I guarantee you will give her a lifelong weight complex if you bring it up. Honestly how would you feel if she got an eating disorder?

If her pediatrician isn’t worried at her annual checkups you shouldn’t be worried either.

Anonymous wrote:Not a troll. Her ped was concerned anout her weight gain (which surprised us) and wanted her back for 3-mos follow up but DW refused/ignored the appointment.

Call the pediatrician and schedule the follow up appointment.

NOOOOOO Do NOT say anything!!!!!

I feel the posters bashing you are wrong. No, you don't say anything directly to your daughter. And also no, you shouldn't ignore it. This is why so many kids are fat. You're right to want to do something. Your wife ignoring the pediatrician request to follow up in 3 months is INSANE. You call the ped and set up that appointment. No reason you can't do it.

Get her more active. Get your family more active. Model healthy eating behavior. As for the portions, make less food. Sorry, no more seconds Susie. Help yourself to an apple.

Anonymous wrote:Stop with the notion that children get fat before they grow. This is patently false. A belly isn’t an indicator that she’ll immediately grow and lose the belly.

But OP, NO you may not say anything. You may model good choices and behavior and feed her nourishing food. That is it. Full stop.

OP can discuss this privately with DW. And one or both of them could talk to the pediatrician about it.

For those who say don’t worry, you probably don’t have a kid like this. My 9 year old son also has a pot belly and eats a ton more than his sister. He just never seems satisfied and we are feeding him protein, fiber, healthy fats, etc. I do notice that he has a bigger belly at night and especially when he eats a lot of bread/pasta so I worry about a gluten intolerance.

Stop with the notion that children get fat before they grow. This is patently false. A belly isn’t an indicator that she’ll immediately grow and lose the belly.

But OP, NO you may not say anything. You may model good choices and behavior and feed her nourishing food. That is it. Full stop.

Not a troll. Her ped was concerned anout her weight gain (which surprised us) and wanted her back for 3-mos follow up but DW refused/ignored the appointment.

This is my daughter too OP. She loves to eat. I make sure to always serve healthy meals, etc but she eats huge portions. But I don't want to say anything to her because I'm worried I'll give her an eating complex, which is not what you want to do to a kid. I am just trying to increase her activity more to hopefully burn some of the calories off.

Jesus, really? Why, exactly, does it matter if your kid has a potbelly? GMAFB.

If you and your partner model good eating and exercise habits; educate your entire family on food choices -- not just her; encourage her to move *with* you through sport and/or natural regular exercise (e.g., walk to store vs drive); and nothing else - that's all you can do. SAY NOTHING.

Potbellied kids can be healthy kids even if you aren't happy with her "growing waist".

Is she due for another growth spurt. I know less about girls' growth cycles than boys but I know my tween and teen boys go through a cycle of putting on a little pudge and then shooting up another couple of inches (and the pudge goes away). One is 40th percentile BMI and one is 20th percentile BMI but they both get a pudgy middle before they put on height.

WTF? NO.

I assume this is a troll, but if not you should talk to her pediatrician.

OMG please do not say anything. . .just instill good eating habits . . good exercise habits. If you need advice, talk to her pediatrician.

It's more noticeable now but I'm sure it's been there for a while as these things don't happen overnight. Can I as her dad say something about it to encourage her to lose it? DW does the cooking and we eat healthy but DD has a big appetite I think in part due to having a teen big brother that influenced her idea of portion size. DW is not interested in speaking to DD about her growing waist at all. I haven't said anything either but wonder if/what to do to get DW on board or tackle it on my own.