Hellobee Boards

Have you seen the kids.eat.in.color Instagram post? She just had a post about this today.

ETA My kid is normal,but has had a couple times of being underweight. The height measurements at this age are really hard and even a quarter inch can really shift the percentiles. If you're worried, I'd have her height and weight measured again

I don’t go by BMI. My DD was borderline normal/ over weight at her check up when the Dr mentioned it. I don’t want to give her an unhealthy view of her body and weight. We have taught her to make healthy choices ( everyday foods vs sometimes foods/treats) and to excercise because that is what keeps your body healthy. I have seen her body change so much, it gets a bit heavier and then grows an inch overnight it seems. If she was eating unhealthy things in excess and not getting enough play/ excercise time then I would try and change things to be healthier. But it’s a slippery slope to me when dealing with kids because I wouldn’t want to start an unhealthy relationship for them with their weight or food. (It might happen anyway in life but I wouldn’t want to start it)

This calculator is very sensitive apparently. I put in my estimates for my son and it had him as underweight, 3rd percentile. If I adjust by 1/2 an inch and 1/2 a pound he is normal in the 10th percentile. I don't know his exact height - around 45 inches and his weight fluctuates between 40 & 42. At 40 even he is underweight but 40.5 he is fine. 🤷 I couldn't imagine him being 15 lbs heavier though but his frame is so small he would be obese at that weight. So much depends on bone structure/body shape. It's not all about the numbers.

I'm not a Dr, but like @kt326 said, it was my understanding that BMI wasn't really used heavily for kids? Like, it's considered, but not the say all be all? I would mention it to your dr and see what s/he says. That way, you know if it's something you need to address or not!

I've posted about my 2 girls before, since they are so different and raised in the same environment. I pack all their lunches and snacks for school, so they basically have 80% of all food controlled by me and DH (our sitter gives them after school snacks and often picks something unhealthy--she'll even buy it with her own money). And yet. My 5 years and 11 months old girl is (according to your calculator) 20% for weight with a BMI of 14.2, and my 3 year, 10 month old girl is "overweight" by half a pound, with a BMI of 18.5 and is in the 92% for weight for her age. They weigh almost the same, but my oldest is 2 years older.

This is actually consistent with their doctors appointments.

Anyway, I've posted about it before. We definitely try to offer healthier foods most of the time, and other junk/snacks in moderation. But the fact is, my kids are different. They have different body types, and my oldest is not food motivated at all (like she's the type that can "forget to eat") and my youngest is extremely food motivated (goes to the pantry, screaming "snack!" "snack!" about 8 times a day").

Basically, my oldest daughter is similar to my husband (who also "forgets" to eat) and my youngest is like me. haha. Even when my youngest was 100% breast fed before starting solids, she was 98% for weight, and only 50% for height. Girl just loves to eat. However, with half my adult siblings struggling with obesity, and the direct correlation between obesity and health issues, of course it's something I want to keep an eye on for her health.

I mean, at some point the BMI will matter--maybe your doctor can give you some guidance on when. But unless a kiddo is weightlifting, or is an elite athlete that works out all the time, then BMI is a decent indicator of obesity vs healthy weight range. I do have an adult mom friend who does those fitness competitions, and she is ripped and is constantly working out, doesn't eat carbs half the year, literally is in the gym up to 3 hours a day.....she always posts about how BMIs are crap and she would be overweight if her doctor when by BMI. But I asked her once after one of those rants how much she weighs when she's not cutting carbs for a competition, and she said 155. She's 5'7 and I'm 5'7, so I know 155 is not considered Obese, although I think 155-157 is considered borderline. And in her case, it really is all muscle. Even if she weighed 165 with her current workout regiment, she would be all muscle. If I put my 165 pound body next to her in a bikini (hahaha! I would never) you would have a real life example of how 165 at 5'7 can be healthy or 165 at 5'7 can be a good 20 lbs over ideal. Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is, I think the BMI probably applies unless you (general you) are ripped and being ripped is a visible thing. I haven't worked out in probably a year and a half....and it shows. I'm like 3 sizes bigger than my friend who weights 10 lbs less than me. And we're the same height.

I'm just musing. The whole American weight thing is definitely a societal phenomenon. Statistically. So I don't want to have blinders about how it's affecting my family.

Mine too, and I refuse to care. I posted here a few months ago as I was obsessing about this because she has a tummy and I was noticing myself (a lifelong fat girl on some sort of diet/body modification crusade) starting to obsess about her. And I had to check myself really hard before I started creating body image issues for my kid because I do not want her to live the life that I did, constantly thinking something is wrong with her. Here's a link to my post . https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/5-year-old-weight-gain#post-2857974 and to the blog I wrote a little while back on where the journey is now taking me https://www.hellobee.com/2019/03/28/embracing-body-positivity/

Like others have said, BMI is a useless tool, and weight and body size are not a metric of health and I personally am working very hard to uncouple those things and do everything in my power to make sure that my kid grows up realizing that everyone's bodies are different and that's ok and there's no right or wrong way to be. Even if your daughter looked fat, like mine does at times, I think it's our job to make that just as fine of a way to be as if she was skinny. Because it is. I grew up a fat kid and I was constantly told how "wrong" I was. My kid is not likely to ever be skinny, and I don't want her to ever think that she's "wrong" or that thinner/skinnier is better.

I've become a bit of an evangelist on this so my apologies if I sound at all forceful. I've read some great books recently, including The Eating Instinct, Intuitive Eating and the Ellyn Satter book on kids and eating and it all really helped me walk away from focusing on bodies and think more about good habits like letting my kid decide what to eat, how much to eat, when to stop based on her own signals and how to teach her to find a healthy balance and not stigmatize food. My technically overweight 6 year old is a very healthy eater, a very active kid and still has lots of growing and developing to do and all kinds of awful societal norms to deal with (like her teacher telling her that french fries are bad for you) so I want to be a force for good in her life, not additional stigma.

@Hypatia: Also meant to add (sorry, this is a big soapbox for me) - weight is not in any way a measure of good eating and activity habits. Bodies are just different and weight doesn't matter. There is so much science out there that shows that any kind of restriction and limiting of food is more detrimental long term than just letting people of any age eat what they want however they want and stop when they're full. Kids are good at this but they usually lose that intuitive instinct because parents start limiting foods and/or assigning value to food (good broccoli, bad cookie). As a lifelong dieter, I actually noticed this in myself when I stopped tracking and restricting and dieting this year and started just eating and trying really hard to listen to my body that my body knows, I just need to listen.

I think if you take a hard look at what you're feeding her. Do you think there's a problem? In general I think people should ignore BMI for kids. Their bodies change a ton as they grow. My kids both have gone through skinny and chubby phases.

But that's not to say there might not be a problem with the food she's taking in. DS had a classmate last year who had a serious weight problem. Not just a little tummy like my DD has. And from what I know of that family I'm pretty sure they weren't making a lot of healthy decisions. I think they were setting up their DD to have a lifetime of weight issues.

But I think if you're eating a normal balanced diet, then her body is just doing what her body's doing and it'll keep changing.

@graceandjoy @hypatia Same! She's beautiful!

So, I recently was working with a nutritionist as I have chronic health issues and want to address them through diet. She and I got to talking about my kiddos one day; I think she was just trying to get a sense of my approach to nutrition for others vs. nutrition for myself. Anyway, one of the things she said that stuck with me is that kids run on carbs. It's what their little bodies need! I wouldn't worry too much about what you're feeding them now, it sounds like they get lots of opportunity to fill up on proteins too. Also, my pediatrician has told me time and time again that BMI for kiddos is a junk measurement. I'm sure if your pedi was concerned they would say something.

I try really hard to teach "moderation, not deprivation". I dont want my kids to equate food and worth. We do talk a lot about fueling our bodies, building our muscles for our activities, etc.

Side note-- for those who think their breakfasts are "too carby" but kids want an Eggo, Kodiak Cakes now has frozen waffles and pancakes. I've found it's an easy way to sneak.in protein when my kiddos are being picky.

This calculator puts my first two girls in the 3rd and 6th percentiles, respectively, with a BMI of 13. It puts my third in the 60th percentile, with a BMI of 15.

All three girls are healthy and strong and the first two just happen to be leaner. I feed them as much as I can but they’re just little string beans. 🤷‍♀️

I wouldn’t worry about it at all unless your ped is concerned.

This put my skinnier almost 3 year old as over weight and my huge 4 year old as %12. It just doesn't make sense. They both "stock up" before they grow and I think that's healthy.

Talk to your doctor if you are early worried.

That calculator is pretty sensitive. My 5 year old is 48" tall, but I haven't weighed her in a while. I put in her most recent weight from when I last had her at the dr, and it had her at 13th percentile, so I figured maybe she gained a pound or so, and that bumped her up to 76th! With that much sensitivity, it could be as much as wearing heavier clothes/shoes, or a differently calibrated scale. Not really worth getting too worked up about I don't think.