and in boys it is 70% before the age of 5.

One mother thinks that parents should just be told, straight, that it is down to them to ensure that this excess weight gain doesn't happen - but will this work?

There so often seems to be a backlash against the "nanny state" when parents are put in a culpable position for their children's weight issues - which then gives people an excuse to say "I'm not being told by any Government how to feed my children, they're my kids and I'll give them what I want to."

What do you think? Will people backlash against it or take advice to help their children?

If healthy eating is promoted at school - then it is kept up at secondary school and then when they thoses children have children they will promote healthy eating from before their dc go to school.

Also if sports is encouraged then the those will be more active and therefore they will be more active with their own children before they get to school.

it may start now at school but when those children leave they will have their own children and hopefuly having been feed a good diet at school will know what to feed their own children.

That will take a while though. meantime people are still having children and still letting them get fat

I can't see that your DD was particularly fat, IvyKAty but she looks like a chubby little girl, from those photos.

In DS's gymbabes class, there are a few chubby babies but there is one little boy who is definitely on the fat side. There is a difference - his face has more of a slackness about it, hangs more, than the fullness of a chubby cheeked child.

Unfortunately people go to the other extreme and think that a healthy diet is one that an adult, who was trying to lose weight would follow. Yesterday there was no end of fuss about a nursery DC being given a jam sandwich! It is all about balance.

whole bunch of fat kids in dd's reception class. But they get driven to school despite the catchment area being less than a mile. But because its a lot of them, dd, who is seriously underweright looks skeletal.
Cars, pushcahirs and snacks. Thats the problem.

A friend of mine is a clinical dietician who is involved with collating the data on children's weight and she said that because so many children are now overweight, that our perception of what looks like a 'normal' child has been altered, so those of you who say you don't know any overweight children may not realise that some of them are a bit overweight.

My dd is 5 and last summer she had the standard weighing for all children in reception. We were totally flooredd when her results came back saying she was slightly overweight - she eats v v healthily, gets loads of exercise and really doesn't look overweight to me (nor to friends/family we told who looked genuinely gobsmacked)

With hindsight she was a chubby toddler - still breastfeeding quite frequently, and having lots of "healthy" snacks - trouble is that even healthy snacks can pile on the weight.

I think one of the major problems we have in this country is that HVs are absolutely obsessed with getting babies to pile on weight - the more the better. A chubby baby is a healthy baby, right? How many times have breastfeeding mums been told to supplement because their babies aren't putting on enough weight? Then suddenly mums are supposed to realise overnight that being a chubby toddler/child isn't a good thing. I really think this is an issue which needs addressing.

I think that there are a huge number of factor invovled here in children becoming obese.
Lancelottie made a very valid point which I think is very true, being a total fidgetarse myself. Fidgetty people tend to be skinnier. Wonder fi anyoen has done a study on it?

there is also the fact that peoples portion sizes have become skewed, people not recognising hunger as thubelf said, equating love with food, over feedign young children, not realising just how much exercise a young child is capable of etc etc I dotn thnk there is any one single solution but cooking lessons and education on eating in general is def the best way forward combined with an encouragement to do more exercise of ANY kind.

if children do fidget or are boisterous then they are rushed to the doctors and medicated out of it 'he must have ADHD'. Kids are kept strapped into things or contained in houses with no running around anymore.

even walking across the supermarket carpark is now considered 'too far' 'too dangerous' and parents attepmt to park practically inside the doors.

I'm surprised it's set before they are 5, looking at children I see quite a few overweight at about 10, but not so many by 5. But I suppose there are quite a few "solid" children at preschool and reception, I wouldn't call them fat now, but they might end up being overweight or obese, maybe that's what they mean.

I saw a piece of research recently that showed that nearly all parents thought their children were thinner than they actually were, and hardly any thought their children were overweight, even when an outsider would have thought so. And it was more so for boys than girls, parents were less likely to see a chunky boy as overweight than a girl.

I saw this and it has really worried me.

DS2 became a very chubby baby even while he was being solely breastfed. He had talipes and was having a lot of treatment on his feet which he (not surprisingly) found quite distressing and looking back I think some of the time I was feeding him for comfort, not just purely because he was hungry.

He has never really lost the excess. I thought he would go through a "picky toddler" phase but he never did - he was a magnificent eater and because DS1 had been such a fusspot (and very skinny) I was actually really pleased that DS2 was such a good eater and just kept thinking Oh, he'll burn it off, especially when he's out of his special boots (which he had to wear all the time until he started walking).

He has slimmed down a bit since then but he is still easily the chunkiest of my three (I certainly wouldn't call him obese but maybe I am deluding myself ). Having said that, all his clothes are the right size for his age (he's 7), he eats a good diet now, and he is pretty active - although not hyperactive like the other two.

My sister was similarly chubby as a child but lost it all in adolescence and has been very slim all her adult life.

Well it's made more difficult by that fact that clothes are made for the bigger children in most shops. So if I try to buy jeans for my children they are too big in the waist or too short in the leg. Which makes you think that your DC are thin. When they aren't - just not fat. Fat children can be seen as 'normal' because they fit into standard clothes.

Of my 3 the only one who is in any way fat is my eldest and it's only happened in the last 18m.

DaisyMooSteiner - I think you're right - I did ask the HV a couple of times what she thought of DS2's size but she was always very dismissive - oh nothing to worry about.

It's time people re-learnt how to cook, to stick at regular mealtimes, eat proper meals, including lunch which is hopeless in the UK, and to stop snacking. And that includes children. Kids don't need to eat every hour.

How can this particular study be taken as gospel when the next one will refute it?

Surely we all know thin adults who were round as children and vice versa? Way too much emphasis is placed on this and nowhere near enough on how to eat properly and exercise regularly.

With packaged foods, video games, televisions in every room and the rush-rush I-must-be-mega-woman mentality that mothers face today, is it any wonder?!

Also, people aren't going to be honest with you, if they think your child is overweight. I certainly wouldn't go round saying things like that to my friends about their children, that's not a way to keep friends is it?

Even if you did think their child was fat and you were asked your opinion, you'd probably say "oh no they're just solid/they'll be fine/etc".

At least I would, despite being quite keen on honesty in general, it's socially expected to lie about how people look.

I don't think that you have anything to worry about six spot. I do think that people are naturally different sizes- some are skinny, some are solid and more prone to putting on weight.
That is a long way from being obese. I do think there is a danger of labeling the slightly chubby kids fat or unhealthy and causing them to comfort eat and therefore become obese iyswim.
I think most of these children do lose their puppy fat and become healthy young adults. If he eats well and is active then I can't see a problem.
I also don't think there is anything wrong with babies using the breast for comfort.

Inactivity and bad diet are the reasons for childhood obesity, I wouldn't worry about puppy fat.

It's not just one study, there are loads of recent studies on the rise in obesity, the findings mostly corroborate each other.

This one is just noticeable in stating that the patterns are set in the under-5s.

I think that's probably true, OrmIrian. Most clothes absolutely drown DS1, but are the right size for DS2.

it needs for the schools/health service to be honest. I also wouldn't own up to thinking a child was fat. friend of mine has a 10 yo who is certainly fat. He sits eating crisps all day. She thinks he is 'big boned'
She needs a letter from the school setting it out in blackand white.
But there is too much pussyfooting around this issue.Which is why the population is getting fatter and fatter.

Both DS1 and DS2 would like to do more exercise. We don't have a car, so at weekends we walk and get public transport. But I find it difficult to find things that I can do with both of them which involve lots of exercise for them to which I can also take DS3 (aged 4, autistic, non-verbal, bit of a handful).

I think I need to bite the bullet and get a weekend carer with SN experience to work with DS3 some of the time so I can do stuff with the other two. We don't have any family nearby who can help with stuff, sadly.

thank you mrsruffalo

I think it is quite hard now to see which children are overweight, as so many are - it becomes the norm. Obese kids do stick out, but the just overweight ones look normal

Do you think that's more true for boys about the clothes? I have 2 skinny dds, trousers fall off them, but I have one I'd call normal, and she has a normal BMI, but she finds some of the more slimline girls trousers too skinny.

But I look at her and she doesn't seem fat. certainly lots of the other little girls are the same or a bit chunkier.

however I'm sure that dd would be overweight if I let her eat what she liked, she always leaves the veg and goes for extra cheese and puddings, unlike my other two who eat healthily.

Fennel my DD2 is the same. She is slim and active, but she is quite greedy and always has been. If I let her, she'd eat a lot more than she needs to at times. I have to stop her quite a lot and she sulks, but I'm hoping that if I'm consistent, the message will get through and her sense of reason and moderation will be developed enough by the time she leaves home for her to regulate her own food intake...

It's hard isn't it cos I am very aware of eating disorders so am wary of restricting food or suggesting my daughters might need to. So I tend to bang on (and on) about Healthy Eating for All, rather than about weight. But still, one dd heads straight for the puddings and the other two slowly munch through piles of veg and might forget pudding altogether.