Obese and too tall at 3 years old!!!

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.

I would suggest talking to your pediatrician about it. They can give you the science behind the information provided to you.