Rant over toddler's weight

[Demotivated]

hi all

i m back on the forum after long (apologies)

but just wanted to rant.

we had a regular doc's appointment today for my almost 3yr old and the doc comments..oh..he is overweight..and i was like hunh? I mean my son is quite solid and i know that.. but no where near FAT.
then the doc tells me.. he was born underweight if i remember (was 6lbs).. are you guilt feeding him? this is very common with new mothers..stop his potatoes and rice..and other loads full of crap..

Now my son is a perfectly health, happy, outdoor loving toddler. He eats well and mostly homemade food, with treats once in a while (touchwood).
He weighs 39.5lbs, but he is also very tall (106cm), which i feel is quite proportional


This has got my husband thinking and he wants to put our son in some kind of physical activity class (like karate or soccer).. I am just so mad at everyone right now for ruining my poor child's happy go lucky days!!!!!!

p.s. We are also going to TTC starting spring, so hope to be back on forum again soooon

 

[CaptainMummy]

according to the nhs red books, your son is 98th centile for weight, and a little above the 99th centile for his height, so absolutely in proportion! Ignore what everyone else has to say. I think people just like to talk, even if they have no idea what they are talking about. Can't believe he is that tall! My 4 year old isn't even a metre yet lol

 

[Boozlebub]

He is exactly the same height and weight as my almost 4 year old and he is totally in proportion! Sounds like your son is healthy and active so I wouldnt worry.

 

[krissie328]

Its so frustrating! I have a nephew in the 90 something percentile for height and weight. He he is a soild built kid but not fat. His mom always gets a ton of grief at the doctor. But he is healthy otherwise and has a decent diet. Oh

I have the opposite problem with a super skinny kid. People should be worried about him! He hardly eats and its mostly crap. Inspite my best efforts he has chicken in some form and a grain or potatoes for almost all meals. It drives me batty nobody listens!

 

[Demotivated]

according to the nhs red books, your son is 98th centile for weight, and a little above the 99th centile for his height, so absolutely in proportion! Ignore what everyone else has to say. I think people just like to talk, even if they have no idea what they are talking about. Can't believe he is that tall! My 4 year old isn't even a metre yet lol

lol, i guess its just genes. His grandparents are realllyyyyy tall!

 

[Demotivated]

Its so frustrating! I have a nephew in the 90 something percentile for height and weight. He he is a soild built kid but not fat. His mom always gets a ton of grief at the doctor. But he is healthy otherwise and has a decent diet. Oh

I have the opposite problem with a super skinny kid. People should be worried about him! He hardly eats and its mostly crap. Inspite my best efforts he has chicken in some form and a grain or potatoes for almost all meals. It drives me batty nobody listens!

Frustrating is an understatement.. It gets on the nerves..and makes one question their parenting.. not good at all for the child..

worst are the mothers who judge other kids/mothers, irrespective of how their child is doing.. i wish i could shoot them all :\

 

[_Meep_]

Your doctor sounds like a dick! He's in good proportion, so don't worry. Body shape and size is not just black and white, there's a huge variation of healthy and normal and he just sounds like he is big and strong and sturdy in general to me. Not fat. Ffs.

Good luck TTC! Can confirm the worry is SO much less the second time round ...

 

[Bevziibubble]

He sounds perfectly in proportion for his height. Sounds like his doctor hasn't taken his height into consideration at all. I wouldn't worry

 

[lau86]

This might be unpopular but... we know overweight/ obese children are statistically more likely to be tall, I don't know why but there is a theory that the excess calories can actually fuel the growth in height to a point where it's a problem.
I'm not saying that's the case for your child but if someone told me my child was overweight I would have a look at whether there's anything I could do and take that advice on board e.g. You may be doing home cooked food but do you use oils etc that could be switched . We do have a childhood obesity problem and a lot of people think their kids look ok, but you should be able to see ribs in a child of a healthy weight so we do have a skewed view of what looks healthy

 

[OliveLove]

My 4.5 is exactly the same height and weight and he's proportional! Your boy is just bigger than the kids in his age group it seems, but not overweight at all.

 

[Demotivated]

you should be able to see ribs in a child of a healthy weight so we do have a skewed view of what looks healthy

I agree with most of what you said, but this above does not make any sense!

kids whose rib cages are visible are grossly underweight. Not a single google pic of a healthy toddler would throw up what you are saying!!

 

[CaptainMummy]

you should be able to see ribs in a child of a healthy weight so we do have a skewed view of what looks healthy

I agree with most of what you said, but this above does not make any sense!

kids whose rib cages are visible are grossly underweight. Not a single google pic of a healthy toddler would throw up what you are saying!!

Not at all, although I'm not sure the same applies to toddlers, but certainly older children you should be able to see their ribs. My dd1 is 50th centile for height and just below 50th for weight. You can see her ribs (not every single one as she isn't skin and bones, but you can definitely see them) Same with my 4yr old (whose height and weight are on similar centiles, just at the bottom of the charts) So neither of them are skinny and underweight at all. They are healthy children, perfect weight for their height.

 

[minties]

Sophie is 5 and that height, and weighs a lot more...your son is fine!

Edited to add she is 47lbs and 6oz, I had to go convert from metric. I took her to see if she qualified for any help with her weight, but they won't for a child with a BMI under 21. She's always had these proportions. Her BMI is 18. Emma's is 15 and has a much different body shape.

P.S all the overweight people in my family are short AF.

 

[Zephram]

you should be able to see ribs in a child of a healthy weight so we do have a skewed view of what looks healthy

I agree with most of what you said, but this above does not make any sense!

kids whose rib cages are visible are grossly underweight. Not a single google pic of a healthy toddler would throw up what you are saying!!

Not at all, although I'm not sure the same applies to toddlers, but certainly older children you should be able to see their ribs. My dd1 is 50th centile for height and just below 50th for weight. You can see her ribs (not every single one as she isn't skin and bones, but you can definitely see them) Same with my 4yr old (whose height and weight are on similar centiles, just at the bottom of the charts) So neither of them are skinny and underweight at all. They are healthy children, perfect weight for their height.

Yes, they are 100% right. A child at a healthy weight has visible ribs. With the majority of society now overweight and obese, most people have lost touch with how a healthy child actually looks. If a child has no visible ribs at all they are likely overweight. Visible ribs do not mean starving and emaciated, there’s a big different between starving underweight and healthy weight and visible ribs. People also assume that kids should have ‘puppy fat’ or they pass it off as puppy fat when in reality their kids are just overweight and could benefit from healthier food choices.

 

[xMissxZoiex]

If you know he has a good diet and a good level of activity then what more can you do!? Some kids just grow faster than others, sounds like your baby is just above average for his age group and that doesn't make him overweight!.

I think its the worst thing you can do for a child is to put them on a diet!, It will make them think and focus on food! and that can lead to an actual weight problem later on. xx

 

[catty]

My son was 9th centile for height and 90 somthing for weight and was classed as very overweight. She told me though if he was the same for both whatever that may be that its totally fine which it sounds like your child is ?!?!

I took a long hard look at his diet, enrolled him in football classes and he went to a football camp. We cut snacks to a minimum and tryed to add alot more veg and guess what... hes still the same!!!

His siter is TINY and eats way worse than him so iv decided he is what he is and i will just be avoiding the health visitor.

She told me though a healthy snack is half a banana for a 4 year old. So my thoughts on what was normal protion sizes were very skewed. I would give him a whole banana plus a yoghurt plus another peice of fruit. Now its one peice of fruit or similar sized snack. I still give him nice sized meals though because he is hungry if i dont and he eats all the veg and has what i would say is a healthy relationship with food unlike my daughter who hates veg, is fussy but she is 'healthy'

 

[minties]

My son was 9th centile for height and 90 somthing for weight and was classed as very overweight. She told me though if he was the same for both whatever that may be that its totally fine which it sounds like your child is ?!?!

I took a long hard look at his diet, enrolled him in football classes and he went to a football camp. We cut snacks to a minimum and tryed to add alot more veg and guess what... hes still the same!!!

His siter is TINY and eats way worse than him so iv decided he is what he is and i will just be avoiding the health visitor.

She told me though a healthy snack is half a banana for a 4 year old. So my thoughts on what was normal protion sizes were very skewed. I would give him a whole banana plus a yoghurt plus another peice of fruit. Now its one peice of fruit or similar sized snack. I still give him nice sized meals though because he is hungry if i dont and he eats all the veg and has what i would say is a healthy relationship with food unlike my daughter who hates veg, is fussy but she is 'healthy'

Sophie, my 5 year old, is much the same! And her little sister is rather petite even though she eats like a crazy person and breastfeeds at night still!

Sophie's always been about 80th centile for weight and 15th for height. She piled on fat as a breastfeeding baby, and she was born at 8lbs but really short.

Emma is about 35th centile for length and 25th for weight, she was slow to gain weight for a while and dropped from a peak of 68th. She hasn't tripled her birth weight yet and she's not far off 18 months.

Thomas is about 40th for height and 75th for weight but he's muscular and fairly lean. They all have totally different builds, but have been brought up the same.

 

[SarahBear]

According to this, his BMI is 40th percentile:

https://nccd.cdc.gov/dnpabmi/Result...=39.5&gender=1&method=0&inchtext=0&wttext=1/2

 

[Quartz]

You can see the ribs on my 55lb 1.2m 5 year old - he is just solid - wide in the shoulders and hips and very strong with it (its always been his build)

 

[minties]

You can see the ribs on my 55lb 1.2m 5 year old - he is just solid - wide in the shoulders and hips and very strong with it (its always been his build)

My son is 7 and that weight, and is 119cm tall and he's not at all "fat" also.

https://i67.tinypic.com/24b6vj9.jpg

And Sophie is always either obese or verging on it, she has been since birth, though she's kept the same weight for a while now and gone up in height. She is 44lbs and should be about 37ish.

https://i66.tinypic.com/sp9dsi.jpg