Overweight DD what to do?

[Smarshian]

My DD has always been a great eater from the time she weaned. She isn’t fussy and likes a large range of different foods, including plenty of fruit and vegetables. Obviously she also likes treats, but we tend to limit them in the house. She might have eg. an ice lolly, tub of jelly or packet of crisps (one option) each day.
She is always hungry and usually has a lot at each meal and snacks on plenty of fruit.
I’ve always been of the opinion that we should just give a healthy range of food and she can moderate intake.
The problem is she is now overweight. She is 3.5 and according to the NHS calculator is on the 93rd centile and therefore overweight.
What is the best way to tackle this?

What height centile is she on?

She is tall too - 91st centile, but NHS recommend that weight should never be above 90th centile.

I think 91st centile is where the borderline is so she sounds only a little overweight. Have you tried the nhs child bmi calculator as that takes into account height, weight and age. www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/bmi-calculator/

If she’s not having what you call treats then it must be either your portion sizes or she’s not moving around enough.

It’s likely portion size and the easiest way to see would be to look at how much pasta you would give her ordinarily and then weigh out the amount she should have to compare.

She’s not that overweight according to your figures.

But someone has to be above the 90th centile?

That aside, I'd probably try to up the exercise a bit if you're confident her diet is good.

Does she drink a lot of milk?

I wouldn’t do anything major as she doesn’t sound very overweight for her height and she’s very young. Maybe one or two small changes like swapping full fat milk for semi skimmed, or having more protein at breakfast instead of cereal.

Don’t start putting children that young on restrictive diets. Obviously don’t fill her her up with treats and vegetables are better than excessive fruit but if you’re thinking of reducing her intake speak to your health visitor or GP first.
A healthy diet with child sized portions, plenty of exercise and let her grow upwards more than outwards. It’s easier in summer with so much salad and lots of outdoor time.

I’d drop the ice lolly, jelly and crisps and focus on more healthy snacks if she’s that hungry. They’re empty calories. Portion size may be the factor here.

Can I just check, are you giving her jelly or ice lollies etc every day? I actually think that’s quite a lot of treats for a 3yo especially if she’s also having large portions at meal times. An adult ice lolly each day would add quite a dose of sugar for a child that age/size. Maybe try substituting something a bit healthier at that point and limiting fruit to 1/2 portions and see if that helps. My just turned 4yo has a real sweet tooth so I keep an eye on his fruit intake and limit sugary treat to 2/3 pw. Even then he gets a kids lolly or half a chocolate bar. It’s still a treat for him but not so much sugar in one go.

stop snacks full stop. 'treat' foods (eurgh, hate that word) allowed as part of the meal.
go outside, do c25k with her. or cycle rides. or kick a ball in the park. whatever gets her moving, AT LEAST one hour every day.

forget c25k... for some season I thought she's 10...

I agree she is very young to be making any changes to her diet. I agree that encouraging healthy snacks and physical activity will help. Also check portion sizes, I struggle with portion control and it took a friend of mine to point out how big my portions were when she picked up DD's plate thinking it was hers 😬

I’ve always been of the opinion that we should just give a healthy range of food and she can moderate intake.

This is likely where you're going wrong. She's 3, theyre not known for self regulation or impulse control, if they like something they'll mostly just keep going til it's all gone.

Does she get much exercise?

She's still young. Don't worry. My dd was 99 at that age. She's down to 93 and will come down more I'm sure. She's getting more active, walking further. Don't worry about it. You don't want to give her a complex.

Just to answer a few queries. She does a lot of moving. She barely sits still, plays in the garden a lot, at nursery they do lots of outdoor play, we go for walks daily and she has recently learned to ride her bike so we go out on that a lot.
I do think it’s portion size that is the issue, but I don’t know how best to tackle it. I will serve a sensible portion for her and DS (2). She will eat it all and then ask for seconds. I don’t want to deny her seconds of healthy food if she is hungry but it’s hard to gauge how much is hunger or if she is overfilling herself.
The last thing I want to do is restrict this and then have her hungry and not able to trust her own instincts with food/hunger.

Maybe serve her half her usual size portion and then give her the other half when she asks for more? Only make as much as she should have and then don't give her any more.

RE snacking, she's much more likely to be bored than hungry. Distract rather than feed.

Yes, that’s a good idea. Give her half on the first place.

Or say ‘the food you have eaten has had time to get to your tummy yet’.

For snacks make her eat them at the table so she knows she’s eating them.

Has this always been the case or is the first time her weight has gone over her height percentile? Is she due a growth spurt because all of my kids have filled out just before theyve suddenly sprouted up. Its like their bodies store up energy before a big growth spurt.

I would not really worry she will have a growth spurt, great to hear she is on her bike it’s a great thing to do as a family.

Are you on Instagram? "Kids eat in color" gives excellent advice on this

I’d say she has always been a good eater and has gone through various periods where she has developed a bit of puppy fat. She is very tall (again this has always been the case)and I haven’t noticed her shoot up in a while so it could be that.
I just want to make sure we are doing our best to give her the best start and not set her up for problems later down the line.

I will check out kids eat in colour thank you.

@Smarshian
Just an idea, For lollies we make them with sugar free squash in those lolly moulds
I do 3 colours so I do apple and blackcurrent/ summer fruits (then freeze layer one)
Then orange (then freeze layer 2)
Then lime cordial (then freeze layer 3)

They always go down well x

OP stop buying snacks. At that age she only gets to eat what you give her. So don't give her any crap, even if you think she needs a treat. She doesn't. I find the need for snacking bizarre. Breakfast, lunch, dinner. That's it. And throw some fruit or cheese pieces in between if she is really needing something extra. But that's it. Establish healthy habits now.

I think fairly small changes at this age should be enough. Swap from FF to semi-skimmed milk. 'Treats' once or twice a week only, offer healthy snacks like fruit or veg. I'd maybe be a bit stricter about seconds, I think it's for some of us it's a habit to want seconds and maybe just saying 'wait a bit' might be enough to break that. Lots of exercise (don't know if you have a limit for screen time) and sleep. Are you and her Dad a healthy weight or overweight? If a healthy weight then she'll probably be fine.