Obese and too tall at 3 years old!!!

My 3.5 yr old is around 3ft 6 and 3 stone 8 (50lb?) and I have never been told he is obese, technically he is but his height is proportioned wwith his weight. Tell em to stuff it and move on

Check this thread:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/803997-picture-of-4-yr-old-of-what-the-school-calls-obese

LOL @ bureaucrats checking growth charts. What a stupid world.

I am a developmental psychologist (from a tall family). You can't be too tall unless you suffer from giantism. Genetically you get tall because you had tall parents/forebears. Environmentally you get there because you've had a very healthy diet. Congratulations!

However, you can be obese as a child without looking like what an adult would say is 'obese' because heatlhy kids are very, very skinny compared to adults, with really large heads.

If they just did a health assessment, you'll have percentiles on height and weight. My tall skinny son was always 98% for height and 25th% for weight. He was REALLY thin. My 'normal' son is 95% for height and 75-80% for weight. Things are in balance.

Obesity (defined by BMI) is different for kids so LOOK UP THE CHARTS ONLINE. What is 'normal' for an adult really is way out of line for kids. HOWEVER, make sure you are weighing them with almost no clothes and get a very accurate height, because with small weight little differences in measurement have a huge effect on BMI.

If YOU decide a change needs to be made, you know what to do. Drop the sodas and juices, get him running around, and feed him meat, grains, veggies, and fruit.

Honestly, that's mostly all there is to it.

In addition, remember that kids put on a little just before a growth spurt. You can tell one is coming on becuase their hands, feet, and noses look big. :laugh: (Really.)

Early age development is very difficult. It is hardly linear and clean cut.

Many children (teenagers included) actually gain significant body weight before a growth spurt.

I'd say ignore that particular gem of information given to you and focus more on the long run.

too tall? what kind of a silly comment was that?!? (My son was that tall at 3. He'll be taller than me by the time he's 10. But hubby is a tall man, so it's obvious where it came from)

He can't be "too tall"...he is what he is!! My son is the same way. At 6, he's onver 4' tall and weighs around 85 lbs. He's a big kid, but he's doing good on HIS growth scale. That's all the DR should be looking at. Not the "national" growth scale....

My son is 4yo about 47" tall and about 44lbs. He is very tall for his age, but his weight works. Your son is shorter and the same weight so technically a little on the bigger side.

Now....many kids outgrow their "chubby'ness" by 5yo and start to thin out. And many children (mine included) will gain, eat and eat, before a growth spurt. But if you're not careful now.... he may not and may always be the "big" kid. Being tall is not the issue - obviously you can not stop that, but you can be more mindful of what and when he eats.

Two articles worth reading:

http://www.livescience.com/8313-parents-underestimate-weight-obese-children.html

http://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/childrens_bmi/about_childrens_bmi.html

I had the opposite problem with my 5 year old. For his age, he is considered horrible under weight and short. Ok.....so? If you compare his height to his weight, those numbers are normal. He might be short for his age, but I'm only a little over 5 foot myself.

Sometimes, I think our Doctors need to go back to school. Or at least keep up with the changing times. And especially take family makeup into account. If neither parent is really big, likelihood is, the child won't be either. The opposite is also true. If at least one parent is taller, and the child is projecting that same direction, I wouldn't worry.

My Doctor was the one who pointed out the weight issues with my son. He's still small for his age. He has a tiny little waist and we have a hard time finding clothes he can actually fit in. But after talking to a child nutritionist, who wasn't at all worried when she did his height and weight scale, we were more at ease. Don't be afraid to get a second opinion, ever.

I would start giving skim milk instead of whole. That would make a big difference.
Yes, there is nothing you can do about height, but you sure can do something about weight.

No worries, they used to say that about my daughter all the time....There is no such thing as too tall...what are you supposed to do? stop feeding him?! Hogwash! That's crazy. If your son is healthy and you are watching what he eats....don't worry about what they say. Unless, you think it is a real concern! Talk about a confidence booster?! :noway:

He's adorablee !!

The too tall thing is just ridiculous. First off, my DD was 3'1" at 2, secondly, he's only in about the 75th percentile for his age. Finally, you cannot really change height.

His weight is above the 97th percentile for his age and for his height, though, so he is technically obese. My oldest DD has always been 97+% for both height and weight, which would put her at obese by weight for age, but when you do the weight for height comparison, she's in about the 75% range, which is completely healthy. If he's always been this way (95%+ for weight, 75% for height), I probably wouldn't worry as much, but if he used to be lower on the weight scale and has shot up to over 97% on weight, that's cause for concern, because it shows he is gaining weight faster than he is gaining height.

While I do not support putting children on diets, if you think he probably eats too much junk, then I'm sure he's eating too much junk. That's an easy thing to change. Stop giving him so much junk. You can give him lower fat dairy products and less empty foods and more healthy stuff if he's hungry. If you cut down on the junk food now and get him used to having treats only on occasion and in moderation, he should "grow" into his weight and will probably be healthier later on down the road.

My 3 year old son recently had his developmental review and the Health Visitor measured him at 3 foot 3 and weighing 3st 2lb (44lb). I know he's big for his age.
She told me that he's too tall and that he's clinically obese. What the heck does she expect me to do with that information? I can't stop him from growing taller! How can he be too tall?

If your son is unusually tall, much taller than the heights of his parents and grandparents would predict, it could indicate a problem with the pituitary gland, or thyroid gland, or adrenal glands, or even a genetic disorder--or it could be totally normal.

Most children settle into a certain percentile (height relative to other children their age) by age 2, and stay fairly close to it until puberty. If your son used to be a similar size as his peers, but has started outgrowing them, that could also be a symptom of a growth disorder.

To give you a rough idea of how tall you might expect your son to be as an adult, average the heights of the parents together, and add 2.5 inches (for a boy; subtract 2.5" for a girl). This is what they call the mid-parental height. The child's adult height will usually (not always) fall within 2" of that either way.

Now, take that mid-parental height, along with the top and bottom ends of the range, and look them up on a growth chart to find the percentile at age 20 (the end of the chart). Compare the percentiles to where your child actually is.

For example, my husband is 67.5" tall, and I'm 65". Average those and add 2.5". Our son could expect to be around 5'9" as an adult, and will most likely end up in the range of 5'7" to 5'11". My son's mid-parental height is at the 38th percentile; his actual height at age 12 is around the 33rd percentile, so it's very close. His adult height could be anywhere be between the 15th and 66th percentiles, depending on how puberty goes, and still be normal.

My 3 year old son recently had his developmental review and the Health Visitor measured him at 3 foot 3 and weighing 3st 2lb (44lb). I know he's big for his age.
She told me that he's too tall and that he's clinically obese. What the heck does she expect me to do with that information? I can't stop him from growing taller! How can he be too tall?

If your son is unusually tall, much taller than the heights of his parents and grandparents would predict, it could indicate a problem with the pituitary gland, or thyroid gland, or adrenal glands, or even a genetic disorder--or it could be totally normal.

Most children settle into a certain percentile (height relative to other children their age) by age 2, and stay fairly close to it until puberty. If your son used to be a similar size as his peers, but has started outgrowing them, that could also be a symptom of a growth disorder.

To give you a rough idea of how tall you might expect your son to be as an adult, average the heights of the parents together, and add 2.5 inches (for a boy; subtract 2.5" for a girl). This is what they call the mid-parental height. The child's adult height will usually (not always) fall within 2" of that either way.

Now, take that mid-parental height, along with the top and bottom ends of the range, and look them up on a growth chart to find the percentile at age 20 (the end of the chart). Compare the percentiles to where your child actually is.

For example, my husband is 67.5" tall, and I'm 65". Average those and add 2.5". Our son could expect to be around 5'9" as an adult, and will most likely end up in the range of 5'7" to 5'11". My son's mid-parental height is at the 38th percentile; his actual height at age 12 is around the 33rd percentile, so it's very close. His adult height could be anywhere be between the 15th and 66th percentiles, depending on how puberty goes, and still be normal.

Actually I didn't even think of this. But then that puts spin on things, is this an issue of him being too tall and a possible medical condition from that and is that extra height causing him to have more weight and falling under the "obese" category.

My daughter was the same way at that age. Now that she is 7 y/o she's growing taller and thinning out at 68 lbs. She's built like me with big, broad shoulders and every bit of a tom boy that I was. She is a vegetarian's dream child, eating tons of fruits and veggies. Sometimes it's a struggle to get her to eat meat or other sources of protein, but it's getting better. No matter what, I know I need to continue to set a good example for her and teach her to view food as fuel for her body.