Overweight toddler - does it matter?

[Sizeofalentil]

I don't know how this has happened, but our two year old is noticeably overweight. She's tallish but is always about the 88th+ centile for her age. She's got a double chin and fat rolls so this isn't my imagination.

She goes to the childminder x4 days a week, but is extremely active there and her diet (if documented correctly) isn't unhealthy. All meals are home cooked from scratch etc. The childminder is a relative so know this to be true.

On the days that she's with me she's extremely active (we do x3 active toddler classes on two of the days and she's always running about). She's non-stop active at home - always climbing, running, jumping. She loves being outdoors so we go to the park whenever possible or take her to playgrounds and soft play.

All her meals at home are cooked from scratch and the portions small (she doesn't eat much for me at all but apparently has large portions at the childminder). Only given water to drink - she refuses milk for me (but not at childminder).

Only think I can think of is that she's still breastfeeding and drinks A LOT of milk. She feeds throughout the night. That and maybe the large portions at the childminder (I'm just assuming they're large there).

Has anyone else been through this? What did you do? I can't increase her physical activity without exhausting myself.

the nhs has some advice www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/overweight-children-advice-for-parents/ here. could you ask the childminder how big her portions are? you could get her a few of these plates and having her eat with them at home, and send them to the childminders too so that she is having even portion sizes everywhere? I have no idea if the breastfeeding is effecting it or not. your gp can also offer advice. other think I can think of is whether it would be possible to take her swimming? it's one of the best forms of exercise you can do (and really tires them out in the process).

Do you mean 88th percentile for height or weight?

At 2 she doesn’t need to be feeding through the night

Statistically overweight kids become overweight adults so you do need to nip this in the bud

Thank you.

Those plates are lovely, but the portions are probably larger than what she's having now. But will get some when she's a bit older. I'm going to speak to the childminder this weekend about her portion size - from looking at photos it's not massive but she eats well there.

She's normally around 78th - 95th for height then a bit more for weight. Eg. 78:86 or something. But she's a lot bigger at the moment. I'll weigh her tomorrow when I get time and see what she is right now. She's due a growth spurt - she always gets a bit chubbier before she grows 😂

I did speak to a HV about it and she said she wasn't worried as she looked fine, but was surprised that on that day she was measuring 48th for height and 88th for weight (I think she was measured wrong as she was 76:88 when I'd measured her a week earlier).

The plan was to give up breastfeeding when she hit two, but she had a series of colds and bad teething problems (molars coming through) which is why she's still night feeding. Her last tooth seems to be through so I don't have an excuse now, it's just become a habit. She's never slept brilliantly- she just doesn't seem to need much, going to bed at 9pm and getting up at 5 a lot of the time. So night feeding has always been a quick way to settle her and get some sleep myself. She co sleeps too, which doesn't help.

Swimming is a great idea - have been planning to send my husband with her for a while . They have dad sessions now at our local pool. We already do dance, toddler keep fit and gymnastics (on the days I have her). But she could do all this in a row then STILL point to an adventure playground and ask to go there 😂. We don't have a car either so she walks most places or goes in the pram.

I'm going to keep a food diary here for a bit too to make sure there's no hidden dietary reasons.

I'm not trying to make excuses btw and am very grateful for all suggestions and advice.

I'm just puzzled as on paper she's really active and at home eats a homemade vegetarian Mediterranean diet alongside us (we/she's not veggie but I rarely cook meat. She eats it elsewhere). And we're out from 8.30am-3pm running around most days. I've lost 2 stone since having her!!

I'd book a GP appointment but there's no chance I'd get one any time soon in this current climate

I was going to suggest watering down the milk, but difficult if you're breastfeeding! Any possibility she's accept water some of the time? My own DD became overweight because she always wanted milk (formula in her case) when she was thirsty - I started watering it down to 50%, and she still drank the same volume of fluid, and steadily became less overweight.

I was going to say don't worry about it too much at this age.
Keep an eye on it and see how it goes when you stop the night feeding (when you are ready). I wouldn't let a child this age go hungry.
My baby/toddler was chubby, soon became a very skin child, now slim teenager. Healthy eating and plenty of exercise, which is what you are already doing.