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Helping children to
be a healthy weight...

..is one of the best things we can do to set them
up for life.

Public Health Wales colleagues meeting

We’ve created these 10 Steps to help families in Wales bring up happy, healthy children. They’ve been put together by health experts and parents, and can be used when working with families to help them establish good habits.

The information on these pages is to help professionals in their practice as they support families to give children the very best start.

The current situation in Wales

Image showing levels of overweight or obese children in deprived areas

Find out more about childhood obesity in your health board and local authority area here.

Public Health Wales Observatory produces a range of information about obesity prevalence for all ages across Wales, which can be found here.

Being overweight or obese in childhood has consequences for health in both the short and longer term.

Health Impacts

Children who are obese can experience health issues such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, gall stones, asthma, sleep-disordered breathing and musculoskeletal conditions. There are also emotional and psychological effects of children being overweight, which include teasing and discrimination by peers, low self esteem, anxiety and depression. They may find some sports and other types of physical activity difficult, which can reduce the likelihood of regular participation and a preference for a more sedentary lifestyle.

If a child is overweight or obese there is a high likelihood that this will continue through adolescence and into adulthood. This can cause associated health problems such as diabetes, heart disease and cancers – along with a higher risk of premature mortality, disability and morbidity.

Current Policy

There are a number of national strategies and policies in Wales that address childhood obesity. These include:

Evidence

The 10 Steps are based on evidence from the cohort studies, presenting positive things that families can do to help prevent children being obese by the age of five.

Qualitative research findings

Insight work was carried out across Wales to inform the development of the 10 Steps.

  • Childhood obesity: perceptions among parents/grandparents in Wales

Resources

The following resources are available from Every Child Wales to help you support families with young children.

  • Every Child Parent Health Information Resources
  • 10 Steps to a Healthy Weight A4 poster
  • 10 Steps to a Healthy Weight A3 poster
  • 10 Steps to a Healthy Weight leaflet
  • 10 Steps to a Healthy Weight z-card
  • Solid foods booklet
  • Screen time and outdoor play tracker (electronic resource only)
  • A3 Breastfeeding poster
  • Unicef Happy Baby leaflet
  • Unicef You and Your Baby
  • Unicef Caring for Your Baby
  • UK Chief Medical Officers’ ‘Physical Activity in Pregnancy’ Infographic (electronic resource only)
  • UK Chief Medical Officers’ ‘Physical Activity for Women After Childbirth (birth to 12 months)’ Infographic (electronic resource only)
  • UK Chief Medical Officers’ ‘Physical Activity for Early Years (birth to 5 years)’ Infographic (electronic resource only)

You can place orders for hard copies of most of these resources on the Public Health Wales Health Information Resources page, or telephone 029 2010 4650 or email: Health.Info@wales.nhs.uk