# Bmi and children



## Missy86

I measured Rhys the other day, he is 3f 1 and 2 stone 6. Will be 4 in June 
According to the Nhs BMI calculator he is obese on the 93rd percentile 

He really isn't big, there isn't an inch to pinch on him 

When will he be measured in school, no doubt I will receive a letter telling me he is to big
 



Attached Files:







image.jpg
File size: 30.8 KB
Views: 40


----------



## seoj

Personally, I think the BMI is crap... sorry to be blunt, but I will never give a care if someone tells me my daughter it too little or too big due to some silly calculation that doesn't take into consideration her body type, bone structure etc... shoot, I'm barely within the "normal" range for an Adult at a size 8?! I can only imagine what I would of been at my biggest (size 14). 

BTW- your LO looks perfect! I can only assume I would of been considered Obese by today's BMI standards as a kid. I wasn't fat- but a bit fluffy for sure. No one ever made a big deal of it though- I've never been "tiny" and that's Ok :thumbup:


----------



## Missy86

I know, it's a floored system. It's only weight and height it doesn't take muscle into consideration 

I don't think it's a good thing to do a child's bmi any way, they are still growing and could have a growth spurt at any time.
Rhys takes after my brother and father in body type and they are both very tall men and not obese, hell my brother is a keen rugby player of 6f 4 

It's just gonna drive me mental when the school tells me he is obese


----------



## seoj

Then just simple tell the school (if that happens) "Ok"... and fluff it off. OR- have a chat with the principal. I get it "takes a village" and all that- but if the school had told my mother I was obese she would have gone all mamma bear on them! :haha: 

When did the schools start doing this? Wasn't done when my SD was younger- she's a Junior in High School now. Maybe it's district dependent. But I would think that is between parent and pediatrician really? IDK.


----------



## Missy86

They have been doing it in England a while now


----------



## going_crazy

In my daughters' school, they get weighed/measured in reception and in year 6 but you can opt them out which I did x


----------



## Missy86

I think I will opt him out, I really don't need the school telling me he is to fat when he isn't 

I wonder if this all increases the chances of a child having an eating disorder


----------



## Noodlebear

BMI is a load of crap to be taken with a pinch of salt. I have big boobs and that has meant that I've always been on the upper limits even though at my biggest I have only ever been a size 12. It doesn't take enough information into account and even if he was a little bigger, kids are chubby! So what? It'd be different if he looked big but he doesn't.


----------



## sillysapling

Even if your child is "overweight", that doesn't mean he's unhealthy. People who are fat and _fit_ have low risk of health problems, and are healthier than underweight and possibly even "normal" weight people. Look at his diet, look at his exercise, look at his overall health.

If you're feeding him loads of junk food and letting him sit in front of the TV all day then, yeah, he's probably unhealthy- but he would be even if he had the metabolism to stay thin! If he's eating a good, balanced diet, is active, and isn't showing signs of health problems, then it sounds like he's just a healthy kid. :)


----------



## lindseymw

As far as I am aware, the measurements that are done at School are not recorded by the School but by the NHS. 

We just got a letter from the NHS to state that measurements had been done, weight, height etc. No further action was made.

I agree with others that BMI is completely flawed. I apparently should lose 3 stone to get within normal range...I'm a size 10-12 on top & a size 14 arse (thanks to my hips following pregnancy!).


----------



## patch2006uk

We've got used to seeing bigger children and we don't often see them as big. Personally, I'm very conscious of DS's weight given that I've struggled with mine through my life. Many of his friends are a similar size, but there is one boy whose parents have been told is 'obese', only they can't see it or understand it. They say he's 'robust', 'healthy' and he'll 'grow out of it'. He is a big boy, and tbh if he was mine I would be taking some steps to ensure he's getting enough exercise and not eating too much junk. Parents are often the worse judge of these things, and can often be blinded by love to the realities of how big their children are getting.

I'd have been embarrassed to have been told at school that I was 'obese', but perhaps seeing it written down officially, rather than constantly being told that I was just 'chunky', would 'grow out of it' or making excuses, would have meant I could have taken action before I reached adulthood and now weight is much harder to shift. 

That being said, BMI alone is a flawed measurement. I'd look at height vs weight on the percentiles personally, as well as BMI. 

It's much easier to adjust a child's diet and exercise habits before they're old enough to protest too strongly than it is to end up with an adult struggling with their weight.


----------



## Eternal

patch2006uk said:


> We've got used to seeing bigger children and we don't often see them as big. Personally, I'm very conscious of DS's weight given that I've struggled with mine through my life. Many of his friends are a similar size, but there is one boy whose parents have been told is 'obese', only they can't see it or understand it. They say he's 'robust', 'healthy' and he'll 'grow out of it'. He is a big boy, and tbh if he was mine I would be taking some steps to ensure he's getting enough exercise and not eating too much junk. Parents are often the worse judge of these things, and can often be blinded by love to the realities of how big their children are getting.
> 
> I'd have been embarrassed to have been told at school that I was 'obese', but perhaps seeing it written down officially, rather than constantly being told that I was just 'chunky', would 'grow out of it' or making excuses, would have meant I could have taken action before I reached adulthood and now weight is much harder to shift.
> 
> That being said, BMI alone is a flawed measurement. I'd look at height vs weight on the percentiles personally, as well as BMI.
> 
> It's much easier to adjust a child's diet and exercise habits before they're old enough to protest too strongly than it is to end up with an adult struggling with their weight.

I agree with this,. :thumbup:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12226744

Loads out there on parents in denial about their children's weight, the arc olds talks of how you should be able to see a child ribs, but many would consider this underweight when actually it's normal. 

I agree that the BMI so really unrealistic and not accurate, but do think it's useful for parents to be aware that their child's weight. I dont think size necessarily correlates with good health, but I have seen lots of overweight children struggle with running about and exercise which is alarming. If I knew my child was active and fit I'd be less concerned with the weight factor but it is an indicator and it's easy to measure hence why it's used.


----------



## Missy86

I must be totally blind then cos I just don't see there is a problem with Rhys


----------



## patch2006uk

Are the measurements on the first page right? If so, his height is quite a lot higher on the percentiles than his weight. My son was 3ft 1in at his last check in his red book, which is around 35th percentile for a 2 year old, and he weighed 2st 2lbs, which again is around 35th percentile. He's all ribs and spine, but with a toddler pot belly. Your son is 6 months older, so I'm not sure about percentiles, but he's the same height as my son but 4 pounds heavier. That's most likely why his BMI is coming out high. Do you have his red book to hand so you could compare to his past measurements when he was younger? It might be worth double checking your measurements, too. You could always take him to a health visitor and use their scales and measuring bits (we have DS weighed and measured as part of his paediatric appointments at the hospital for his hearing loss)

It's maybe just worth watching him for a while and see if there is anything that's an obvious red flag, rather than just looking at the numbers. Does he get out of breath when he runs? Does he get outside plenty and can he walk very far? Does he get red in his face when exerting himself? Are any relatives slipping him sweets without you knowing? Are his portion sizes reasonable?

I wouldn't worry about it, just keep an eye on it. It's very hard to judge these things by looking. I just speak as a fat adult who really wishes I'd been able to get a handle on my weight before it became a real problem. I don't blame my parents, but maybe if it hadn't been so programmed into their parent's generation and the one above that big=healthy after rationing, and food=love then perhaps I wouldn't struggle so much now.


----------



## Eternal

Missy86 said:


> I must be totally blind then cos I just don't see there is a problem with Rhys

I was to saying there was but I was responding to the fact everyone is opting out of health checks at school. 

I've got three kids, two a skinny and one is stockier, it's funny because the skinniest one and the stocky one are twins, the skinny one eats far far more than all my others and is the least active. Lol. Hubby's family have the skinny gene though, so clearly two of them follow their dad. Which is why it's not always an indicator of health, the chubby ones BMI is still well within normal though, but think it's very obvious the difference given they are twins.


----------



## Eternal

Not got any good comparison pictures on my iPad, but these are the twins, Not sure who well their sizes show up in bat costumes lol.
 



Attached Files:







image.jpg
File size: 25.6 KB
Views: 9


----------



## Missy86

Rhys has always been on the higher percentile for weight than for hight since the day he was born, between the 75th and 91st for weight and dead on 50 for height 

I really do think he follows the men on my side of the family, they don't start of particularly tall but end up very tall men


----------



## going_crazy

I also think BMI is flawed. After my eldest was measured at school and I got a letter telling me that I should watch their weight, I opted her and my other children out of any future measurements.... here's why...

I actually took her to the doctors after the letter (she was 5yrs at the time) and the GP couldn't believe it. He asked me about her lifestyle and diet... At the time she was doing karate 3 x a week, swimming once a week and walking/cycling to and from school daily. She was also past the 91st centile on the charts for height. He even said to me that the way they do these measurements aren't at all accurate because they don't look at the genetics/family background, lifestyle or diet of the children (makes you wonder what is the point in having them?!)

Fast forward 7 years and my eldest is now 167cm in height (yes, at 12 years old!) and she is 53kg(ish) in weight... she still does karate 3 times a week (but now does 2.5hr sessions a time) and she is in rowing, tennis and cycling club with her school (she's also games captain) and she still walks to and from school.

Basically I do agree that some parents are in denial about their childrens weight, BUT I think it's time there was a better way of measuring/approaching the matter that takes into account ALL factors


----------



## Missy86

I have just looked at his red book, he is still following his curve for weight but has dropped very slightly on height


----------



## Noodlebear

In that case I wouldn't fret about it. It's a stupid system tbh.


----------



## the why bird

The problem with BMI is that it was designed to give an idea of weight issues in the population as a whole.

If we measure all the five year olds every year, and we notice that suddenly there are a lot more kids with relatively high weights (or a lot more low weight children) then there might be something going on that needs looking at. You can see how it would be helpful.

There will always be some kids who are stocky but healthy, or weigh a lot even though they are slim because they are muscular, but once it's averaged out with thousands of other kids, some of whom are low weight, it gives a good general picture of national obesity levels. It's just that it doesn't work that well applied to an individual person. 

On one hand, I'm glad that there's some sort of check because as a parent, I want to know if I'm missing a potential problem because I see my child every day and I am used to the way they look. On the other hand, it's clear that just working out BMI and using a tick-box approach to designating some kids as obese is ineffective and probably causes unnecessary worry.


----------



## oox_tasha_xoo

I literally weighed and measured my daughter yesterday and entered it on the nhs website... What a load of ball! My daughter is perfectly healthy she's just petite. Bmi calculators are so shocking!
 



Attached Files:







image.jpg
File size: 30.5 KB
Views: 22


----------



## Missnurse

Oh my god don't get me started on this!! Just had the letter from the school nurse saying DD is over weight according to bmi! She's like a bean pole! And the healthy eating woman will be in touch! How rude I make a lot of home made meals, she does get treats but not too much and she always goes to school with fruit in her snack, veg at lunch time and veg and fruit at tea time!


----------



## the why bird

tasha got me curious about the NHS website. I ran my 2 year old through and apparently she's obese, 98% of children her age/height weigh less.

And yet... she's barely above the 50th percentile for weight, about the same for height, wears size 12-18 month clothes and I can see her ribs. So either my 2 year old has bones made of lead or there's something screwy about these measurements.


----------



## Missy86

I can see Rhys 's ribs too


----------



## aimee-lou

Just put earl through the nos calculator thing and his said he's on the 75th which is about what i expected but to look at him he's scrawny and tall for his age too. Strange calculations going on somewhere. Completely expecting letters next year so i'll definitely be opting out.


----------

