My daughter, V, just turned 3. Sometime between 2 1/2 and 3, she gained a considerable amount of weight. She has also always been 95-100th percentile for her height. Basically she looks like she should maybe be in Kindergarten.
Within those 6 months, I started to not be able to put her in jeans, or any bottom that had a button. They wouldn't button. By mid-summer I started becoming really concerned. Is it really possible to worry about weight at such a young age? And when/how did this happen? I spent the first half of her life worrying if she was eating enough, now do I need to worry about the opposite?
I waited until her 3 year well-visit to get the straight up reality check that I was expecting. She is at the very top of the overweight scale in terms of her BMI. Any higher, and she is obese. Gulp.
I have felt frustrated. I feed my family healthy foods, always have. I see other families with their Doritos and Hostess cupcakes and their teeny tiny children. Then I look at my big kids with their apples and string cheese and think, what?! I know we all have different genetics, but I still feel sad that I have an overweight 3 year old who probably eats healthier foods than many other children.
But, what's the point in being frustrated, I've had to take at least some kind of action. My pediatrician recommended considering portion sizes, eating about 5% less foods. He said only skim milk, no juice, fruit snacks, etc. That's easy. I was almost already at that point. He gave me a goal BMI for when she turns four. I will periodically track it. The goal is not for her to lose weight, but to gain more slowly. I still can't believe that this is happening so young, but I'm hoping it will make a positive difference for the rest of her life.
Other things I've done: Well we've always been a whole-grain family, but have hung on to white rice so we've switched to brown. A treat used to follow every dinner. Now it's just a weekend thing. I keep my kids physically active, but I think there was a time during my first trimester of pregnancy this summer and through the end of winter when we were pretty sedentary. Now at least an hour of exercise is a huge prioirty each day. This usually includes bike riding, running games, and playgrounds. I enjoyed the convenience of juice boxes this summer, but I no longer buy them. My kids don't ask for them, nor for sweets. They've always loved their healthy foods. It's really just been about me making better choices of what I buy. Communicating with my husband about this pretty regularly has also been very helpful and necessary. I do not want to rub my worries off on my children and give them a complex about weight. I want these healthy choices to be a natural part of our lifestyle. I still want my children to enjoy treats and to enjoy the fun things in life but all in balance.
I'm kind of just venting here. Just wanted to tell my story to other Moms.
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5 comments:
I like that you said that you don't want to rub your worries on to your kids and give them a complex. I think that is very important and I was so happy to hear you say that. Because this is not something that is her fault or yours. Personally I would never look at a picture of your daughter and think that she is overweight. I myself have some very solid kids. Again, I wouldn't say that they look overweight, but I swear they are made of rock. I know you are concerned, but she is only 3 and I am sure everything will be just fine.
I also liked your commentary--because we do want healthy choices to be a natural part of our lifestyle without worrying and stressing every day. It's a good thing to teach kids healthy habits while they're young, while not freaking out about them. That will create a strong foundation for life. :)
I know you were writing out of concern but you make me want to choose healthier foods for our family! I've never been very good about that mostly because I hate to cook and I love the convenience of quick-grab snacks. I'm sure your kids will be much better off in the long run for learning to enjoy healthy foods now.
I think you did such a great job of voicing this. This is a growing problem, that we ALL need to be aware of. Not just for weight control, but there's a lot of crap in our foods these days. I've definitely become a lot more aware of what I'm feeding my family as well. I don't think you could be doing any better of a job than you aleady are. You take such good care of your family. And for the record, I was SHOCKED to read that she is so high on the charts. I have never once thought that, seeing her in pictures. She does look very old for her age, mostly because she's so tall. But definitely not obese. Not even close.
I have always admired how healthy you are as a family. I love that your birthday party pictures have veggie trays and snacks rather than just straight sugar. I have to echo everyone else where I would never have guessed that her BMI was high! I would look at you and NTG and how healthy you both are and try to figure out if she's growing like one of you did? We worried over many ultrasounds because of a genetic marker until I looked around and realized that ALL of the Holmans have short pinkies. I was so relieved that it was our "normal".
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