13yr old's pediatrician just told her she is overweight and I am pissed

[Anonymous]

You guys can wring your hands and fret as much as you want. If she’s going to have a weight problem it probably doesn’t matter what you or the pediatrician say. These things aren’t based on magic words or special silence. 13 is certainly old enough to be aware of the BMI metric and the mom is obviously capable of helping her put it in context and assess her overall health. If you think the doctor is wrong, you can learn more about it and/or get a second opinion from another reputable doc (not by shopping for someone you think will agree). That’s what she needs to be prepared to do as an adult so this is a perfect opportunity to do it with parental support/coaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wait, are there literally people on here telling OP that her daughter who is 5ft and 5 inches tall with a 27 inch waist and wears S/M clothes - OVERWEIGHT?

And we wonder why eating disorders are on the rise so much.

You all believing BMI is a trusted thing is insane

+1

My teen wears a size 10. She is pretty thin, has no muscle but does have a little belly pouch. I am more concerned with that than her BMI, which is in the normal category.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Her BMI is high, but her doctor should do a body fat measurement before having any concern, because you are absolutely correct that, if she has a lot of muscle, a high BMI alone does not indicate a health issue.
I would likely change doctors if her current doctor does not grasp that issue.

13 YO girls rarely have "a lot of muscle." Even ones who are as active as OP says her DD is.

Exactly. My kids do basketball and it is amazing how much bigger many young players are compared to 20 years ago. They have some muscle, but not that much at 13, lot of extra wear and tear because off all that extra size.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm with you. I'm appalled the pediatrician would raise this even within your daughter's earshot. If there is an issue (and it sounds like your daughter is fit and active), raise it with you. Casual statements like the one this doctor made can trigger eating disorders.

[Anonymous]

The Ped my teens see doesn't use the BMI index anymore. The doc uses a waist-to-height ratio because the BMI index doesn't take into account muscle.

Both of my teen boys who play multiple sports are considered overweight according to the BMI. One is 6'1" and around 190lbs. He plays travel soccer, HS soccer, and does triathlons as a hobby. The other is just under 6' and around 175 lbs. He plays travel soccer, HS baseball, and does martial arts.

Using the waist-to-height ratio, they are perfectly fine.

Waist-to-height ratio:
1-Divide your height in inches by 2.
2-Measure your waist at your belly button in inches.
3-Keep your waist size under measurement 1 to be considered healthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is 5.25 height in feet / inches? 5 foot 3 inches? I can't really get a sense of the weight for height to know whether it's a real concern.

In general even if she is in the overweight category I would probably think that should be discussed with the parent only, I think.

Agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not only is she over weight, but she is obese. The doctor wouldn’t be doing their job if they didn’t let you all know.

How is a 5 foot 5.25 inches weighing 150lbs obese? WTF

The mom said she wears a size 6 and small clothes and you are saying she is obese?!?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She IS overweight for her height. It is her doctor's job to talk to her about that. It is NOT about her looks but about her health. Nothing to get your feelings hurt about.

I was PP’s DD, a Varsity and travel soccer player year round and very muscular. Almost all my life, I was in the overweight category. Guess what? I did a body composition test which showed I had a much higher mass of muscle than “normal.” The doctor should use some common sense here. And OP, if you think it’s worth it, you can get your DD one of these tests, too so she sees this for herself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my daughter's well visit and during that time she talked to her about physical activity etc...

My daughter does cross fit in winter, volleyball in Fall, and travel softball year round. She definitely has an athletic body. She wears a size 6 in jeans and a small or medium in shirts/pants. She is 5 ft 5.25 inches height and was 151lbs with her clothes and sneakers on.

This pediatrician talked to her about being in the overweight category in the BMI and I almost lost my $hit. My jaw dropped. She looks nothing overweight. She has muscular legs and arms (she is a softball pitcher) and no belly gut. She isn't a twig but man, I was thrown they would talk like this to a girl teen. When we left, I told my daughter to not listen to her and she is strong and beautiful and muscle weights more than fat and not to worry at all. But I know this made her start overthinking. I could see it.

Is this normal? Really thinking of moving doctors.

Omg I am the OP. Sorry, she is 5 ft and 5.25 inches. I changed it

Okay that makes more sense for having a size 6 pant size and S/M clothes.

Your pediatrician sucks. Get a new one. Pediatricians should never use adult BMI indexes. There are none for teens for a reason

What's your reference for that? The CDC has long had a child & teen BMI calculator, including a widget that can be downloaded for this. It's being updated, but it is still in use. The American Academy of Pediatrics links to it on their patient education page: https://healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/obesity/Pages/Body-Mass-Index-Formula.aspx

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not only is she over weight, but she is obese. The doctor wouldn’t be doing their job if they didn’t let you all know.

SHE IS NOT OBESE

She is 65.25 inches tall

FFS keep up

[Anonymous]

I think her doctor should have mentioned it, but should have taken a more holistic approach by discussing her good activity level and her muscle mass while also showing her the chart of what her BMI puts her into.

My son’s pediatrician assumes he is healthy/active because he is thin (he’s not, he doesn’t do sports anymore). I pushed her to discuss with him how he needs to be more physically active. He has hardly any muscle for a teen boy and his 8 year old sister can beat him arm wrestling.

Pediatricians should look at the big picture and not just numbers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Ped my teens see doesn't use the BMI index anymore. The doc uses a waist-to-height ratio because the BMI index doesn't take into account muscle.

Both of my teen boys who play multiple sports are considered overweight according to the BMI. One is 6'1" and around 190lbs. He plays travel soccer, HS soccer, and does triathlons as a hobby. The other is just under 6' and around 175 lbs. He plays travel soccer, HS baseball, and does martial arts.

Using the waist-to-height ratio, they are perfectly fine.

Waist-to-height ratio:
1-Divide your height in inches by 2.
2-Measure your waist at your belly button in inches.
3-Keep your waist size under measurement 1 to be considered healthy.

Thanks for this. Is it for adults too?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Ped my teens see doesn't use the BMI index anymore. The doc uses a waist-to-height ratio because the BMI index doesn't take into account muscle.

Both of my teen boys who play multiple sports are considered overweight according to the BMI. One is 6'1" and around 190lbs. He plays travel soccer, HS soccer, and does triathlons as a hobby. The other is just under 6' and around 175 lbs. He plays travel soccer, HS baseball, and does martial arts.

Using the waist-to-height ratio, they are perfectly fine.

Waist-to-height ratio:
1-Divide your height in inches by 2.
2-Measure your waist at your belly button in inches.
3-Keep your waist size under measurement 1 to be considered healthy.

Not the OP but if her daughter wears a size 6 that is about 27.5 inches

If you divide 65.25 by 2 it is 32.625

So her daughter is way under that measurement

[Anonymous]

OP this thread went the way Jeff recently said threads go - apparently the first few responses set the stage and you had a typo in your OP. I think it's time to pack up - sorry!

[Anonymous]

I'm the appalled PP above. The AAP recently revised its guidelines regarding the treatment of pediatric weight issues, and my guess is that the doctor thinks she is being more proactive to comply with the guidelines. Many people opposed the guidelines because doctors tend to be insensitive/incompetent when it comes to weight and handle things in a way that is mentally damaging to teen girls.

Doctors should discuss weight concerns with parents, period.

https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/151/2/e2022060640/190443/Clinical-Practice-Guideline-for-the-Evaluation-and?autologincheck=redirected