Children of school age are still underweight, what to do?

This is an automatically translated article.

The article is professionally consulted with Master, Doctor Nguyen Minh Tuan - Pediatrician - Pediatrics - Neonatology Department - Vinmec Danang International General Hospital.
A healthy and well-developed child is the greatest wish of all parents. Parents will also be very upset and worried when their children become anorexic, underweight, malnourished, slow to grow,... So what to do when children of school age are still underweight?

1. How to tell if a child is too skinny?

According to the World Health Organization, 54% of deaths of children under the age of 5 are related to moderate to mild undernutrition. Normal brain development is affected when children are underweight because they cannot absorb the nutrients necessary for brain and intellectual development. Children who are underweight are also often sluggish and are at risk of serious infections due to weak immunity.
There are several factors to consider when assessing a child's weight. Children are always skinny? Both parents of the child are very thin? A child with a genetic predisposition to be thin, like their parents, is different from a child who has always been of normal weight or is obese and has not recently shown any signs of weight gain or weight loss. However, you should not be too worried even if your baby has recently become thin.
Stephen R. Daniels, MD, Ph.D., a professor of pediatrics at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati and a member of the Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said: changes in nutritional growth.

As height increases before weight gain, Daniels explains, children can be underweight for a while, until growth catches up. However, it is also possible that the child's weight gain exceeds the child's growth rate, leading to the child becoming overweight. Doctors are very concerned that many children are becoming overweight as they grow up and that many children are also being underweight.
The best way to determine if your baby is underweight and the way to deal with this is to make an appointment with your doctor so he can help you assess your weight and diet. young.

2. How to determine if a child is underweight?

The reason that children are underweight than other children of the same age can be due to genetic factors, a low-fat diet and many other factors. However, parents should take the child to see a pediatrician for advice when the child's weight is below the allowable range for age and height. The doctor will perform tests and other physical exams to find out the cause of the weight loss or the cause of the child being underweight.
The doctor will consider the factors mentioned above - how much the parents weigh and how long the child has been underweight. Puppet conducts an assessment of the child's eating habits and overall health. The doctor will likely ask if your child has any health problems that could contribute to weight loss, like chronic diarrhea or vomiting.
The doctor will measure the child's height and weight and plot these on a growth chart. Today, doctors are using a new series of growth charts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which look at a child's body mass index, or BMI, which looks at weight along with height to determine help determine if the child is fit or not. BMI is a better measure of body composition than weight. While adult BMI is calculated using a straight-line formula of height and weight, the formula for determining a child's BMI also takes into account gender and age, to allow for the fact that the component is a factor. The body changes as the child grows.

If your child's BMI falls below the 5th percentile, the child is considered underweight. The doctor will ask you questions about your child's diet, so they can identify any key deficiencies. Your doctor may ask you to consult a Food Guide Pyramid, so you can determine which food groups your child is not getting enough of. In addition, the doctor will also do a physical exam and may run the necessary tests to determine if there is an underlying medical cause, especially if the child is eating well but not gaining weight.

3. How can children gain weight?

If your child doesn't have any health problems, the best way to help them gain weight is to give them more calories. For some children, simply adding foods that are sources of "heart-healthy" fats - such as avocados, nuts and vegetable oils - will provide enough extra calories to meet their needs. growth demand. You need to plan for your child to eat healthy, high-calorie snacks so that they get enough.
According to experts, no matter what you do, don't give your child a lot of "junk food" aimed at promoting weight gain. Eating habits are ingrained in children's lives from a very early age and they can be difficult to change once formed and become habits.
Let children eat in a fun way, you can sit with them and enjoy food together. Involve your child in meal planning, shopping (for example, asking them to pick up fruit at the market and bread at the bakery), and preparing food, to encourage them to eat. Also, don't let your kids get so engrossed in doing something that they skip meals. Your baby needs to be fed regularly if you want him to gain weight.
Here is a list of healthy high-calorie foods that you should give your child:
Milk: Whole milk, cheese, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, cream soup, pudding Protein: Eggs, butter peanuts, pea soup, nuts Carbohydrates: Bread, macaroni and cheese, pasta, French toast, pancakes, mashed potatoes, hot cereal

If your child is a picky eater and refuses to add new foods to his diet, the doctor may recommend a high-calorie supplement. These supplements taste like milkshakes and provide extra vitamins and minerals that kids may be lacking. However, make sure your child doesn't consume too many drinks - like juice or even milk, so he won't feel hungry when it's time for a meal. Try to limit juice to no more than 1/2 cup per day and milk to no more than two cups per day.
While it's tempting to check on your child's weight progress, don't force your child to regularly check their weight, as they can make them anxious and self-conscious about their weight. However, you should take your child to see the doctor once a month to monitor his progress. Don't take your baby's weight progression too seriously.
In case the child has taken in enough calories that the body needs but still does not gain weight, you should take the child to see a doctor for further monitoring. On the other hand, if the child refuses to eat, maybe the cause is psychological, you should take the child to a psychologist to be examined.
However, with patience and healthy meals prepared with all the boundless love of parents for their children, children will achieve a balance in height and weight.
To improve the above condition of children, parents can also supplement children with supporting products containing lysine, essential micro-minerals and vitamins such as zinc, chromium, selenium, B vitamins to help meet the full needs of the child. meet the nutritional needs of children. At the same time, these essential vitamins also support digestion, enhance nutrient absorption, help improve anorexia, and help children eat well. Parents can also apply dietary supplements and functional foods derived from nature for easy absorption by the baby. The most important thing is that the improvement of the baby's symptoms must take place over the long term. Combining many types of functional foods at the same time or changing many types in a short time can make the baby's digestive system unable to adapt and completely not good. Therefore, parents must be really persistent with their children and regularly visit the website vimec.com to update useful baby care information.

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Reference sources: babycenter.com, update.com