Gazette readers get behind angry woman whose little boy Harley was branded too heavy by health chiefs

A Blackpool businesswoman who was left furious after health chiefs branded her ‘fit and sporty’ four-year-old son as overweight has a new army of supporters.

Mica Pullen, 29, who runs Hermosa Boutique in Church Street, Blackpool, allowed her little boy, Harley, to be weighed as part of the NHS National Child Measurement Programme.

But she was shocked and upset when she received a letter saying Harley was classed as overweight for his age, sex and height.

He was estimated at 3ft 6in height and three stone and five ounces in weight.

Many of our readers said the ruling was ridiculous and said they had experienced similar issues with their children.

A spokesman for Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust said: “As part of the National Child Measurement Programme, children within primary schools are routinely weighed and measured at school as part of an assessment of their overall health.

“Data from measurements is used to inform the planning and delivery of services and helps health professionals to engage with families about healthy lifestyles.”

Here are your comments:

My daughter, who is five, also received a letter home saying she was overweight. My letter went straight in the bin.

Advice on the letter ‘don’t fill plates as full and let them ask for more if hungry’.

When I looked it up she was on the 91st percentile line which she was also on at birth as she was born at 9lb 4oz

She’s happy and healthy and that’s all that matters to me not the statistics

Rebecca Morley

This is why I refuse to allow them to weigh my child, along with a detailed letter of why. Their method is outdated

Sami Greenall

My daughter was 8lb 13oz when born, somewhere up in that top weight percentile...now age 19 she has a very tiny, petite frame.

Charts are terrible.... there will always be someone above and below the “average”

Paula Morgan

I had both mine weighed, my boy was classed as obese and my daughter was seriously underweight... both brought up eating the same food and same activities

Sally Hickling

I have also had this with two of my children that were clearly not obese and it caused real upset to my kids, and myself,

Kerry Bamber

Could in fact lead to under nourishment.

Colleen Cotton

They told me my daughter was overweight as a baby at three months old. They even put her on a diet then. Saying four bottles in 24 hours was too much. I was so upset. She was just a happy baby, yes she had baby fat but what child doesn’t? Now she is 11 and 5ft4ins adult size nine shoes.

Karen Redman

Can’t wait to get my daughter results. She’s 10 and already 162 cm high. She doesn’t fit in any children sizes as she’s already shaping up

Margaret Kelly

Every single child is overweight according to the weight chart they use from the 1800s

Ric Neil

I was called asking me to go to meetings at Palatine gym on how to feed my son properly

Amy Foster

I’m waiting on my daughter’s letter saying she’s overweight. And I’ll file it where it belongs

Steph Houghton

I told them my son wasn’t being weighed or measured and he wasn’t. All is well with the world

Nicola Clarkson

My doctor said that BMI doesn’t work for children and that they should not use it when it comes to children

Donna Murphy

This child is far from overweight and I would also be alarmed with a letter like that.

Stacey Bradley