My daughter is overweight..apparently!

[kerrie24]

I just got home to a letter saying they have weighed and measured my 5 yr old daughter at school,and she is overweight.
She is 3ft9 (1.14m) and weighs 3st12 (24.5kgs) and is on the 96th percentile.She has always been around the same line since she was born,even when she was only on breastmilk for 6 months!She has a good diet and plenty of excersize and we walk to school and back which is about 2.5 miles total every day.
I hate that they are being patronizing giving me leaflets about healthy eating and activities as if ive let her sit around eating crap for 5 years!
I dont think she looks overweight,there are some tiny kids in her class who look much less healthy

 

[moomin_troll]

how dare they! if i get a letter like this about zane when hes at school they will not like my response.
she doesnt look over weight at all, and believe me ive seen overweight 5 yr olds in this area.
i would request a meeting with the head and get him or her explain to me how my child is overweight and then id be going to the school board

 

[sophxx]

ignore my mum used to get them all the time but when i went to high school they used to accuse me of having a eating disorder my mum flipped and they had to appolgise x

 

[fairywings]

Well according to what I just found looking into it, she is not overweight and probabbly on parr with what is average for her height, which is above the average for a 5 year old. They have no right to say that, just by going off a chart. If her percentile is higher than 50%, then maybe it is because she is tall, not overweight.

Are those her pics? She looks totally fine to me! x

 

[kerrie24]

Well according to what I just found looking into it, she is not overweight and probabbly on parr with what is average for her height, which is above the average for a 5 year old. They have no right to say that, just by going off a chart. If her percentile is higher than 50%, then maybe it is because she is tall, not overweight.

Are those her pics? She looks totally fine to me! x

Yeah thats her,I think she is fine its just annoying,she is one of only about 3/4 kids that tall in her class,everyone else is tiny but they dont seem to think about that.

 

[mommy43]

looks fine to me my lo has just had her 12m check n is on the 91st centile so shes apparently overweight too she was breastfed for 5m n has always been on the chumky side though has gotten tall now so its evened out (shes also taller than average for her age)
i wouldnt worry they are all different so how do they determine avarage??

 

[lauandbump]

I think that is absolutely disgusting! She looks like a perfectly healthy 5 year old to me! If my daughters school sent home that letter i would be there straight away demanding answers. We live in a world where young girls are suffering with eating disorders, making a fuss over their weight at such a young age is only going to make this a whole lot worse. Ignore them hun, she is perfect xxx

 

[cooper2010]

I would be so offended. I would tell them to piss off! By the way, she looks completely normal!

 

[hellohefalump]

She looks fine to me

 

[xxxjacxxx]

I would be majorly pissed at that

I would definately be having words with the school! How blooming dare they

She looks totally healthy and fine to me hon

 

[kerrie24]

Its nobody from the school that weighs the kids,its those healthy start people from the government or somewhere,I presumed they would be doing all the primary schools?

 

[skydragonfly]

This annoys me intensely, they need to look at other factors than just weight. All my 5 children eat a healthy, home cooked diet. At least 8 portions of fruit and veg a day, even their bread is home made. They had never even tried a McD's or crisps till they got to school - yet my eldest still puts on weight easily. He walks around 9 miles a day plus sports 3 times a week. He has friends who consider a packet of crisps and a Mars bar an adequate breakfast and similar for lunch. One of his friends has a chippy tea every single school night as his parents aren't in till late (he's 10) yet they are all skinny wee things. How could they consider my Jack, 5ft 2 and 61/2 stone to be unhealthy when his mates are living on crap.
Yes there is an obesity epidemic going on, but these generic letters based on figures without looking at any background to the child are not going to do anyone any good. The only people seeming to be upset by them are the people who care about their childrens diet in the first place.

Just adding they calculate the childs bmi index and base that on the centile chart rather than weight alone, so the height is taken into account. Muscle groups and general build of a child aren't though. My dd is slightly above average for her weight but she has no fat anywhere, none you can actually pinch - its just skin. Yet she is solidly built. This is not taken into account.

 

[despereaux]

she's sooo cute! she looks normal to me, not over weight at all.

 

[mommy2lilmen]

SHe is FINE. if she is UNDER 100% percentile, she is NOT over weight. Schools are so healthy and its upsetting. I get my kids lunches taken away even at the slightest of junk. LIKE COME ON. she looks adorable to me and I see no overweight little girl at all. If shes has followed a line ignore them. tell them to take it up with your health provider. Geeze that upset me, Im sorry, you shouldnt of had to go through that. GRRR how dare they!

 

[SeaThreePeeO]

You daughter is perfect5ly fine and is NOT overweight. What is the problem though is the outdated percentle charts that are being used.

I went through a terribly time with my first born who from the very beginning (birth) was off the 99th Percentle. In short she was simply too tall. This made her charts look as if she was overweight, where in fact she was the correct weight for her height.

Health Visitors would always exclaim, 'what are you feeding her?' And I couldn't see that I was feeding her any differently to any other child. I was made to keep food diaries, made to attend parenting classes and at one point accused of gaining attention through overfeeding my child.

In the end we were reffered to see a genetisist, who diagnosied my daughter at the age of five as having 'a gentic growth disorder as yet unkinown to medical science'. So that explained her above average height and bone age. I never once got an apology from all those healthcare officals that accused me of over feeding her.

The experience left such a bad taste in my mouth that when my second daughter was born she had the intial weigh ins with our midwife then never grced a set of scales again.

My eldest is now 13, taller then in and in size 10-12 (depending were we shop) clothes. hardly overweight.

Don't let them get to you. Simply ignore the letter and carry on as you have been dloing, which is fine jusging by your daughters pictures.

 

[kittycat18]

What a load of crap, your daughter is absolutely gorgeous. I would request a meeting with the schools principle and bring with you some information from the internet on how your daughter is not overweight, just tall for her age. This is absolutely disgusting when the government is trying to warn against the pressures of food and eating disorders amongst adolescents x

 

[katy1310]

That's shocking, no wonder there are so many eating disorders around. She looks absolutely fine to me. She's gorgeous and healthy looking.

My nephew is 2.5 years old and is nearly 3 stone but he doesn't look overweight - he's tall but not fat, just perfect. I wouldn't be surprised if some jobsworth comes along saying he is overweight - but my brother is 6ft 5 and sister in law must be about 5ft 8 or something so he was never going to be teeny! He has a healthy diet but people always mistake him for about 4 rather than 2.5! All children are different. xx

 

[kerrie24]

Thanks everyone for your reassurance.

A friend of my mums has an 11 yr old dd who got weighed and found to be overweight too,except the school sent the letter home with the child,not sealed,so she read it on her way home and now is completely devastated and trying to go on a diet...at 11 yrs old! Her mother went to the school and ripped them apart for not being more carefull,its disgracefull

 

[holly2234]

I dont believe they would do that! She does not look overweight at all! I would completely ignore them on their feeding advice but go right down to the school and tear them apart for doing that!

 

[maybebaby3]

she looks fine. it makes me mad they say she's overweight would they prefer her to be anorexic, coz that's what they seem to want! i would ignore it as you say she eats healthy foods and exercises my friend was told her 9month old was obese (he ate well, not junk) and was told to put him on a diet at 9 months she never went back. her son is now 4 and is not at all fat! he was just a lovely chunky baby with lots of puppy fat!