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
Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Original poster

Apparently my 7 yo dd is 'overweight' according to NHS

51 replies

Zazzabeans · 16/08/2015 08:46

Came across the NHS 'healthy weight calculator'. Dd 2 has just turned 7, she is 3'9 and weighs 4st 7 and is in the 96th centile and classed as overweight.
She however wears clothes for her own age and loves riding her bike and going on the trampoline, she doesn't look overweight.
Apparently the average weight of a 7 year old girl is 3st 6. Making dd 1st overweight Hmm
she eats the healthiest out of my 3dcs favouring fruit over choc and crisps.
Should I be worried

OP posts:
squizita · 16/08/2015 15:08

Soft surely your scales are better than bathroom scales?

TheHouseOnTheLane · 16/08/2015 15:14

Look at her portions OP. Is she eating large portions? What is her daily menu like at home on a typical day?

Happy36 · 16/08/2015 15:15

My son is seven years and two months, 3 feet 8 inches, and he weighs 2 stone 10 pounds. I would say he is dead average amongst his peers and I have just entered these stats into the NHS healthy weight checker and it comes out that he is just below the average. I would say over 3 and a half stone would be overweight at this height (I am not an expert).

Perhaps you could reduce your daughter's portion sizes gradually, and also check what she is eating when she is away from you, e.g. at school or when visiting friends and relatives who she spends time with regularly?

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

3 year olds 7 year olds Families General parenting
chickenfuckingpox · 16/08/2015 15:17

i would check your scales

i once panicked nhs direct because my thermometer was malfunctioning the nurse rang me to check he was breathing at the temp i gave them he should have been dead Blush the phrase and you're sure he is breathing ok? can you just wake him up for me haunted me for awhile

TheHappyCamper · 16/08/2015 15:23

Hi OP, does she really not look bigger than her classmates? Try weighing in Boots maybe?

My dd is 6 1/2 and the same height 3'9'' and only weighs 2 stone 12. I wouldn't say she is skinny, just about right really. It's hard to imagine her weighing almost 50% more and not looking big.

Can you see her ribs clearly when she's in the bath?

Try aiming for 3 home cooked meals a day without snacks, as it all adds up. Fruit in large quantities can add as many calories as mars bars!

I think it's great that you have spotted this now and should be able to get her to grow into her weight without gaining any more.

TheHouseOnTheLane · 16/08/2015 15:24

Happy average? Really? That seems small to me...and light. My DD is 7 and is 4 feet 1 and weighs 4 stone...I can see her ribs but she's "right" to look at. She's not the tallest in her class.

AlpacaMyBags · 16/08/2015 15:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TheHouseOnTheLane · 16/08/2015 15:28

Alpaca school lunches aren't always very nice but they're portion and calorie controlled to the nth level.

DeandraReynolds · 16/08/2015 15:29

Happy - your son comes out at 6th percentile so healthy, but quite a bit skinnier than average! And House's DD is 61st so also healthy but a way up the scale. There's a big range of healthy with young children.

Lurkedforever1 · 16/08/2015 15:30

Agree with squizita. My dd has always needed several years older for length, but width wise needs a few years younger, so the clothes thing to me is a possible warning. She's slender but ridiculously fit, every hcp that has ever weighed her checks the scales in disbelief because her muscle is solid, for anyone let alone a child, therefore she's a lot heavier than she looks. However being small boned with the minimum of fat needed not to be too skinny, still hits scales in the healthy range. Kids bmi charts imho don't seem to accommodate very fit kids. And I think bmi is crap anyway. But I think checking for ribs as a pp said, and getting a professional opinion is the way to go. My hv harped on about dd being an overweight baby and underweight toddler, both times the gp said she was fine and not to change anything.

PandaNot · 16/08/2015 15:34

My dd is great same age as yours, but four inches taller and a stone lighter. She's not skinny by any means and if she were a stone heavier I would be concerned. Could you keep a food diary for a week and try to work out how many calories she is averaging a day compared to what she should be having? Maybe a chat with your gp too.

PandaNot · 16/08/2015 15:35
  • the same age, not great Confused
Gileswithachainsaw · 16/08/2015 15:41

Actually I'd disagree about the school meals not making a difference.

depending on your child they can well do.

first up what me by says and what they get don't always match.

depending on how it's done if they run out of stuff the end combo the last line gets can he hit and miss judging by the MN threads. think rice jacket potato and sweet corn.

With a packed lunch you can tailor to the child. With a school meal of its say sausage mash and veg and kid doesn't like the sausage then there's every chance the child eats the my then fills up on the bread served along side and the stodgy pudding.

If they don't eat much of it at all then snacking and binge eating in the evenings may also well result.

GallopingFoxley · 16/08/2015 15:43

Yes that sounds overweight. My 9 year old DS is a foot taller almost and is the same weight

JiltedJohnsJulie · 16/08/2015 15:44

Fitting in clothes for her age is no sign of being a normal weight though. I've noticed the clothes this summer ate much wider than they were last summer. DMIL has just bought DD a new pair of trousers and you could fit 1.5 of our DD into them.

Haven't read the whole thread sorry, what's her height centile?

My DN is about on the 96th for weight and height and is super fit. Not an ounce of fat on her and still has all her waistbands on the smallest setting.

TurnOffTheTv · 16/08/2015 15:44

I would double check your measurements just incase. My 10yo (nearly 11yo) is only 4.5st and she's not skinny.

JiltedJohnsJulie · 16/08/2015 16:02

Right, I've read the whole thread now, and yes, agree with pps. She is overweight. Looking at her friends and classmates won't help either, half of the girls in DDs class seem to be overweight. A DF mentioned her DDs weight to her Paed at about this age. The Paed said "you should be able to see her ribs and she is perfectly normal. The friends you are comparing her to should be the ones I'm seeing".

Do check your scales though. We don't own any and I was weighing myself on my DParents after my last pg. Went to a DFs one day, one of the DC wanted the toilet, I jumped in her scales and was half a stone lighter! Turns out DPs scales are crap a little inaccurate.

ouryve · 16/08/2015 16:29

DS2 weighed about the same at the same age (though closer to his 8th birthday) but was a good 6" taller. He's a stocky boy, too.

And school dinner portions are tiny. DS2 never had them, but DS1 did and the weight always fell off him when he was on them.

softhedgehog · 16/08/2015 16:40

squizita why should they be? A pound either way is irrelevant, we are weighing people not fruit! Apart from the baby scales,which are obviously much more sensitive, we have bog standard scales.

Original poster
Zazzabeans · 16/08/2015 17:16

Sorry for late reply but been to pils and weighed her again, she keeps asking why I'm weighing her now Sad anyhow, she weighs on pils bathroom floor 3st13, so a whole 8lb difference to my scales. Dd 1 and DS also weigh lighter on pils scales, but me and dh don't Hmm pils scales are really good ones also, digital salter scales , mine are ww scales.
I'm still going to take her to the gp about this because I need to get this nipped in the bud whilst I can,
She loves fruit and has almost 6-7portions a day Blush
She really doesn't look that different to her classmates .

OP posts:
FreeCoffee · 16/08/2015 17:25

Isn't 6 - 7 portions of fruit is a lot?

Northernlurker · 16/08/2015 17:26

Hang on a minute OP - so what you have is a child who looks roughly the same as her classmates, two years ago was around the 50th centile, eats a decent diet and is very active. I'm failing to see why you thought there might be an issue in the first place?
The only cause for concern you have is that you've weighed her three times, on two sets of scales, and come out with three differing results.
You have now upset her by weighing her so often and you've a number of posters here urging you to medicalise her and make even more of an issue of what doesn't sound like an issue to start with.
Watch what she eats, encourage her to eat a varied diet and keep an eye on portion control and back the heck away from the scales for a bit. If she's able to be as active as you describe and is eating decently then it's highly likely that she will keep on being active and healthy. Teaching a 7 yr old that her weight is a concern is not a lesson you want to be giving unless it's absolutely unavoidable.

Original poster
Zazzabeans · 16/08/2015 17:29

The issue was the NHS website and other charts/centile telling me she is overweight .
I told her that I was weighing her at pils house as I thought our scales were broken. I have never said to her about weighing too much, I would never do that.

OP posts:
Northernlurker · 16/08/2015 17:41

I guess I'm struggling to understand why you weighed in the first place - before you looked at the charts - given everything else you've said about her.
Just be very careful OP. Mumsnet is always very hot on the 'parents are in denial, go to the GP' route when this kind of issue comes up. It's very easy for the child at the centre of that to feel they have personally done something wrong or are not what they should be. Neither feeling is good for the self esteem. Obviously sometimes medical support is needed to help a child be as healthy and active as they can be but it really doesn't sound to me like your dd needs that right now.

squizita · 16/08/2015 19:31

Soft I have been weighed a few times by my GP (had a goiter so they wanted to check all was ok longer term) and they told me each time their scales were more accurate than home scales etc.
They also used something to measure on my arm and belly to check I had enough body fat.