Parents of 4 yo - what is their height/weight?

[ReneeA]

At 4, my DS was 47" and 52 pounds - solid boy. He was a very large baby - over 10 pounds and 23" at birth, and has stayed really big for his age. He's the youngest in his class, and by far the tallest.

He really sprouted up the last few years - he just turned 8 and he's now 55" and only weighs 62 pounds. He eats like someone is going to take it away from him (constantly from sun up to bedtime) and is so skinny that you can count all his ribs and his spine sticks out. It looks like we are starving him. I don't think anyone would have looked at him when he was 4 and guessed that he would get that tall and gain very few pounds along with it.

 

[mefordis]

I would NOT look at this child and say that he is remotely fat. (By the way, he is a cutie!)

My 4 yr old boy is 45" and 45pounds.. 2 pound heavier than his sister who is 7 and is a STICK of nothing.

ETA he has a late June birthday and was 8.6 at birth

 

[DVCJones]

My DD turned 4 in April. She 42" and weighs 38lb. She is tall and thin. Sometimes we laugh at how skinny her arms are. She wears 5 slims pants and I have to pull the waist straps in. She eats non stop all day long too. I don't know where she puts it all.

 

[C.Ann]

He is considered on the tall side for his age but my Ped. said he is in the morbidly-obese range for weight..

After seeing the photo of your DS that you posted, I think your Ped. was really stretching it to say he was in the "morbidly-obese" range..

 

[sahm1000]

I am in the same boat! My DD4 is 46 1/2 inches and 57 pounds. At her 4 year check up we were also told that she was overweight and we needed to watch it. The pediatrician had us have her tyroid and insulin checked and everything came back fine. Although the pediatrician did not recommend losing weight she did want us to have her maintain her weight without any gain. The picture you showed of your boys looks like Claire - solid but not obese in any way.

So we have now changed the way we eat since it is so important for us to have her be healthy without weight issues. I make certain to measure out portion sizes to make sure I only give one serving size (like in their cereal in the morning I use a measuring cup). We switched the sandwich bread we used to Nature's Own Lite (an easy switch by the way - it tastes the same as other breads and you would never know it was low cal). I don't want her to feel as if she is being denied so she still gets chips in her lunch for preschool but they are 100 calorie packs. She gets a serving of fruit to round it all out along with a thermos of water. Neither of my oldest two girls are big milk drinkers so she only gets one glass of it in the morning with breakfast - although I would give her more if she asked for it since she only drinks maybe 6 oz. of milk a day along with 1/2 cup in her cereal bowl. Snacks are usually a serving of fruit or vegetables. We try very hard to make sure that our dinners are nutritious and that serving sizes are appropriate.

She is also a very active child and never sits down! My oldest is always happy to sit and watch tv but not my four year old. She rides her bike, her scooter, plays soccer all year round (indoor and outdoor), and swims! We have been successful so far and she hasn't gained any weight since her physical in June. So we only have another 7 months to go with no weight gain! It's not easy!

 

[T16GEM]

Hillary
I am so shocked by this, Liam doesn't look overweight!!! I just cannot believe that the Dr. told you he was morbidly obese!!


I have no idea what Shelby weighs right now but she is just hitting on 40" she hasn't had her well child check up for four years yet. We are measuring height every week as she is desperate to go on Soarin in January!

 

[skw444]

My 4 year old dd is 41 inches and 36 lbs. My 7 year old dd is 53 inches and 51 lbs.

 

[golfgal]

OP, I can see why your dr is concerned but morbidly obese is stretching it. As for diet, sometimes it is the combination of foods and not so much the food themselves that lead to weight gain. I know you said that you thought he would be too skinny if he lost 10 lbs but I think that 10 lbs would put him right at average.

Can you sign him up for a martial arts class or some other active sports just to make sure he is getting enough exercise?

 

[clori]

My dd5 was 39.5inches and 31lbs at 4. I think dd9 was 41inches and 33lbs. I think genetics plays a big role.

 

[mjkacmom]

OP, I can see why your dr is concerned but morbidly obese is stretching it. As for diet, sometimes it is the combination of foods and not so much the food themselves that lead to weight gain. I know you said that you thought he would be too skinny if he lost 10 lbs but I think that 10 lbs would put him right at average.

Can you sign him up for a martial arts class or some other active sports just to make sure he is getting enough exercise?

I'm here, too. I see that you are going to have him drink more water - that's a great idea, as it is very easy to drink a lot of empty calories every day. I think I've read that you should be able to see kids' ribs easily (like dogs). I can only see 3 of my kids ribs, but the oldest is 13, past puberty, so I doubt I can see hers. Ds11's BMI is "at risk" of being overweight.

 

[nutterbutter2010]

My 4 year old is 45lbs, but I don't remember her height. She is a bit chubby, and we are trying our best to keep her diet heathy, i.e. fruits and veggies, lean meats, etc. No more juice AT ALL, soy milk (never drank regular milk) only once in a while, and we try to keep desserts to a minimum, like only when we go out to dinner, or over someone elses house. So far its working, because she USED TO weight 49-51lbs.

 

[nutterbutter2010]

Do you really need a height weight chart to know if your child is obese or not?

If you don't have something helpful to contribute, why make a comment?

 

[HelenePA]

I would NOT look at this child and say that he is remotely fat. (By the way, he is a cutie!)

Uh that is my 1 yr old not my 4 yr old He's 26 pound and 33.5" Let me find a pic of Aidan

Here is a pic of all 4 on our schools blue/white day

 

[golfgal]

Uh that is my 1 yr old not my 4 yr old He's 26 pound and 33.5" Let me find a pic of Aidan

I didn't want to say anything but I was thinking-wow, for a 4 year old he doesn't have much hair .

 

[IDoDis]

OP, just curious what your pediatrician has to say about your older DS. Your youngest looks fine.

I just checked DS's baby book. On his 4th b-day he was 44 1/2" tall and weighed 56 pounds. Now he's 10 yrs 9 months and is just shy of 59" tall (4'11") and weighs 103 pounds. He's always been solid and "thick" even at birth. He had sumo-wrestler legs until he started walking!

His pediatrician said that according to his growth chart, his growth in both height & weight have always been the same --weight always a bit higher than height so there were no worries because his growth curve was consistent each year. However, at his check-up last year he had gained 14 pounds in one year. His pediatrician did start to show concern that the weight category was going up faster than his height.

We got him into football where he worked out for 2 hours 5 times a week with games on Saturdays. I only put chips in his lunch once a week and his desserts were low calorie things like jello. He took water with his lunch 2 to 3 times a week, but he bought the school pizza lunch on Friday. We went jogging together in the mornings over the summer.

We've always tried to be careful with our foods and I generally cook low fat meals and substitute things like ground turkey for ground beef, so it wasn't like we had a bunch of junk food at home. Even with all of that, he didn't lose any weight, but the football did help him at least not put on an additional 14 pounds the next year. I think he gained about 6 pounds last year.

He did football again this year and now he's in basketball. He's still "thick" and solid, but not fat. It seems that his metabolism is slow. His sister eats twice as much as he does and she's a bean pole. We do monitor and make better choices with his food, but try not to make him feel deprived.

 

[torinsmom]

I don't take much stock in the height/weight charts and the BMI calculations using height/weight. Muscle weighs more than fat, so some kids/adults may fall into the obese category without being truly obese.

DS15 and his cousin13 have always been within 1-2 inches in height of each other. They used to also be within a few pounds in weight as well. Now, DS hasn't appeared to be overweight since he was maybe 2. From the ages of 8-12, his cousin looked very overweight, with rolls on his abdomen and chest. It was amazing that DS weighed the same thing and was the same height as him. DS is just a solid kid. He was always off the charts for weight, but the doctor could look at his body and see he was built like a tank.

Even now, DS is 5'9 and weighs 185. Through a BMI chart, he is moderately overweight. The kid has a 30" waist! Any smaller and we would have to buy pants in the little boy's dept. He is an average size kid for his height.

So, OP, I would not worry. It sounds like your son is eating healthy food and exercising. Chances are that he will grow taller more quickly than he grows wider.

Marsha

 

[Hillbeans]

Idodis - I just put an updated pic from Oct - my oldest is almost 9, is 78 pounds and is about 4 1/2 feet tall. He is right on target for H/W.

 

[2bearsmom]

My youngest ds turned 4 in June as is 41 1/2" and weighs 34lbs~he was 9-3at birth.
When my 8yr old was 4 he was 41 1/2" and weighed 38 1/2lbs~he was 8-13 at birth.