My 51 pound three-year-old girl is not overweight, just BIG

[Anonymous]

51 lbs for 41 inches is large. At any age. I have a 42" 4 year old at 39 lbs. She's not skinny, but proportionate. With another 12 lbs on her, she would be a pretty stocky kid.

[Anonymous]

Yes, your daughter is big, but 51 pounds seems on the high side for 42 inches. My son is 42 inches and 37 pounds, which I know is on the low side, but most of his friends are in the range of 45 lbs.

[Anonymous]

"Why is my doctor worried about the weight and not the height?"

Because the weight can be fixed with better nutrition and activity. The height can't.

[Anonymous]

My almost 3 year old is 37" and 32 lbs. I would say that she has a solid build. She has a cute round tummy and legs. But she is 70th percent with bmi 16.4. I seem to remember being in the 95th for height and weight as a kid, but I was around 48lbs as a 5 year old. Does your daughter have any pinch able fat on her stomach, or rolls?

[Anonymous]

It's not that the 3 year old is weighing in at 51 pounds, it's that her weight to height (BMI) is heavy. I haven't done the calculations to see if that is the case - definitely plug the numbers into one of those BMI calculators.

I wouldn't freak out about it but I would discuss it with her doctor. See what the doctor thinks is a healthier weight range for your daughter. Then make dietary/activity level changes as needed. Right now this is not a huge problem. But it could become one if left unaddressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are immigrants from another country. We are a different race than white. It is ridiculous for our kid to be not compared with other kids of the same race.

This is a pretty strange comment.

Maybe they are from the Amazon race?

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, even for that height, the weight is a bit out of balance. My 6-year-old weighed in at 51 pounds as well, but he's 46 inches. He's also definitely not skinny, he's pretty average but with a little bit of chub in places (his weight percentile is higher than his height percentile, so we definitely need to keep an eye on things). If your child weighs the same as mine but is 4 inches shorter. I have a hard time imagining she's not a bit chubby.

[Anonymous]

The child is overweight. You are in denial. You should see a nutritionist and make sure she gets lots of exercise every day.

[Anonymous]

Whoa. My DD is 26lbs and will be 3yo in 2 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think I would make an appointment or call and ask the pediatrician why it was alarming. How can you control a child's height? And if the height and weight are on par, what exactly are you supposed to do?

As a baby my son was on the low end for weight and height according to the charts and his ped made a comment about how what you see on paper and what you see in person don't always tell the same story. My son was and is very healthy and his ped was not concerned at all.

Her height and weight aren't on par though, because she's basing it on a misunderstanding of how height and weight percentiles should work together. The number to look at is the weight for length percentile, and a 51 lb 42 inch 3 year old is at the 99th percentile, which means that she's heavier than 99 % of 42 inch tall children her age. Yes, that percentile comes down slightly if she's a 51 lb and 42 inch tall 8 year old, because 8 year old are plumping up a little bit before puberty, but since her daughter isn't plumping up for puberty (unless she has a medical condition), this doesn't apply to her.

[Anonymous]

She weighs more than my 8 year old! If your ped thinks she's overweight, she's overweight. Better to start working on it now than when she's older.

[Anonymous]

My 9 year old weighed 51 lbs at his 8 yr old checkup. Your child is very overweight. The kids in my school often come into the pre-k program very overweight. I work in a Title One school and the kids are used to eating junk food and drinking sugary drinks. We had a girl start last year who was probably around this weight. She would waddle down the hallway and would need to stop frequently to catch her breath. She couldn't run like the other kids so she just stood outside during recess. She couldn't climb on the playground equipment. She was frequently absent due to illness. OP- I would get help from the doctor and possibly a dietician now. If there are no medical issues causing this weight gain, she is going to have a dietician work on a food plan for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is no such thing as just a big child. Your child is overweight. Fix it now or it will continue to get worse.

But her child is 42 inches. That is VERY tall. My 7-year old DD is 42 inches and weighs 45 lbs and is SUPER skinny and tall for her age. So if OP's DD is really 42 in and weighs 51 lbs at 3, then I doubt she's overweight. The real question is why she is so tall. OP -- are you and DH very tall?

42 inches is short for a 7 year old.

[Anonymous]

As a point of reference OP she weighs the same as my 5 year old boy who is the tallest in his class by several inches. He's off the charts for both height and weight for a boy his age although much further off the chart for height.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a point of reference OP she weighs the same as my 5 year old boy who is the tallest in his class by several inches. He's off the charts for both height and weight for a boy his age although much further off the chart for height.

Do you understand how to read the charts?

That weight for a 5 year old boy clearly is not "off the charts"

http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/data/set1clinical/cj41c021.pdf