Would you give Wegovy to your child if it stopped them being bullied?

It might sound shocking to read about such drastic actions, but it’s stories of overweight children being bullied and too scared to go to school that truly break my heart, says mum-of-two Charlotte Cripps

It’s official. Children in the UK as young as 12 are taking Wegovy to help them slim down – and it’s transforming their lives for the better. When I first read the headlines, I nearly spat my coffee out.

According to a report in The Times, Diet UK is the first private clinic in the country to fling its doors wide open to desperate parents, who are “begging” them to prescribe Wegovy to children between the ages of 12 and 17 who meet the criteria for obesity.

At first, I couldn’t believe it. What parent would follow such a routine? You’ve made your kids a protein-rich breakfast, frog-marched them into the bathroom to clean their teeth, and then called out lovingly to one of them: “Darling, come and have your weekly Wegovy injection. It’s Wegovy Wednesday!” But it’s happening for real.

A 14-year-old boy mentioned in the report has a new lease of life, since his mum “every Wednesday ... injects a 2.4mg shot of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy, into his thigh”. It’s scary for any parent to contemplate.

There seems, on the face of it, something grim about children being given Wegovy, along with the estimated 2.5 million UK adults now taking weight-loss drugs. For adults, the reason for taking these drugs is often cosmetic. But for children, The Times reports, they are a last resort. “Bullied, obese and too scared to go to school, patients as young as 12 are taking weight-loss drugs with encouraging results,” it says. Well, that made me think twice.

It has made me reconsider everything I’ve previously thought about children taking weight-loss drugs – and I feel more compassion for the parents who find themselves giving them to their offspring.

Of course, I’d give a jab to my 12-year-old too, if it made them happy – and stopped the torment.

All of us want our children to be happy and healthy. All of us feel total devastation when they’re in pain (Alamy/PA)

If Wegovy helped me to lose two and a half stone and bring my cholesterol levels into the normal range, when I’d piled on the pounds after two pregnancies and then comfort-ate to deal with the stress of caring for my elderly dad, why would I want to deny my children the same benefits?

Wegovy is the only licensed GLP-1 treatment for patients aged 12 to 17 in the UK – but it’s not commonly handed out to minors. There have, however, been some optimistic findings from researchers in Spain, who claimed earlier this year that weight-loss jabs for obese children are effective when combined with healthy eating and exercise.

NHS hospitals across the UK are also conducting studies on Wegovy for children aged 12 to 17 and six to 12.

The Office for National Statistics reported that in the year ending March 2023, an estimated 1.5 million children experienced in-person bullying, and nearly 850,000 experienced online bullying. There was no significant difference in the estimated numbers of girls and boys who experienced in-person bullying, yet the number of girls who experienced online bullying was significantly higher (22.5 per cent) than the number of boys (16 per cent).

The best solution, of course, would be to simply eradicate bullying, with better protection in schools and online. But it is preposterously difficult being a parent and wading through the minefield of choices we have to make for our dependants. All of us want our children to be happy and healthy. All of us feel total devastation when they’re in pain.

Food addiction requires therapy and other support, such as group therapy to deal with the root causes, while lifestyle changes are also essential. We should be cautious about doling out Wegovy to kids – it is like a magic wand until it wears off, or you stop it. The last thing we want is to have a generation of kids hooked on it.

But while I’d be incredibly cautious about any issues surrounding children and eating, I’d definitely consider this as a last resort for my kids if they were overweight and genuinely struggling with food cravings – and didn’t want to leave the house. I wouldn’t think twice about booking them a private appointment.

As strange as it sounds, if a jab with a pen could genuinely help them to love themselves and be happy, quite frankly, how could I refuse?