2.5 year old is classed as obese!

[Glowz]

So I've just given birth and done my BMI so I can track it. The NHS website also had one for children so I did it for my son. To look at, you wouldn't think he's overweight. He has a healthy balanced diet, lots of fruit, salad and veg with occasional treats. Doesn't have sweets or fizzy/cordial drinks. Just water and milk. I believe he is a healthy child and most importantly, he is happy.

He is 2 and a half, measures 96cm and weighs 17kg. A lot of people think he's older than he is due to his height. No one, not even the health visitor or midwife who came after my second birth made any comments on his weight or anything. He is due his two year check soon.

Im really paranoid, upset and worked up now that when the health visitor comes for his 2 year check, she will comment on his weight. I knew he was heavy but (and I mean this honestly I'm not being mum biased here) I would never ever have thought he was obese.

Has anyone else.had big toddlers who are way over what they should be for height and weight for their age?

Are you sure you have measured his height correctly? A small error in height has a big effect.

If you are sure he is really measuring as obese then next time he is naked, see if his ribs are visible, - a taut sticky out belly is normal but you would expect to see his ribs above.

The HV should be able to signpost you to guidance if he is obese. If he is, then the good thing is that you have found out early when you have full control of his diet and have time to reset his habits and food. Don’t beat yourself up.

I don’t think it really matters at that age. Our 2yr old is 96cms and 14-15kg and we’ve not thought anything is abnormal. The doctor said everything was fine.

"Healthy" diet also requires portion control. If he's consuming an adult's amount of daily calories then that is no longer healthy, regardless of what's being eaten. A treat that consists of a tiny square of chocolate is very different to a treat that's an entire bar. So it's very hard to give an opinion based on a short description alone.

MN always has a tendency to normalise "daily meal intake of kids". Many users have posted daily menus in the past where a toddler was clearly eating more than adults but the answers are always overwhelmingly positive. Considering that 30% of the adult population are obese, and 50% overweight, it's difficult to find unbiased answers regarding food intake.

End of the day, if you have a niggling feeling about the fact he seems larger than his peers then you can act on that. It doesn't matter what the HV or doctor says. As a mother you will know what is best. If you truly feel that he's healthy and he doesn't look obese, then just ignore what people say and keep going the diet you have so far.

It's relatively easy to see whether a child is seriously too thin or fat just by looking at them. Some can be on the 1st-2nd percentile but not show visible jutting ribs, bones or "scrawniness". On the other spectrum, some kids might have high BMIs but don't have visible pot bellies, fat folds or other signs of obesity.

He is both taller and heavier than my 4 year old but it really isn't worth comparing, she's small for her size, your son may just be taller and therefore heavier for his age. Unless you or a health professional has concerns I wouldn't worry

At 2.5 I bet he's still in a buggy a fair bit? But going forward he'll be walking more and more and that will help.

I had the same with my 2.5 year old and I was horrified. I literally cook everything from scratch and there's no crap snacks in the house. But after 2.5 her activity levels went up as we stopped using the buggy so much. She's gradually evening out but is still tall and older looking.

My daughter was like this from ages 2 to 4 (but short, with high bmi).
She looked sort of 'solid' but not fat. She's now 5 and has a good bmi and is a perfectly healthy size. I remember HV saying as long as she eats a good variety and exercises lots don't worry, most children slim out after reception year. She was right in our case.

We take the buggy out but he likes to walk and run and play football (well kick a ball) we live in an area with lots of green space and huge parks so he runs about a hell of a lot. And we have control over snacks such as if he wants some chocolate, he needs to have had at least 2 portions of fruit and 2 portions of veg. A lot of our friends think we are strict but he genuinely loves healthy food.

Someone mentioned looking at him with no clothes on and he honestly has nothing that I would consider abnormal. He has a nice belly and I can see his ribs, which actually worries me 🫣.

When I say he has a treat, it tends to be 5-10 chocolate buttons or a scoop of chocolate ice cream. Sometimes it's more like on holiday or a rare meal out, sometimes there's no chocolate treats. He does drink a lot of milk though, to the point where we are now watering it down to reduce the amount of empty calories he is having.

I think I may put too much on his plate, but he doesn't normally eat an entire plate of food. A standard tea is about an inch of cucumber cut up, some carrot rounds, 3/4tbsps of peas then a serving spoon of what we are having then a bowl of fruit for pudding. I didn't think it was too much but looking at portion sizes I feel it may be a bit bigger than what may be recommended but certainly not close to an adults portion

Another one here with a chunky toddler who has grown into a very slim and healthy child. Just checked and DS was 16.5kg and 95cm at 2.5 years.

He was fully breastfed until 6mo by which time he was well above the top of the weight chart and looked like a sumo wrestler but the HV and GP said breastfed babies don’t get fat. He gradually slimmed down between that and age 5 (all entirely natural not on any diet or portion control, but allowed to regulate his own intake). By 7yo he was so skinny one could see his ribs and I was worried for a while he was too thin. Now aged 12 he is still really skinny (but tall). I had to buy him new school trousers last week in extra long for his age and he said the waistband was too loose.

Personally I would think carefully and take advice before putting a toddler on a diet. If they are deprived of food it can set them up for a life of binge eating - I did look into whether we should be adjusting his diet. There was a really good book but I’m afraid I can’t remember the name.

Honestly could have written this myself. My little boy has just turned 2 and a half, he's also 96cm and 17.4kg so technically obese according to BMI but doesn't look big at all. Also has a healthy balanced diet, occasional treats, most meals are homemade, only has water and a bit of milk to drink. He gets plenty of exercise going to the park, running in the garden and swimming once a week. He was on the 99th centile for weight at his 2 year development review when he had just turned 2 but the health visitor didn't bat an eyelid. He was also on the 99th centile at 11 months at his one year development review when he was more in the breast milk + weaning stage so maybe he's just a heavy kid 🤷.

That’s 2-3kg lighter at the same height. That’s a massive difference from the OP’s child.

Literally sounds identical!

I was never worried about him until 3 hours ago. We have no family on either side who are overweight. My side are tall though, dad is 6ft2 brother is 6ft 6! My son's height was expected but his weight never worried me. I will discuss with the HV when she's round next week but keep doing what I'm doing. I'm quietly impressed with myself for how my son eats, he has everything homemade with the exception of 1 night every 2/3 weeks where we might do a freezer tea and no complaints (yet!) when it comes to veg and salad

“And we have control over snacks such as if he wants some chocolate, he needs to have had at least 2 portions of fruit and 2 portions of veg. A lot of our friends think we are strict but he genuinely loves healthy food”

thats a lot of food to make a child eat before letting them have more food. A treat is a treat and shouldn’t be given as a reward for “good behaviour” - it leads to unhealthy relationships and associations with food.

based of your posts I would suggest that portion sizes are the issue with your son

OP I’m not a health professional so I can’t offer advice on your child’s weight. I really don’t understand posters advising you to ignore those who have spent years training in health care when they ARE the people who know best.

Anyhow…I think the following thread might be useful for you to read through and there’s some good advice here:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/childrens_health/4726905-to-ignore-bmi-as-an-indicator-of-a-child-being-overweight

My kid's extremely dense (physically, lol), she looks pretty dainty so I assume she's basically made of plutonium. Her dad's the same* - is rarely under 100kg, even around the time he did an Ironman. I've concluded there's no point worrying about her weight. She eats healthily, she walks a mile a day to nursery and some people naturally exist in bigger bodies.

*apart from looking dainty

Meh. Bmi is useless. My DH is quite short for a bloke. His BMI once came back as overweight borderline obese. He runs a sub 3.5 hour marathon and js a long distance triathlete! I wouldn't put much stall by it. Height really throws it out.

Maybe compare centiles? My daughter is 95th for height and 75th for weight. I've never thought to check her BMI.

my 21 month old is 15kg and there's no fat on him. he's just heavy

Thanks for your message. Just to be clear, that's in a whole day and he usually gets a treat after tea before we have some play time and read a book before showers. This is also a stereotypical day. On weekends we are much more relaxed, for example he had a chocolate biscuit thing from Gregg's which he loves at 11am at the weekend. It's to try install routine, not to be given as a reward for good behaviour :)

I had a tall toddler, but never big (food issues). He's 109cm and 16.4kg at last month's hospital visit aged 4.5. I've never not seen his ribs, and he has very visible stomach muscles, never a single chunky baby roll (unlike his baby sister ;) ). I won't give food advice as obviously it's different for such an underweight child. I'd maybe speak to HV about portion sizes/meal or snack frequency though if the food itself is not junk.

Toddlers are still changing and developing so much, I wouldn't be overtly worried tbh. My youngest was a very chunky baby until she finally became mobile, but now at 19 months she's 25th for both height and weight, she won't be carried or strolled anywhere.

I didn't even know they had this on their website, hopped on to look at my DD as she is the same age

94cm and 15.5kg she's considered overweight

Honestly it's utter utter nonsense

My DD eats barely any UPF, she's breastfed, is active for a minimum of 3 hours a day (as per the WHO guidelines), eats lots of plants. Besides I have eyes in my head and can see she's perfectly in proportion.

Ask yourself honestly all things considered do you think that you're child is over weight?

Listen to your instincts, not some stupid online calculator from a broken system

Because they're not gods and they don't know everything. You'd have to truly be a fool to think as much.

When I was in hospital with my DD as a 4 month old baby, I was told by one nurse that I should be less responsive when she cries, another told me that co-sleeping was dangerous (well tell that to the many other cultures who co-sleep from birth, tell that to our ancestors), I won't even go in to the many idiot mistakes they made with my 4 month old child.

Think for yourself.

I had massive toddlers. I'm very tall, as is my husband. They were both classed as overweight as toddlers but both now skinny healthy, very tall kids. So long as they're eating healthy food, they're fine.

OP I think you're right to be vigilant because it's important for parents to understand and enforce healthy practices and make sure their children don't become unhealthily obese. It's really important. And it's sounds like you're doing a great job in that regard. So, just see what they say at at 2-year check. If they have any concerns, they'll let you know and then you can address it as needed. Don't worry! I say that as a mum of large, chunky, heavy children (thanks DH!).

Two year olds often still have a lot of baby fat - mine was podgy with thigh rolls etc until he was about 3 (actively skinny from age 4).

If your DS still has a baby body shape, with a solid middle and short arms and legs, I wouldn’t worry too much. He should start to stretch over the next year or so (DS6 can still fit in his old age 2-3 shorts, his waist is the same size he is just 50% taller).

Mine is 14 now (years). He was always a big chonky boy with bundles of energy, hugely sporty and ate like a horse. Same as with you, it was mainly made from scratch with occasional rubbish snacks because....Well because it's just as important to teach them how to moderate those, because they're going to encounter them in life!

He's now a rugby player, trains 6 days a week. Still a chonky boy, feet so wide there isn't actually a shoe measurement that can recognise them and 5' 10. What I've learned from both of my kids is that when they're about to shoot up they seem to lay down a bit of fat first. Usually just when I've bought a load of new clothes.

Try not to worry.