Big weight gain in 7 yo - panicking
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Anonymous
| This can happen before a growth spurt. |
Anonymous
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My son started putting on weight at this age and by 7th grade was quite chubby. You get advice from all sides—take out all sugar from your house—but don’t police their sugar intake! It will give them a complex! Give them only vegetables for snacks—don’t make chips and goldfish the fobidden or they will binge it when they’re not at home!
A lot of people give advice and say it worked for their thin kids, but what they don’t know is that their house rules may have been completely unrelated to their child’s thinness and they would have been thin/not thin regardless. Fwiw i also have another kid who has always been super thin regardless of appetite or intake. My son isn’t chubby anymore as he had a huge growth spurt, but I admittedly worry about his future because he’s not naturally thin and he still eats voraciously but without the natural metabolism of some of his friends, I think once he stops growing and is in college it will be hard for him. We do not keep soda in the house and we have limited juice. We have more single serve desserts like popsicles than we do ice cream that you scoop into a bowl and make your own serving I still throw fruits and vegetables into my teens lunches even though they are capable of making their own lunches. Do your best to have them eat a high variety of foods. I did not settle for my kids being chicken nuggets and hot dog kids, I served vegetables at every single Meal even if they wouldn’t eat a bite. Yes you may waste food and money, but the expectations will be there and they’ll rise up to it. My kids went from picky elementary kids to non picky high school kids. Keep them active. Good luck! |
Anonymous
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I think a lot of posters are being unnecessarily mean, but I think the PP above is right on. To me the biggest red flag here is a kid not eating any fruits or vegetables. I know many, many kids will opt for sweets/junk food if given the choice, which is why you serve fruits and veggies with every lunch/dinner so that you create the understanding that healthy food is the default--not optional. It is a process--and in my case it's been a process over years, starting with babies, struggling through the picky eating toddler/preschool phase, and now finally in the elementary years starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel in that my kids will eat numerous fruits and vegetables, as well as "real" meats, fish, etc. Not perfect eaters by any means, but getting much better. And just as importantly, they're developing the ability to recognize when they've had enough and stop eating--even if they're having something sweet. I think this is really important for kids to learn young so they are able to exercise self-control and moderation as teenagers/adults, when you the parent are no longer in control over what they eat.
In terms of sweets, I definitely favor moderation/limits over the cold turkey approach, but I would condition desserts on having eaten dinner first (including fruits and vegetables) and I definitely agree with PPs about cutting out soda/juice as it's an easy way to reduce sugar intake at least at home. So OP if you're still reading, hang in there. Keep in close touch with your pediatrician, as you're doing, and focus on helping your daughter get a balanced diet. Don't worry if it takes time--definitely did not happen overnight with my kids... |
Anonymous
OP here. There is no juice/soda at all. Thanks to the two PPs - reasonable assessment and advice. She was a very healthy eater and then something happened last year and I cannot figure this out. She is a very active child - soccer, swim weekly. Walks and playgrounds. Biking. I am afraid she doesn’t know when she feels hungry (hence she asks for breakfast at school or school lunch even though she has her home lunch), and I cannot figure out how to explain it. Parenting sucks 
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Anonymous
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I used to say I was on the see food diet. I saw food I ate it.
She doesn't have a construct for portions or meals or gaps between eating. She might be afraid of the feeling of an empty stomach. |
Anonymous
| Um something happened last year? Any idea? Was she touched inappropriately? Bullied? I gained weight to be harder to handle. Literally. |
Anonymous
Of course you should tell kids certain foods will make them fat and being fat is bad in many ways. Where did you get ideas to the contrary. |
Anonymous
| What county are you in? We turned off our child’s ability to spend his school lunch money. He had a new food intolerance, and he was eating the food anyway. It can be done. |
Anonymous
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OP, your kid might be a little young for this but I was a pretty chunky kid and my parents found a dietitian with a background with kids. The discussion was about nutrition and feeling good more than calories. But I was probably 11ish then? By that age I was becoming pretty aware of my size v my peers and so I didn’t want to be the “big girl”.
I was also taller than most of my class and I think with kids sometimes weight gain just comes before a growth spurt. By junior high and high school I was normal weight. I’m now 44 and a size 4. Being chunky now doesn’t mean a future of obesity… but, for better or worse, being fat didn’t use to be acceptable like it is now |
Anonymous
No, the fat around the chest pretty much rules that out. Sometimes before puberty they willl have some extra belly fat but will not be overweight just disproportionate until the height comes in. This sounds like too many calories. You don’t have to use the word fat but she does need to know that it’s not good for her body to eat more food than she needs. We all have to eat the correct proportions based on our age, even adults. Skip the home breakfast and let her have breakfast at school. A lot of kids do that. I don’t think it’s fair for the teacher to have to deal with that in the morning. |
Anonymous
I think her high level of activity sounds great. As someone with a lot of anorexia/bulemia in my family and a touch of obesity too, I am quite careful to encourage interest in a wide variety of foods versus restrictions. 7 is a great age to buy some green bean and tomato seeds and watch them grow. Take her to a farmers market and let her pick out some foods from a few different categories. Have playful taste tests of foods - maybe with eyes closed to see if either of you can tell the difference. Can she taste differences between the apples maybe instead of whether she likes them. My husband is the one who does most of the cooking in our family, but cooking with a kid is magical for them - gives them pride for what is on the table. For your breakfast issue, have a conversation about balance. I wouldn’t freak out about the sugar. Tell her that her body needs carbs for energy, protein/fiber to grow strong bones/feel full and veggies/fruits for the vitamins and minerals that keep her healthy. Say it sounds like you are getting energy from your school breakfast, so let’s balance that with these elements at home. It would be useful to get eggs in her if she eats eggs (taste test some options - soft boiled and cheesy scrambled are big hits for us). Think light touch with all this stuff. When my kids were little, my husband was extra proud of his cooking and he was controlling about getting the kids to eat a certain number of bites of vegetables in exchange for the more carb/protein rich part of the meal. Seeing people count anything they are eating ln their plate reminds me of loved ones with eating disorders. I put a stop to that and said - eat a little of this and a little of that. Pay attention to balance. At times, I’ve also used the fuel for a car analogy for eating. Your body needs the energy to burn, but it doesn’t have a limitless need. (I know, I know - the car doesn’t get fat. I just try to stay positive.) |
Anonymous
| I tell my kids that too much sugar is bad for them. We can have it in moderation but too much is bad. They understand that if they have hot chocolate and marshmallows for snack in the afternoon, they can’t also have a big sundae after dinner. I think it’s a disservice to teach them it’s all good. They are not overweight at all. |
Anonymous
Many schools now offer free breakfast and lunch to all students. Parents have zero control if their kid gets junk breakfast at school |
Anonymous
Teacher here. If a parent wrote in saying no to school breakfast or lunch (and I had no reason to suspect the child wasn’t being fed) I would honor the parents request. |