WAG Weight v height - is this normal?

[Uglybetty]

She's probably going to end up just fine (gymnastics potential) as she grows over the years. The most assuring thing I read (not a scrap of fat on her) is that she's working hard and keeping very fit.

This is very reassuring. As DD is a late starter I drummed it into her in the beginning that gymnastics was probably about 15% genetics 15% luck and 70% hard work and that the only one of those she could control was how hard she works. It's not a drum I beat all the time but I do tend to praise the work over and above the end result e.g. "I'm proud of you for volunteering for extra conditioning" rather than "wow that was a beautiful round off". She is a very quick runner - they run laps around the floor and she tells me she often 'laps' her teammates.

I'd choose her being super fit than part of the Xbox generation every day....I remind myself of that whenever I need to drive her to gym when I'd prefer a quiet night in.

 

[Uglybetty]

and i just reread your post. they turn you in to social services?? are they smoking hopium in the UK administration?

i'd wipe myself for a week...and THEN return to sender. life never ceases to amaze.

I'm afraid so Dunno. We call it the "nanny state". They are obsessed with preventing an obesity epidemic, often pointing to the US and saying if we don't we'll end up like them (no offence intended). The policy has had a lot of bad press and there have been a few well publicised cases of kids being under threat of being taken into care because their parents don't control their weight.

Thankfully DD is miles away from that point. Her GP would confirm how fit she is, but it wouldn't stop them sticking ' fat kid' stuff in her records which will follow her around.

I'm going to see if I can withdraw consent (which was given when she was around 5).

 

[Faith]

what a bunch of crap! they really send letters home to you??

i'd wipe myself with those letters and return them to sender...

Well it appears the US do it too, from other replies . It's basically just pointing out the BMI is high, and a load of reading material about consequences/healthy choices.

Yes, people really do give their 2 year olds soda. And mcdonalds, I've even heard of burgers being liquidised for babies.

I just think it's mad that for the first few years of a child life people are obsessed with ounces of milk, weekly weigh ins, following charts. Every mother I know who packs a lunch up for her child does it "so I know what she's eaten". Back off with the food control, let them eat to their appetite!

Sadly, I do think it's getting more and more necessary to spell out to parents what is overweight, and what is not. It's the nature of this beast that those of us here tend to a)take an interest in sport and nutrition ;p, b) get off our backsides and find stuff out, and c) are relatively educated. Most kids in DD's school do very few after school sports- and I have noticed that nearly all the kids start out "normal" weight, but by 9/10 years old many are carrying obvious body fat.

If you can find "Jamie's school dinners" on youtube, check it out. School does proper, healthy dinners, parents take their kids in Mcdonalds at lunchtime as the kids "will starve" because they "won't eat that muck".

 

[Uglybetty]

Sadly, I do think it's getting more and more necessary to spell out to parents what is overweight, and what is not.

I don't agree in principle but I don't think it should be a purely mathematical thing. They should use the BMI to look at which kids need to be properly assessed e.g. by a school nurse or PE teacher. The stroppy letters should only be sent to those whose kids are genuinely overweight/unfit.

 

[Faith]

I don't agree in principle but I don't think it should be a purely mathematical thing. They should use the BMI to look at which kids need to be properly assessed e.g. by a school nurse or PE teacher. The stroppy letters should only be sent to those whose kids are genuinely overweight/unfit.

Agree. Down to money though- how many schools actually have a school nurse these days. DD's school doesn't have a PE teacher either.

I also think all this Atkins/low carb/low fat/low sugar/wheat free/lactose free faddy crap that adults are buying into is muddying the waters of what's healthy for children.

 

[Natalia]

I don't want to derail this thread into a social rant,Ok I can't help myself.

I returned to France nearly 2 years ago.There are many things I adore about my country and dear old Europe...BUT the erosion of individual self determination is depressing.

If a social worker gets anywhere near my family,I will poke her eyes out !!We have become submissive subjects to a bunch a faceless technocrats,who often happen to be overweight unfit and arrogant.

They should cut back on their 5 course meals and walk to work before they weigh my kids.

Rant over.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Occasionally you do get a professional with a brain cell. When my P&F was a baby she dropped off the weight charts ( after being 9lb 10 born), panic by health visitor - went to see doctor who didn't weigh her, just checked her developmental status who pronounced that she was a healthy, happy, very bright baby who just didn't like eating ! (I think she must have been swapped at the hospital cause my boys will eat anything that's not moving fast enough) No referals, no intrusive tests, just keep and eye on her and if she slows down developmentally then we shall intervene.

Gymnastics has actually improved her appetite, I let her eat pretty much what she wants with the proviso that there has to be fruit and veg in there somewhere (she would live on milk and meat if I let her) and keep a lid on the sugar - we are all good

 

[Tally Ho]

I've had the letter from school too! DD2 is 6 average height with thigh muscles I would kill for, she has a solid set of tummy muscles, but none of that was taken into account! I'm do pleased to see many other parents have had similar experiences

 

[CreateMagic]

I . I hope our friends in the UK protest the BMI police enough that no one dare start that program in the U.S.

Too late. The kids here get measured and weighed at school, and letters sent home, unless a parent "opts out" of them. I'm a teacher--and I looked at my class, explained why BMI is junk and told them to get their parents to opt out of it. The health teacher and I worked together to present a lesson on eating habits (healthy vs. poor choices vs. disordered eating). My gymnasts regularly get a "warning" letter. I tell parents to RIP IT UP! (and do not share results with your child)

 

[gracyomalley]

Pediatrician speaking here - BMI for children has almost no basis in fact - poor predictive info regarding health outcome, and much controversial research still on-going....but with the panic over childhood obesity adult standards were put into place. I spend hours weekly re-educating parents after the WIC nurse tells them to either stop whole milk with their healthy 18 month old, or place a similarly healthy kid on Pediasure because they didn't take a moment to look at the kids overall growth curve, genetic pattern (ie skinny small parents....), or development. School programs are similar - a little knowledge is more dangerous than none! I'm so tired of parents of chubby breast fed babies asking me if their weight is a "problem" - my response is only if you wean them to candy, soda and sponge bob marathons!

Gymnasts in general and many other child athletes SHOULD have higher BMIs than the average kid - THEY HAVE MORE MUSCLE....nuff said! And the kids eyeballed by coaches early and placed on fast tracks are probably even more muscle bound....my DD in particular has only once hit the bottom rung of the height growth curve (now during her pubertal growth spurt - she'll fall back off as the other girls catch up...) but her weight has always been 10-25%, BMI not in the "at risk" area, but almost....luckily her doctor ALWAYS makes a point of saying that that is where she SHOULD be as an athlete with her number of hours....

Childhood obesity is a real problem, especially here in the USA. But we know why. I don't think competitive gymnasts are the problem! When's the last time your kid ever got only 30 minutes of "active play" a day and spent greater than 5 hours on a screen that day???? And although I think my DD eats far too many sweets if given the chance, her portion control in all other areas is natural and consistant - she eats what her body needs. My DSs actually do too, just are afraid of veggies!

Simply opt out and let the kids know those standards are for kids with the above lifestyle and are related to preventing ADULT health problems....we'll just create more disordered eating with this!

 

[Committed]

My DD has always been in the 95% (ish) percentile for height. But her weight percentile has crept up throughout the years. As a toddler, she was 15-20%. As a preschooler, she was 50%. Now, in elementary, she is 75%. She's solidly built (no fat), but has a very small frame.

 

[skschlag]

D is a little different, but we still run into some of this. He is 35% in height and 25% in weight. I am pretty sure it is because he just had a small growth spurt...so I expect the height to drop back down. After being dx failure to thrive for years, it is nice to be on a chart, even for a short while.

 

[GymGirl's Mom]

My very tall (always been off the charts) DS got "the letter" sent home from school because his weight for AGE (7) was in the 93 percentile. No mention about the fact that his weight for height (4'7") is where it should be. I crumpled it up and threw it away. Garbage! Who calculates weight for age? It was weird.

 

[Uglybetty]

Pediatrician speaking here /quote]

Never before have three words offered me so much reassurance. I'm going to opt out if I can and continue to focus on feeding DD a healthy balanced diet.

 

[purpleleomom]

DD was a shrimpy baby, and we got lots of flack because she was breastfed and had no rolls. She definitely wasn't a failure to thrive kid, just little! Thank goodness her ped was understanding.

She's still on the small side at 7. She has ADHD, and her meds decrease her appetite. Gymnastics brings it back. On both ends of the spectrum, people need to just let kids be. Provide good choices and let them do the rest.

 

[Learning Parent GB]

I happily opt in to the UK weighing scheme. They do it a 5 an again at about 11. I realise the BMI is a very crude measure, so if I were to get a letter I'd use it to make me think, check out my DD and then happily go on my way.

We only have to look around us to see quite how the norm in children has seriously changed since we were young. The letter goes to the parents, not the children, so there is no need to share the results with anyone or stigmatise your child. And it offers bland dietary end exercise advice which you can quite happily turn down - or contacts for help if you choose to ask for it. I can see exactly why parents get upset about it, but I don't believe for a second that a referral would be made to social services without further investigations in the most serious cases. And if me getting offended for a day or two is the result of the same letter that makes another parent think and subtly change their child's diet / exercise then it is worth it to me.

And don't forget that there is the low end of the scale too. I have had one child where I was very concerned about their low weight and so I let the doctor weigh them 'as a start point' to see if there was a problem. The process of actually weighing an measuring them didn't change anything so why would it do any harm at school? And I also buy in to the argument that statistics can help inform healthcare planning at a population level too.

Being honest, I'm not sure I know anyone who has actually opted for any of the help offered, but the naïve optimistic bit of me hopes that maybe they have - they're just not the people shouting about it.

 

[Learning Parent GB]

My very tall (always been off the charts) DS got "the letter" sent home from school because his weight for AGE (7) was in the 93 percentile. No mention about the fact that his weight for height (4'7") is where it should be. I crumpled it up and threw it away. Garbage! Who calculates weight for age? It was weird.

Was that in the UK? That is not in the NHS guidelines. Even I can't start to defend that. Te only reason I defend BMI as a start point is that it at least takes height and weight into account together. I just shows the differences between regions.

 

[Learning Parent GB]

Simply opt out and let the kids know those standards are for kids with the above lifestyle and are related to preventing ADULT health problems....we'll just create more disordered eating with this!

The weighing and measuring scheme here does not tell kids at all, so it is only if the parents then pass it on t the children that I think it would create more disordered eating. We do on the other hand get 'healthy food' lessons which say flapjack bad (sugar) and yoghurt good (dairy) when in reality most kids eat yoghurts full of sugar. They think children can't understand anything other than that polar division and in demonising certain foods they confuse and upset a lot of young children trying to get their head around it. Why not just encourage kids to love healthy food and t find an exercise / sport / activity that they love?

 

[Iwannabemargo]

I spent 10 minutes in the yoghurt isle in Asda today looking for full fat youghurt for P&F. I could buy a gazillion types of low fat ones with 20% sugar in them, but I could buy one of two types of full fat, lower sugar ones. (multi-pot packs). I got a link to this article on my faceache feed today which was interesting. http://armadillokerfuffle.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/why-we-will-continue-to-eat-full-fat.html

 

[LucyTRA]

The diet police thing drives me nuts. It makes perfect sense that a young gymnast training lots of hours will be heavier than the average kid. I think that doing all of this weight and measurement stuff at school, even if they don't tell the children (I also think it's a bit impossible not to - like the nit nurse when I was at school. If you got a letter, EVERYBODY knew what it said) is really damaging, it just makes children more aware of the 'need' to loose weight which is present enough as it is.

Healthy eating lessons don't get my vote either, as there really is no such thing as a healthy or unhealthy food. What is healthy depends on your health needs. I figured this out when I was teaching in rural Uganda, and because most peoples main health need was to gain weight, butter was advertised as a health food. Here in the uk, where obesity is a problem, ryvita crackers are considered a health food. Teaching kids that there IS such a thing as healthy/unhealthy foods can be confusing an upsetting, and just ISNT TRUE.

/end rant