How Much Weight Do You Put In Your Child’s BMI?
At our son’s 4 year old check-up in June, our pediatrician dropped a bombshell on us… “he’s obese”. How on earth could this perfectly healthy child with easily viewable ribs be obese? Our pediatrician suggested that we see a nutritionist and get the situation “under control”. We walked out of the appointment baffled by the thought of our thin child being obese.
After talking to other friends who use the same pediatrician, I found that this was almost a common diagnosis. We compared our children and all agreed that they look healthy. Not too thin, not too thick… just right. (And truthfully, we are the kind of friends who would say if things appeared differently!) I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how this diagnosis could apply to these kids. They were healthy, active kids!
Then it dawned on me… Body Mass Index (BMI), the way in which obesity is measured, measures height to weight proportions. It does not take into account muscle mass. While most children aren’t teeming with bulging muscles, they can have significant muscle mass. I take this to be a huge flaw in the overall diagnosing process. BMI also does not take into account a growth spurt. Some children gain weight and then grow in height and even out.
Of course, we have taken steps to try and reduce Andrew’s overall weight, as with his diabetes he is more prone to developing other life-threatening conditions later in life, but now we are just amazed at how thin he looks.
And then there is the flip-side… “they are too thin”. Two of my friends have been criticized in their parenting because their children are by nature exceptionally thin. They are healthy children, but just tend to be very thin, even when mom tries shoving cupcakes down their throats to get them where they are “supposed” to be.
My friends and I have all come to the same conclusion: while we trust and look to our pediatricians for support and guidance, there are just sometimes that we feel we need to throw their medical expertise out the window and trust our own parental instincts as to what is right and wrong for our children.
Have you had a similar experience? How did you handle it? Do you feel comfortable at times not following your pediatrician’s recommendations?
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You know I’ve noted the BMI on Kaylee’s health form printout that the doctor gives me, but I’ve never thought much of it. I have joked with my hubby that it’s a bit absurd to even have it on there. Kaylee is only two after all. Her doctor has never mentioned it or ever given us cause for concern over her weight. According to the sheet, she has a BMI of 17, which would be under weight as far as the whole BMI scale is concerned. Yet she doesn’t look skinny and she’s right around the 50% mark for her age. She looks healthy, acts healthy, and seems happy.
BMI is just silly anyway. I’m almost overweight according the BMI scale and I’m 5’6″ and wear a size 6. I’m not fat. My hubby is the same way. Almost overweight according to BMI and he’s 6’3″ with a 34 waist.
We are on the opposite end of the spectrum with our preemie. She’s on high-calorie formula, mixed at an even higher caloric rate. We’re encouraged to put extra butter in her food, etc.
And yss, I understand that a one-pound, eight-ounce infant needs to put on weight, but 14 months later, she’s 18.5 pounds!
Personally, I’m proud of how far our girl has come–so yes, I listen to their advice, but don’t always abide by it.
I think you always need to follow your instinct. I ignore about half of the stuff my pediatrician says and She is great. I have chosen not to vaccinate my daughter due to pure instinct on my part and the doctor just can’t wrap her brain around why I would make that choice. It is my choice…she is there for guidance and advice that I can choose to follow or not.
You know if your child has a weight problem by looking at him and so should the pediatrician. You don’t need a chart for that one.
Most of the time “Mom does know best”.
I have heard about schools thinking about putting students’ BMI on report cards. I think that would be a bad idea. Like you said the BMI scale is not the most reliable measure of a healthy weight. My daughter is very petite in 10th percentile and my son is on heavier end in the 90th percentile, but I think he will even out. So much is trusting our instincts!
@Melissa… there are definitely times that you need to follow their advice to a t – like with your preemie!!! I’m glad she’s doing so well! 18.5 lbs is great!!
And as much as we love and trust our pediatrician, there are just some times we do have to go with our guts! Our son’s endocrinologist (diabetes doctor) told us flat out at our last appointment that we are the ones who are with our kids day in and day out and we know what’s best for them. That gave me so much freedom!!!
@Christy…thanks! Not too many babies are 12 times their birthweight at 14 months.
(If so, I would have been 96 pounds…quite obese!) And we are actually between two extremely varied medical opinions. Her pediatrician is a wonderful, laid-back man, but we also see a NP at the Children’s Hospital who is VERY strict on the whole weight-gain scenario. (She’s the one who recommended we add butter to Addie’s food. But where will she be in 20 years when our family’s history of heart disease comes calling?…)
Bottom line is…we want our children to have a healthy relationship with food. Force-feeding her at every turn is not going to leave a positive impression!
AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN!
There is something to be said about MOTHER’S INTUITION…and we don’t have to go to 47 years of college for that! We just KNOW!!!!!
Isn’t it more important that we and our kids just eat healthy and stay active?
Should we really be worried about numbers?
EXACTLY!!!!!!
There’s a general lack of common sense these days about kids & weight. Doctors I guess are so afraid of malpractice suits that they order all these extra tests for kids who are at one extreme or other of the charts. After having all the tests come back negative, my pediatrician said: “well, I guess somebody has to be in the first percentile.” Duh! And the fact that I’m very petite and the rest of our family is not very big should’ve been the clue that it’s probably just genetics. Now if I were some tall, voluptuous Amazon with a tiny baby, that I could see being a concern. But a petite mom having a small baby isn’t unless there are other symptoms like poor muscle tone or whatever.