Huh...have been told my toddler is obese?!

[minties]

I know parents have rose-tinted glasses when it comes to our children, but I am failing to see how my son can be obese at 20 months. He's tiny! He wears size one clothing and half of it goes way past his feet and hangs off him.

He's the same proportions that he has always been. He has a little padding, but not as much as he had a year ago. And he's not covered in rolls. Most people tell me he needs to eat more.

He's 84cm and 13kg. Apparently that's about 25th percentile for height and almost 91st for weight according to his new doctor (I haven't checked myself yet). Until about 15 months he was always just under 25th percentile for weight and height.

He's very strong, he can easily lift almost half his own body weight with one hand (we have a lot of kettlebells).

Is this an obese looking little boy?

https://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j10/a31cefiro/DSC_2194.jpg

https://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j10/a31cefiro/DSC_2491.jpg

https://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j10/a31cefiro/DSC_2159.jpg

https://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j10/a31cefiro/DSC_2145.jpg

https://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j10/a31cefiro/DSC_0082.jpg



And here he is at 14 months old, he's a lot slimmer now:

https://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j10/a31cefiro/DSC_2367.jpg

https://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j10/a31cefiro/coffeetable1.jpg

https://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j10/a31cefiro/DSC_2447.jpg


He still fits the little blue shorts from the last picture, easily!

 

[Radiance]

He does not look one bit obese nor overweight!
I can't believe what they consider "obese" now days!!
He is so cute!!

 

[DaisyBee]

I think they get a little silly about the whole weight thing. I was told that Jordan doesn't need as many calories as Megan did at 4 months as she is 3/4" shorter. So stop feeding her so much basically! Lol well sorry but if my baby is hungry I'm going to feed her. She is 68%ile or something. Was told when Megan turned 2 that she MUST stop having whole milk because of weight issues with kids. well Megan doesn't have a weight problem, if anything I think she could gain a pound or 2.

Megan has always been a tall 85% and skinny 25-30% toddler, so compared to her your son is bigger. I've always thought she was too skinny as you can see her ribs and spine and she can't even get pants to stay up even with them cinched. your son is very cute and has baby cheeks yet. Megan is a great eater and eats a lot of food for a toddler. She is just very very active. She doesn't stop moving unless we are reading books or she is sleeping. Lol

 

[moomoo]

Everyone seems to have an opinion.

Both of my two are bang on 50th percentile for everything. Some people think they are tall, others think they are tiny!

I've learnt to just ignore it now, if they are running around a lot and eating well I fail to see how they are unhealthy at any shape?!? I'd only worried if I had an overy chubby but lazy/sleepy child x

 

[minties]

Thanks for the replies! Honestly I don't even believe he weighs 13kg (28lbs 8.5oz), I was in the toilet at the doctors while he was being weighed. He was 7lbs 4oz at birth. At 12 months he was almost 21lbs. At 15 months he was 21ish pounds.

He's definetly slimmer in his body proportions since his last weigh-in. He's very active, like all toddlers, never stops moving unless he's asleep.

He is short compared to most kids we meet his age, I'm 4'10" and his dad is 5'5". So I don't expect him to be tall and skinny. But obese? Made me feel sad.

Under a year old and they make you feel like you are only a good parent if your baby is fat, over 18 months old and you're abusing them for not keeping them skinny.

I described his diet to the doctor, who didn't believe me. He eats normally, never has cake, lollies or any treats (as I am overweight myself and worried about Thomas getting into bad habits). He has no bread, butter or margarine as we don't eat those things in our house. There is no icecream, yoghurt or cheese. He has cereals, pasta, fish, lean chicken breast, loves all types of vegies. Drinks full fat milk, or trim, whatever we have in the fridge. Loves sushi. Loves tomato sauce based dishes.

I got him weighed to see if he was still under the 13kg rear-facing limit of his seat, so I'm really going to be bummed out if I have to now turn it around.

I can see and feel his ribs just fine also, and he's lost that double-chin look he used to have.

 

[flower01]

Willow is 13kg yet her friend who is a week younger then her is 15kg.
Now if your little one is classed as "obese" then surely mine would be classed as underweight? yet no one has said she is!

Ignore it hun
he looks healthy and adorable
as long as he is eating properly and is active, bear in mind the older he gets, the more active he will become therefore weight will drop/level off anyway!


x

 

[sunshine114]

I would say he looks like a perfectly normal toddler to me, I think something was wrong when they weighed him - have you tied weighing him again yourself? We've got some digital scales we stand LO on, if I were you I'd try and check it again myself x

 

[rosie272]

Not obese! He looks perfect and healthy I wouldn't worry if I were you

 

[minties]

Cheers flower01! He has a cousin the same age as your daughter who is 10kg fully dressed and with a wet nappy, so makes Thomas look really fat next to him.

I'm going to see if I can have him re-weighed and measured somewhere else. He had a 15 month health check with a nurse, and then got checked again the next day by a doctor at a different place when he got his 15 month ims, and he managed to weigh more than a kg less on the ims visit...so I think some scales are a bit out.

I do weigh him on scales at home, he's anywhere between 11 and 12.7kg depending on how much he wriggles.

 

[hattiehippo]

He looks perfectly normal to me. Any last rounded bits will go as he gets older but he's certainly not obese by any stretch of the imagination. Eve if he is 13kg some babies reach that before 1 yr old so its not particularly heavy.

If anything I'd say his diet needs more fats in it as toddlers have different dietary needs to adults. They need more fats for energy and growth. Full fat dairy products like yogurt, milk etc are good for toddlers. Apart from that it all sounds very healthy and much better than Tom's diet!

 

[minties]

He looks perfectly normal to me. Any last rounded bits will go as he gets older but he's certainly not obese by any stretch of the imagination. Eve if he is 13kg some babies reach that before 1 yr old so its not particularly heavy.

If anything I'd say his diet needs more fats in it as toddlers have different dietary needs to adults. They need more fats for energy and growth. Full fat dairy products like yogurt, milk etc are good for toddlers. Apart from that it all sounds very healthy and much better than Tom's diet!

Yep! I did used to buy more dairy products but he wouldn't eat them, so I did and got fatter .

P.S he "should" weigh 11.4kg or 25lbs and 2oz according to the growth chart in his health book. So he would be overweight if he actually is 13kg. I can't imagine how I'd keep his pants on him if he had to lose some weight though, half of the size 1's fall off as it is. In the pictures of him at the playground, the pants are 6-9 months and the knitted jersey is a 9-12 month size. I bought a pair of pink pants in 3-6 months for the new baby and he promptly put them on and fit them well the other day, haha! They are pretty huge though.

 

[hattiehippo]

He looks perfectly normal to me. Any last rounded bits will go as he gets older but he's certainly not obese by any stretch of the imagination. Eve if he is 13kg some babies reach that before 1 yr old so its not particularly heavy.

If anything I'd say his diet needs more fats in it as toddlers have different dietary needs to adults. They need more fats for energy and growth. Full fat dairy products like yogurt, milk etc are good for toddlers. Apart from that it all sounds very healthy and much better than Tom's diet!

Yep! I did used to buy more dairy products but he wouldn't eat them, so I did and got fatter .

Love it! Sounds like me too!

 

[sapphire1]

What?! He doesn't look obese to me, he looks quite a slim build. I think they just use the term when the height and weight percentiles are different. I don't know many babies that are in 'perfect' proportion. Holly was always similar for both, she is 91st for height and was between 75th and 91st for weight when I got her weighed in Feb. I think she's slimmed down a lot recently as she's mega active, so no doubt I'll be told she's starving and underweight. I wouldn't take any notice, he looks a healthy and active little boy.

 

[R_x]

He doesn't look obese to me!!

 

[sweetlullaby]

He doesn't look obese to me not one bit. I'd get him weighed again to double check but other than that I'm pretty sure around 2 LO's have a growth spurt in height. I actually keep meaning to check LO's height against his weight he's 2years8months near enough and 25th percentile for weight at 13kg I think it's ridiculous that a doctor said a toddler is obese. They focus too much on weight I think. As long as a child at that age is healthy and happy that's all that matters. The only thing I got a wee talk about was about vitamin supplements being recommended for all children under 5 now

 

[Blah11]

he looks like a normal healthy toddler with a bit of baby chub He looks fine, ignore ignore ignore!

 

[minties]

Thanks so much everyone. Yep he is very healthy and active. He's never been sick.

I just weighed and measured his height at 83cm and 13.1kg fully clothed (it's winter here), so he's short and solid...so be it. I can see his ribs and he's fit and strong, so I'll just assume he's the weight he's meant to be.

 

[eddjanuary10]

He looks just perfect to me! Yeah just ignore that comment, he is nowhere near obese. x

 

[Septie]

Looks like a healthy sturdy kid to me Obese? Really??? Could it be that the doc, seeing that you are overweight, took it upon himself to call a boy above the 50th percentile for weight (and shorter than average) obese just to scare you silly, to make sure that you don't let him follow in your foot steps? I am not trying to be rude to you, just thinking what could possibly have made a doc call this perfectly normal looking child obese. I would question this, and if I did suspect this was the reason, perhaps consider changing doctors. It would be incredibly rude and needlessly anxiety provoking, as we all want the best for our kids.

 

[Mummy2B21]

Oh wow he isn't obese atall. My son is 15m and weighs 29lb before he had his growth spurt in height they said he was overweight but then he had a huge growth spurt in his height and he evaned out, frankie is all solid aswell and very strong and has no fat rolls, I bet your son will have a growth spurt in height soon and evan out its just the way they weigh them go by weight and height.