Is your 3 year old still chubby?

[Worriedaboutchildweight]

To preface this, I am very conscious about not talking about weight in front of my daughter and model healthy eating habits around her. We eat together as a family as often as possible. I cook from scratch and processed foods are minimal in our house. I am very tall and skinny. Dad is tall and slim. Both our adult bmis are below 21. We both exercise regularly.

Measured and weighed today (she is 3.5) and her bmi is on the edge of overweight. You can see her ribs but she looks like she still has baby chub. I noticed that lots of other children have slimmed out a lot but she still had a toddler rounded tummy, chubby cheeks and hands. I'm not sure how I could possibly change her diet except to completely cut out the odd biscuit which I don't think models moderation. She only likes water so doesn't drink any calories.

Should I be trying to do anything? Or will she naturally slim down over time? I noticed she generally gets chubbier before a growth spurt so this could happen.

DD doesn’t have a rounded tummy (only saying that as she’s the only reference point I’ve got here), I was under the impression it was usually gone by this point. Like I said I would call the HV as not only are they the experts but we can’t actually see your child to make a guess!

We are like you, both parents slim, and DC1 had great appetite, and was quite chubby till around 4. Like you're saying about your DD, she wasn't fat but her weight was quite high and looked still a bit like a toddler. During the following years, she slimmed down and now (at 7, but from around 5) she's just as slim as others. I did not want to restrict her food, because she was not overeating or snacking all the time - she just had healthy appetite and from 2 to 4, she was a bit bigger.
You don't need to necessarily be worried.