Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No

re: Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No

Mamallama — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:31:18 GMT

This is a frustrating topic for me. The American Academy of Pediatrics is recommending that pediatricians check BMI's. My 5 year old daughter's BMI supposedly put her "at risk for becoming obese". It's ridiculous! She is not fat...she has a little baby fat left over but her tummy is flat and there are no rolls.

Unfortunately my husband is freaked out about this and wants to limit her food. She doesn't eat ANY junk food and almost no candy. This is causing frictions needless to say. I don't want her to get a complex or feel she is anything less than a beautiful, healthy girl.

re: Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No

Knitty — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:40:59 GMT

Oh my God, Kate. I don't think I would have been able to restrain myself.

re: Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No

Kate Tuttle — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:36:07 GMT

Yeah, I'd worry about their general attitudes toward weight (and beauty). I think the baby looks just fine, gorgeous even. My daughter was also very round at that age, and now, at 15, is a willowy teen. No dieting required -- she's just always eaten when she's hungry and she's been blessed with a healthy, beautiful body. I still remember when she was a year old, just starting to walk, and some old man commented on her "thunder thighs." I wanted to clock him!

re: Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No

Manjari — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:46:11 GMT

I think there is a difference, Stoakland, between someone saying, "I love her fat thighs," and saying that a child is obese. It sounds like this day care staff was not being complimentary.

re: Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No

Stoakland — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 05:03:20 GMT

So the baby's fat... what's the problem? So your sister in law calls your kid a butterball... get over it! In my world, that's totally a compliment for a baby. I love the rolls, and that baby in the picture looks perfect to me! My son's definitely on the big side, but he's super healthy and beautiful, and I'm not going to give him a complex by freaking out when people compliment him.

re: Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No

Erica — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 04:36:59 GMT

This is why I proclaim "stupidity should hurt". Gimme a freaking break. I'm glad she took her kids out because they are obviously incompetent.

re: Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No

JeanneSager — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 04:15:06 GMT

I wouldn't worry so much about them starving my kid as giving her a complex at such a young age. It's hard enough parenting a daughter in a culture where "thin is in," our kids don't need their babysitters telling them there is something wrong with their bodies.

re: Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No

Samantha — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 23:07:04 GMT

Ugh. So dumb. My SIL persists in calling my daughter a 'butterball' despite the fact that she is in the 40th percentile and is perfectly healthy. "Just look at her fat rolls!" she says. I worry for her baby when it's born this spring....

re: Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No

leahsmom — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:49:52 GMT

It is madness - but people do put babies and toddlers on low-fat diets (they need more fats than adults for, among other things, brain developments) heavy on the fiber (preventing them from getting enough vitamin absorption) for weight-related reasons. I think that weight CHANGES in children should be monitored, but I'd love to see a grace period in freaking out about the numbers at least until they've stopped growing!

re: Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No

Knitty — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:18:19 GMT

This is one of the many, many problems with having a weight-obsessed culture. A baby put on a diet?!? That's just madness. ABC Childcare must be staffed by drooling idiots.

re: Is This Baby Obese? Aussie Mom Says No

allison — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 20:06:32 GMT

That is asinine! I'm glad she pulled her child out of that place!