My son's nursery teacher thinks....

apples1

as already posted a trip to your health visitor would prob be best and will put your mind at rest if nothing to worry about. In the meantime why not measure how tall he is and weigh him and plot that on the graph in your red book then you can see if he is above or below average or off the scale & whether his growth follows a steady centile line or has jumped right up.

inkie

IN answer to the OP question - thyroid 'problems' arn't diagnosed by the way that people get up - and for the teacher to sugguest this is ridiculous. I had a teacher the other day trying to tell me about a rash that my daughter had (she thought that it might be impetigo and that she shouldn't come to school - I sald to the teacher - i am a qualified nurse and that ain't impetigo!

black-saturn

I would just brush it off and carry on regardless and at the same time think to myself 'how dare she?'. If you get a child obsessed with losing weight it's the first step to anorexia.

gargoyle

I'm afraid I've only skim read this thread but did you say anywhere how big your son was? I work in a nursery and am a manager at an after school club, and I would be horrified to find a member of my staff saying somebody had a thyroid problem without the proper medical qualifications. For one it causes unnecessary stress on the parent, and also there could be a variety of reasons he is overweight. If I was in the practioners place I would have handled completely different. For example in the past we have healthy eating weeks and report back to parents, have given out recipes and food ideas for snacks in the monthly newsletters. Ideas about physical activities that are within the parents means and also enjoyable. If I were you I would seek a consultation with a GP, monitor his diet, and also increase physical exercise. How long has he been going to this nursery? As I have noticed that in the past the chubbier children that come to me, soon lose weight whilst at nursery because of the increase in play opportunities. Good luck, and please try not to worry yourself needlessly.

cpu

black-saturn wrote:

I would just brush it off and carry on regardless and at the same time think to myself 'how dare she?'. If you get a child obsessed with losing weight it's the first step to anorexia.

I know we all are different, but surely any caring parent will listen to what's being said with a view to either confirming or refuting the comments?

Teachers are not always right, but I've yet to meet one who says things just for the fun of it. (I mean with regard to being overweight, not the thyroid thing) Brushing things off may not neccessarily be the best for the child. A quick visit to the GP or HV will surely put the OP's mind at rest and then she can either act on the advice given or if things are fine, then she can counter any further comments by the teacher with the facts.

cupid_s

black-saturn wrote:

..... If you get a child obsessed with losing weight it's the first step to anorexia.

Whilst I do agree with this, we are all surely aware of the problem these days with obesity. What is it at the moment? 1/3 adults and 20% of kids are obese i think. In ways it is more dangerous than anorexia as so many more people suffer with it, and it is a killer. If the child isn't overweight then fine, but if it is then that to me that is more worrying than the thought that they might turn anorexic if you say something to them about it.

This teacher was only voicing her concerns, and I think it nice she is showing concern. But stopping kids having chocolate or other treats is awful and not really their job as has been said already.

jellyhead

i see what you're all saying about the teacher having his best interests at heart and that we are raising a nation of fat children - but is this a 3 year old being told he's not allowed chocolate and made to watch the other children eat it because 'they're not fat like you' ?

if the nursery staff made a decision to leave him out of treats etc. without consulting his parents then i would be fuming, and would lose any respect for the staff.

perhaps i'm being over sensitive because my 1 year old is a giant and has huge feet, broad shoulders etc. so people think he is older, and always comment on his size. but i read the post about the chocolate and just felt so sorry for the boy - he's only 3!

jellyhead

don't children have a developmental check-up before starting school? perhaps the health visitor should be the person to determine whether a child has a weight problem or not, using medical training and up to date charts. children whose weight is not in line with their height could then be referred for further investigation.

my giant baby has a massive head and his height is off the scale, so his weight being at the high end of the scale is not an issue and from the sounds of things this is what the OP has always been told about her child too.

tinkerbell1978

your not a bad mum!! dont think like that hun!! i am sure the teacher means well but has she been to medical school?? my boy is 2 and built like a brick you know what!! i gotta feeling his gonna be fine but i would do as you are doing and take him to the doctors just in case and if she is right thank her if she is wrong then she has worried you for no reason its a tricky one!! maybe she has seen it before? take care hun we are all here for you!

looby75

Op I was in a similar situation myself, when my ds started Nursery a couple of years ago one of the trainee nursery nurses there took me to one side and asked me about ds eating habits, how much fruit and veg etc he ate how active he was. I answered honestly (this is a child who will eat a whole plate of sprouts and would pick cherry tomatoes over chocolate every time!) and she outright told me she didn't believe him because he was obviously over weight! I was shocked, my ds was not in any way over weight, he was taller than any of the other boys in his class (was wearing age 4-5 clothes when he was 3 but they fell down without a belt, he had to wear them for the length). I spoke to the head of the nursery school and told her how upset I was and she promised to have a word with the trainee nursery nurse. As it was my ds had an appointment for his pre school check and injections a few days later so I asked the nurse at my gp's to weigh him and check he was ok. Turns out he was actually slightly underweight for his height!

The next time ds was in nursery I told the head what the nurse and then she explained what had happened. As part of the trainee's course she had to pick a child who appeared to be a fussy eater or was less active than other children and with the agreement of the Childs parents try to encourage them to eat better or be more active. She then had to do some assignments about what steps she took etc.

She decided to pick my ds because he was tall and stood out from the rest of the group and because she had decided that I obviously fed him nothing but junk because I am very overweight myself.:rolleyes: The head was very very apologetic and said she had spoken to the trainee and asked her to apologise to me herself. My ds is now in year 1 and I'm still waiting LOL

OP You mentioned that you had weight issues yourself, could this be part of the reason the teacher has decided to single out your ds?