Thursday, 5 March 2015

A BMI rant


 We had a letter arrive today from the good ole NHS. DD was weighed and measured in December at school and they have just written to us with the results.
The letter informs us that DD is in the 91st percentile for her weight and thus classed as overweight. Confused we double checked the height and weight recorded on the letter via Google and found that it agreed, that DD is overweight.
 We then felt like terrible parents for a few hours until OH said "how far is she from healthy weight range?"
 Google tells us  that DD is 2lbs out!!! 2lbs is enough to class a child of four as being overweight rather than healthy. Further research tells us DD was weighed directly after lunch, after a healthy portion of school dinner and desert.
Suddenly I don't feel like a guilty parent, I feel like an angry one!
 The  letter came with a "helpful" booklet of changes we could make to DD'S diet such as stopping full sugar drinks and replacing them with diet versions. Pumping DD with aspartame is definitely not something I will be following. She drinks water or milk regularly with occasional blackcurrant squash. Fizzy drinks are a very occasional treat (birthday parties or family events for example)
   Out of interest we will try and measure DD'S height and weight ourselves tomorrow to see how an up to date result measures up but I have a funny feeling she won't be in the  91st percentile anymore!

 X x X

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5 comments:

  1. Trudie5 March 2015 at 14:02

    I think you're being very understanding about that letter - I would file it away - straight in the bin - if your DD is happy and healthy then that is what matters xx

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  2. Gill - That British Woman5 March 2015 at 14:29

    they don't know what they are talking about!! Another waste of tax payers money.

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  3. Nim5 March 2015 at 16:09

    Absolute tosh... makes me so angry, unless a child is obviously overweight and unfit just focus on healthy habits at school not flipping bmi! Do they not realize that there will be people in the 91% as well as the 11% as we are all not the same. DD looks like a lovely healthy little girl xxx

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  4. Angela6 March 2015 at 01:52

    My weight can easily vary by 1-1½ lbs over the course of a day. Furthermore it is also a fact that the bizarre way BMI is calculated is affected by your height if you are at the ends of the scale- short or tall [trust me, I am a mathematician]. Tall people [like Bob] and short ones [like myself] will show up as obese when we arent- I was classed as 'obese' even though I was wearing size 12/14 clothes! Trust your maternal instincts!!!

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  5. Amanda6 March 2015 at 13:11

    I agree about aspartame! Evil stuff that is. We stick very closely to natural stuff so sweeteners and anything artificial is a no-go with us.
    As for the letter, what a waste of paper and ink!

    ReplyDelete

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