Does your child weigh too little? Focus online

Spotted an Error?

1. Underweight
We speak of underweight if a child weighs more than 20 percent less than the average child of his age and size. If the chest and pelvic bones protrude sharply, this could be the first indication of underweight.

2. Find out if the child really weighs too little
Your child is underweight if his body fat is too small in the body mass. How many kilos your child weighs too little and whether his underweight is harmful to health cannot be determined by eye alone.
A simple method is to calculate the body mass index (BMI). The formula is: body weight divided by (height in meters by height in meters).

The website of the Federal Center for Health Education helps with the calculation and explains immediately what the calculated number means.
www.bzga-kinderuebergewicht.de/bmi/bmi-rechner/rechner.php

Keep an eye on your child’s underweight for a longer period of time, print out the weight table, for example, and enter your child’s weight every two months. If it moves in a rising curve like the given lines, everything is fine. You should only get one if there are strong fluctuations doctor visit.

3. Weight is a matter of inheritance
Body weight is determined in the genome – up to 70 percent, experts estimate. Genes and hormones, hunger and satiety, calorie intake and consumption in a child in a family in which many people are tall and slim also steer in the direction of "burn all calories quickly".
That is why underweight is no reason to panic: Most thin children are therefore genetically slim and slim. In some growth phases everything is concentrated in the direction of length growth – the mass builds up later.

4. Children don’t have to be nursed up!
With today’s food offer, underweight children do not have to be pumped up with high-calorie drinks or extra large portions. Also, as a parent, you shouldn’t primarily pursue the goal of getting your child a few pounds more – no matter how. It will not succeed or will immediately sink back towards the original weight after the "Päppelphase".

5. Worries that parents are underweight
Low underweight, especially for children in the growth phase, does not normally pose any risks. Especially when the child eats balanced and shows a lively, lively behavior.

But most parents are afraid that their underweight could lead to deficiency symptoms or growth disorders. Most of the time, pediatricians can calm down here: the children are already taking what they need. Some even start eating during puberty, so that the parents lose hearing and seeing .

6. Don’t make food a big issue
If too much importance is attached to eating in childhood, the weight can soon be reversed: in some underweight children, the age of twelve or thirteen years, the underweight quickly turned into overweight.

"One of my patients currently weighs almost 120 kilograms," reports nutritionist Ute Hantelmann. "Not even four years ago, she was a very petite girl." Due to the high praise that the student received from her parents for good eating behavior, she was unable to maintain her normal eating behavior. Now she has to learn that good performance is not the same as eating.

7. Eat regularly
Underweight children need regular, balanced meals just like overweight children. The assumption that they have to eat more and more often is simply wrong. Snacks should be avoided rather than forced, even for underweight people.

8. Extra vitamins
If your child avoids everything that could contain vitamins, you can compensate for this with a glass of multivitamin or orange juice a day. As I said: underweight children do not necessarily have to suffer from deficiency symptoms.

Let your pediatrician advise and take the help of nutritional advice.

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Christina Cherry
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