|
|
Some children are naturally slight build and maintain it with a well balanced diet and physical activity. Being under weight is not same as being thin. However, under weight problems can be signs of dietary, health or emotional problems.
Several possible reasons such as not consuming enough food, an underlying illness, stress or a sudden growth spurt are responsible for being underweight.
Your physician is the best person to answer the question whether your child is underweight. Your child’s weight and height will be taken into account and compared to standard growth charts. A child’s BMI (body mass index) will be calculated. A less than five percentile BMI will mean that your child is underweight. Your physician might ask you to boost the nutrient and calorie intake. Many children might be slow on the growth chart but gradually they overcome the problem.
However, if your child still does not gain proper weight even after proper nutritional intake, your doctor would test him for proper underlying medical problems. You can help your child reach an ideal weight by making a diet management plan with your doctor or a nutritionist.
• A nutritionist will help chart a dietary programme that will ensure what your child must eat to gain weight. He will chart out the right proportion of nutrition intake.
• It might also be about the timings of eating food. So you may have to check that.
• Sometimes your child might not be enjoying what he is eating, so check what he likes to eat. So give him a treat once in a while.
• It might be a heredity issue too. So you can only help it till a certain point.
While you are considering all these reasons, do not fret or worry about your child's weight. If he or she is healthy, intelligent and happy let him be. Ensure a balanced diet with regular treats. A thin child who is normal is fine.
As a child grows, during puberty, the body begins to making hormones that spark physical changes like breast development in girls and testicular enlargement in boys and spurts in height in both boys and girls. Once these changes start, they continue for several years. Most kids gain weight rapidly during this time as the amounts of muscle, fat, bones in their bodies change. As long as muscle, body fat and bone are in the right proportion, the weight gain can be perfectly fine.
Some kids start developing as early as age 8 and some not until age 14, it can be normal for two kids who are the same gender, height and age to have different weights.
It is perfectly normal for kids to feel conscious about weight during adolescence, a lot of kids do. Just be there for them and support them through the various growing phases. Don't question or expect answers just be there and they will grow up to be great.
|
|
