Is my child chubby or obese? What is the difference?
Monitoring a child’s weight and height is important.
A child between 3 and 10 years old who grows without gaining much weight is a child with no weight problem. Conversely, a child who grows and gains weight at the same time is at risk of becoming obese.
To determine if your child is chubby or obese, refer to the curve for Body Mass Index (BMI = weight / height²) in their health record.
Your child is considered chubby or overweight when the BMI is above the 97th percentile (corresponding to a BMI line of 25 at age 18). Your child is considered obese if the BMI is above a line corresponding to 30 at age 18.
Example: Sabine is 10 years old, 1.40 m tall, and weighs 45 kg.
BMI = 45 / 1.4² = 22.95.
Sabine is chubby and would be obese if she weighed 50 kg (BMI = 25.51).