Refer to the menu to help children gain weight

This is an automatically translated article.

The article is professionally consulted by Resident Doctor, Doctor Nguyen Hung Tien - Pediatrician - Neonatologist - Department of Pediatrics - Neonatal, Vinmec Hai Phong International General Hospital

1. Children gain weight slowly due to malnutrition

Malnutrition in children can be caused by many different causes, such as economic conditions, living circumstances, eating and living habits.
Due to nutrition: Incorrect feeding method when the mother is lacking or losing milk, feeding the baby is not correct in both quantity and quality, the most important cause is the mother's lack of knowledge about nutrition. or do not have time to take care of the children. Due to prolonged illness: Children suffering from respiratory infections, gastrointestinal infections many times or complications after pneumonia, measles, dysentery... Congenital: Premature babies, cell malnutrition pregnancy or birth defects such as cleft lip, cleft palate, and congenital heart defects. To know if your child is malnourished or not, you need to monitor your child's weight regularly on the growth chart. If you see that your baby is not gaining weight for 2-3 months in a row, you need to take your child to the doctor to find out the cause.
Based on weight/age criteria, malnutrition in children is divided into 3 degrees:
Malnutrition grade I: Child weight equals 90% of age Malnutrition Grade II: Child weight equals 75 % for age Malnutrition grade III: Child's weight is 60% of his age. Common symptoms when children are malnourished include:
No weight gain or weight loss Loss of fat in the arms, bland meat. Small atrophy lost all the fat in the abdomen. Blue skin, thinning hair, easy to break, change color. Eat poorly, or have digestive disorders such as diarrhea, diarrhea. Severe form: Children with edema or atrophy, may have manifestations of vitamin deficiency causing night blindness, corneal dryness to corneal ulcers.

2. Baby gain weight slowly what to do?

For children who gain weight slowly due to malnutrition, you should give them many meals a day, a little at each meal to ensure that they provide the necessary amount of food for the child, and also provide energy. higher than normal children. Children's diets need to be balanced between groups of substances:
Protein: In the daily menu for malnourished children, you need to increase the amount of protein more than usual to quickly recover. Fats: Fats provide twice the energy of carbohydrates and proteins. Therefore, in the daily meal of malnourished children, you should increase the amount of fat. In addition, it is also necessary to add some micronutrients (vitamins and mineral salts) so that children can quickly recover to eat well and gain weight. The principle of building a child's diet is:
Gradually increase the amount of calories/kg from 90-150 Kcal/kg/day. Gradually increase protein intake from 2g/kg up to 5-7g/kg/day. You should use foods derived from animals such as eggs, milk, meat, fish, shrimp, crabs... you can also use plant-based proteins such as beans, peanuts, sesame. The foods you should add daily to the menu to help your child gain weight are rice, red meat potatoes, seafood, eggs, chicken.... Also don't forget green vegetables, ripe fruits and milk. energy-rich powder to provide adequate nutrition for children.
To prevent and help reduce malnutrition in children, you need to keep your child's digestive system healthy. A healthy digestive system has more than 85% of beneficial bacteria and only 15% of harmful bacteria.
When children have digestive disorders, there will be an imbalance in the natural microflora. At this time, the addition of beneficial bacteria or probiotics is the optimal measure to help improve the balance of children's intestinal microflora, prevent harmful bacteria, and help children digest and absorb food. better.

3. The menu helps children gain weight

Here are some menus to help children gain weight and develop well:
Taro Eel Porridge: Eel is a food with high nutritional content with protein, iron and many other beneficial minerals. Therefore, delicious eel meat combined with the greasy taste of taro will certainly be an extremely attractive and nutritious dish for children, helping them eat better and gain weight better. Sea crab porridge: Seafood is not only rich in calcium and trace minerals but also has high protein content to help children grow in height and improve weight effectively. When choosing crabs, you need to pay attention to choose large, solid bibs that are still moving, because those are crabs with a lot of meat and fresh. Sea crab porridge is definitely a must in the menu to help children gain weight. Cheese beef porridge: This is also a great suggestion for children who need to gain weight. Beef is rich in protein, iron and essential minerals, while cheese is high in calcium, protein, vitamins and fats. Therefore, when these two foods combine, they will provide an abundant source of nutrients to help children absorb and gain weight better. Pumpkin shrimp porridge: Among the porridge to help children gain weight quickly, pumpkin shrimp porridge is indispensable. This is a porridge rich in vitamin A, calcium, protein... along with many other beneficial nutrients to help children gain weight, grow quickly and be healthy. At the same time, pumpkin also provides high levels of DHA to help children develop comprehensively both physically and intellectually. Snakehead fish porridge with green beans and mushrooms: These are three types of nutritious foods that can help children gain weight quickly and safely. In particular, snakehead fish contains a lot of omega 3 fatty acids, protein and calcium. Green beans are rich in vegetable protein along with mushrooms that contain high levels of vitamin D and iron, which will help children eat better. As a result, children will also gain weight significantly. Broccoli Beef Porridge: Beef is one of the foods that help supplement nutrition very well for children to develop muscles and gain weight quickly. Broccoli is rich in vitamins, fiber and minerals that are essential nutrients in the menu for children to gain weight, increase metabolism, stimulate the digestive and immune systems to work better. Lotus seed carrot chicken porridge: This is a porridge rich in protein, B vitamins, beta-carotene and many other essential nutrients to help children eat well and sleep well. So, if you want your child to gain weight quickly and develop better, don't forget to add this porridge to your child's weekly nutritional menu. Shrimp porridge with amaranth: Shrimp contains a lot of calcium, protein and zinc to help children's bones and teeth develop firmly. Meanwhile, amaranth is rich in iron, magnesium and other nutritional minerals. When these two foods are combined, they will form an attractive dish for children, helping to support rapid weight gain. Mung bean porridge, eggs and mushrooms: Green beans, eggs and mushrooms are all nutritious foods with high levels of protein, vitamins, fiber and essential trace minerals that are the perfect combination to create porridge. Nutritious and delicious to help children gain weight steadily. In short, a reasonable, healthy menu will be the main factor to help children gain weight, develop at the right rate of growth. However, in addition to having a healthy diet, your baby also needs to add essential micronutrients such as: Zinc, selenium, chromium, vitamins B1 and B6, ginger, acerola fruit extract (vitamin C), . .. to improve taste, eat well, reach the correct height and weight, and exceed the standard, have a good immune system, enhance resistance to less minor illnesses as well as less digestive problems.
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