Olga Nagornyuk

How to gain weight for a child?

The normal weight of the child is one of the indicators of the health of the baby. Mothers of thin children begin to worry about whether everything is in order with the crumbs, and seek out information on how to gain weight. To help such parents, our article is intended, in which we will talk about the causes of underweight in children and ways to normalize it.

Calculation of the normal weight of the child

Before making a conclusion regarding the lack of weight in your child, find out if he really has deviations from the norm. Apply the following calculation formulas:

• up to six months: the optimal body weight is calculated by multiplying 710 g by the baby's age in months and adding the weight of the baby at birth.

For example, your son is 4 months old, at birth he weighed 3400 g, which means that now his optimal weight should be: 4 x 710 + 3400 = 6240 g.

Do not take this formula as an axiom: there are exceptions to every rule. If your baby is growing slowly, then he will not gain weight as quickly.

• from 6 months to 1 year: multiply 6 months. by 710g, add the number of months lived after the completion of six months, multiplying it by 400g, and then plus the birth weight.

For an eight-month-old baby born with a weight of 3400 g, the calculation will look like this: 6 x 710 + 2 x 400 + 3400 = 8460 g;

• when calculating the weight of children from 12 months, take as a basis the body weight of a 5-year-old child - 19 kg. From the age of one to five, a child annually gains, on average, 2 kg, after five - 3 kg.

Therefore, in order to calculate the normal weight of a child under 5 years old, you need to use the formula 19 kg - N x 2, where N is the number of years that do not reach the age of 5. Calculate the body weight of a child after 5 years using the formula: 19 kg + P x 3, where P is the number of years lived after 5 years of age.

3 year old child: 19 - (5 - 3) x 2 = 15 kg

7 year old child: 19 + (7 - 5) x 3 = 25 kg

But do not rush to despair when you see that the weight of your child is less than the figures obtained as a result of the calculation. This formula was developed by Soviet medicine on the basis of monitoring the development of artificially fed children, who, in comparison with other children, gain weight faster. It is better to focus on the weight table developed by the World Health Organization:

If your baby weighs less than the lower limit of normal shown in the table, then you are underweight, and you should find out the reasons for the underweight, and then decide how to gain weight.

Causes of underweight in children and ways to overcome them

To determine the causes of poor weight gain in a child, it is better to consult a doctor. Most often these reasons are:

Malnutrition

It is usually seen in babies who are breastfed. Poor sleep, moodiness and low rates of weight gain are sure signs that a baby is not getting enough mother's milk.

The pediatrician will advise you to weigh the crumbs before and after eating and find out in this way how much the baby eats at a time. According to the results of weighing, depending on the age of the baby, mom will be advised to either introduce complementary foods or supplement nutrition with milk formulas.

Gluten intolerance

The inability of the body to digest gluten (gluten) leads to poor absorption of nutrients. The child becomes lethargic and capricious, often complains of pain in the abdomen.

In this case, gluten-containing foods should be removed from the child’s diet: pastries made from wheat, rye and barley flour (including bread, cookies, cakes), pasta, all cereals (except buckwheat, millet, corn and rice), sweets (including chocolate), factory-made cottage cheese, ice cream, store-bought butter, yogurt, margarine, cheese, mayonnaise.

Instead, add fish, vegetables, fruits, homemade cottage cheese, milk and butter, vegetable oil, millet, corn, buckwheat, rice, potatoes, legumes, any nuts to your daily menu;

Disorders in the work of the gastrointestinal tract

You should be suspicious of frequent constipation and cases of diarrhea, the greenish color of the baby's stool and a characteristic sour smell, complaints of abdominal pain and heartburn.

Such symptoms are a reason to seek medical help: the pediatrician diagnoses the cause and prescribes treatment.

Low calorie food

Children's food must be nutritious, otherwise the baby, although he will eat a lot, will not be able to gain weight.

The daily energy dose of children is:

Arm yourself with a calorie calculator and consider whether the daily menu of a small family member meets the established norms. And only after that, review the diet, making it more high-calorie and nutritious by adding nuts, vegetable oils, meat, fish and dairy products, the fat content of which exceeds 3%.

poor appetite

The main thing here is to find out why the child does not want to eat.

When the baby refuses to eat due to poor health, do not insist. Let the doctor figure out the reasons, and then the child will catch up.

When the baby complains about the taste of dishes, make changes to your baby food recipes: add jam to cereals, and mild seasonings to soups and meat.

A sedentary lifestyle can also lead to decreased appetite. Take a walk with your child in the fresh air in outdoor games, sign up for some kind of sports section or dance club, and your appetite will be restored.

genetic predisposition

When one of the parents has a slender physique, the child can also be thin. It is very difficult to gain weight in this case, and doctors recommend not to worry: if the baby is mobile and active, does not complain of ailments and weakness, nothing needs to be done.

Caring mothers, worried about the sunken cheeks of their son or daughter, choose the wrong tactics of behavior, increasing portions and forcing the baby, regardless of his desire, to eat everything, to the last crumb. Parents do not understand: the child's body knows how much food he needs.

The following tips will help you build your line of behavior in matters of baby food:

1. Consult your doctor about taking vitamins that can improve your appetite. A properly selected complex stimulates the process of assimilation of nutrients, and the child will be able to gain weight more easily.

2. Praise your child when he has eaten well. Encouragement from parents is a good incentive to take the supplement.

3. Do not scold the child when he does not finish his portion. Appetite will not improve from this, and the emotional state will not change for the better. Meanwhile, it indirectly affects appetite.

show more

Parents and doctors monitor the development of an infant in the first year especially closely, since all changes in the body occur quickly, and any deviations in health will inevitably affect growth rates and weight gain. The most basic of the problems is considered to be insufficient weight gain per month. It is usually detected by monthly weighing at the pediatrician or home measurements using a baby scale. The problem of the body weight of the baby is not always real, often parents evaluate the baby in comparison with the children of friends and relatives, but in some cases the weight is really insufficient. How to distinguish the norm from pathology, what problems can lead to insufficient weight gain, what does this threaten in the future?

What does weight gain mean in children?

The intensity of metabolism in newborn babies and young children is maximum in comparison with other age categories. There will never be such an increase in mass and growth, as in the first year. Therefore, it is the increase in weight and height that is considered one of the simplest and most objective criteria by which you can assess the state of health of the crumbs.

If weight is not gained or lost, this is an alarm signal that requires immediate clarification of the reasons that disrupt the absorption of food. If the weight gain is insufficient, the child either receives too little milk (mixture), or cannot fully absorb it due to problems with digestion, nervous system or internal organs that affect metabolism.

Hypotrophy, as the lack of body weight in infants is called in medicine, threatens not only with a decrease in weight gain and a decrease in growth rates. It breaks the elasticity of the skin, leads to a lag in the development of skills due to muscle hypotension, children begin to roll over later, it is difficult to master the skills of sitting and walking independently, they begin to speak much later than the due date. In addition, nutritional deficiency inevitably affects the functioning of the immune system, which threatens with frequent and long-term illnesses.

Why is the child gaining weight poorly: possible reasons

Usually, temporary causes that lead to "standing" weight or its loss are acute illnesses (, intestinal upset), and after recovery, the situation returns to normal. But if weight gain constantly does not meet the standards or is on the border of normal and pathology, while the baby receives enough nutrition and there are no defects in care, this situation requires the attention of a doctor.

Chronic eating disorders, if a child constantly gains little in height and weight, affect not only his physical development, but also psycho-emotional, as well as the work of most internal organs. They do not receive enough nutrients for full-fledged work and growth, the formation of new cells, which is why serious pathologies are formed.

A common cause of poor weight gain is the mistakes of parents:

• Early, starting from 3-4 months, when the child's digestion is immature and not ready to receive new food;
• The introduction of additional fluid to infants, replacing sufficient volumes of milk;
• Incorrect calculation of the mixture for feeding and for a day for artificially fed children, too much dilution of the mixture with water;
• Adherence of parents to a certain style of nutrition (vegetarianism, raw food diet) and irrational feeding of the child.

Weight gain can suffer due to various congenital pathologies:

Do not compare!

Only a doctor can objectively assess body weight and monthly gains by analyzing the characteristics of the child at birth and the dynamics of weight gain. Parents make a big mistake by comparing their baby with others, and starting to look for a problem where there is none. Children who were born with a weight of 2000 g and 4500 g cannot have equal weight gain. For evaluation, the doctor has more objective criteria, on the basis of which one can draw a conclusion about underweight. The assessment of increases or weekly by the parents themselves will also be incorrect., growth and weight gain in infants occur spasmodically, such measurements are not objective, but push parents to rash actions (increasing the volume of the mixture, introducing supplementary feeding with mixtures to infants, taking medications, etc.).

What should be the weight gain in children?

The surest criterion will be the assessment of body weight on a monthly basis, at a pediatrician's appointment. So, the boundaries of the norm for increases will be 500g and more per month for up to six months, and then 400-300g per month for up to a year.

note

For the first month, the increase is estimated from the initial weight at birth. This is important because in the maternity hospital, in the first days after childbirth, the baby loses up to 10% of the mass, and then must restore it and quickly begin to gain weight.

In parallel with body weight, height in length is also measured, although this is a more variable indicator of development, which is highly dependent on external influences and measurement techniques.

If a child has added 500 g or more in a month, parents should not have any worries, even if it seems to them that the baby is thin.

If the increase is less than this value or there is none at all, in this case it is necessary to visit a pediatrician, take tests and a full examination. You need to find out the reasons for poor weight gain. When finding out the reasons, the type of nutrition of the baby will be important: whether it is a baby or a baby on artificial feeding.

Weight norms for babies: WHO tables

Weight norms established for girls aged 0 to 5 years:

Weight norms established for boys aged 0 to 5 years:

Children on HB can gain weight unevenly, monthly gains can range from 500 to 1500 g, and therefore, when assessing, they look at the dynamics of mass and average values. For one month, especially if the baby was sick, there were difficulties with attachment or a growth spurt, his teeth were cut or there was a strong fever, no diagnoses are made. The doctor may prescribe a wet diaper test” to make sure that the weight problem was temporary and that the baby is getting enough milk.

If, according to the test results, it is found out what the baby receives (wetting less than 8 diapers per day, provided that he is not given water and mixtures), then you need to resolve the issue with, correcting, increasing feedings or feeding crumbs. It is in the shortage of milk that the problem of weight is.

Rules for artificers

With children who are formula-fed, everything is more clear and stable. Due to the fact that they receive a given amount of food per day, they have a relatively constant increase. In the first month, at least 500-600g, in the second, about 800g, with a gradual monthly decrease by 50-100g. The minimum weight gain limit for them, as well as for children in breastfeeding, in the first half of the year will be 500g. With an insufficient increase, artificialists immediately raise the question of why the baby does not absorb the mixture well. If he often has or has a skin rash, most likely the mass problem is due to an inappropriate mixture. It should be replaced with hypoallergenic or low lactose, depending on the analysis of feces and blood. Sometimes a temporary deficiency of enzymes can be the cause of poor weight gain, which is solved by introducing them with food or using hydrolysate mixtures (they are more split and easier to digest).

The baby added badly: what to do?

If it seems to parents that the child is gaining little, you need to see a doctor and evaluate weight gain.

There is no need to take any action before examining the doctor and establishing the fact of weight loss, especially when it comes to the introduction of mixtures, complementary foods, enzyme preparations and any drugs. It can only hurt!

Often, if children initially have a low birth weight, these are not health problems, but a hereditary feature. You need to carefully look at the parents, if they are thin and short, the child will not add a kilogram per month. In addition, the fact of the course of pregnancy is also important: if there were problems with the placenta, severe, intrauterine growth retardation was exhibited - the baby will not add much at first either. The baby will be thin even with a nutritional deficiency during pregnancy in the mother herself, therefore, after the birth, the dynamics of weight gain will also be reduced.

After birth, weight gain can also be affected by severe pathologies, neurological disorders, and infections. But these reasons are obvious, and with them, children are usually treated in a hospital. There are also more objective factors that lead to insufficient weight gain:

• underfeeding a child,
• Deficiency in nutrition of essential substances.

Underfeeding a child: when does it occur?

A similar condition occurs when there is a lack of milk in the mother during breastfeeding, rare attachments, replacement of part of the feeding with water, as well as problems with attachment, active sucking in the baby. If the baby is fed on time, limiting the length of stay at the breast, he can only receive “front” milk, which is rich in salts and water, glucose, but which is low in fat.

Such food is quickly digested and provides energy only for activity, without contributing to weight gain. The lack of milk in the mother can also be a consequence of the same reasons, in addition, it occurs in the absence of night feedings.

note

It is at night that the maximum amount of lactation hormones is released due to breast stimulation, so applications from 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. are important to create a lactation reserve for the next day.

The baby can suckle the breast inefficiently and eat poorly with a short frenulum of the tongue, cleft palate, general weakness, violation of attachment, when he grabs the breast shallowly, emptying it poorly and receiving little milk only from the nipple ducts. Significant amounts of nutrition may be lost with abundant regurgitation of the baby and vomiting if the baby has neurological pathologies.

Nutritional deficiency: when is it possible?

This problem occurs more often in formula-fed children if they are fed with unadapted mixtures or they have the wrong food.. Such problems are typical for those babies who are transferred to diluted cow's milk or kefir, if they are introduced to complementary foods early, which they cannot fully assimilate, or they are fed with special foods (raw food, vegetarianism, fasting). The deficiency of protein and fats, vitamins is especially critical for weight gain.

In this case, the doctor will replace the mixture or select food that the baby can absorb without difficulty, enzyme preparations may be needed to improve the weight situation.

Alena Paretskaya, pediatrician

Weight for children is a clear indicator of their normal development. Usually, grandmothers are the first to “sound the alarm” about its possible deficiency, and only after that, parents.

However, this panic is not always justified. Therefore, before asking how to gain weight for a child, if he suddenly began to seem too slender against the background of well-fed peers, you should deal with the possible causes of underweight and the norms of children's weight.

The main causes of underweight in childhood

The causes of underweight in a child may be as follows:

1. Malnutrition. Usually it is typical for babies of the first year of life who are breastfed.
2. Heredity. Genetic data has a direct impact on the structural features of the body and constitution of the baby. If the parents are slender, usually their son or daughter is unlikely to be overly plump.
3. Improper functioning of the digestive system. Frequent cases of constipation or diarrhea can also cause underweight. If episodes of intestinal upset in a child are repeated with enviable regularity, this is a reason to consult a doctor.
4. Calorie content of food does not meet the needs of the baby. If the diet does not match the level of physical activity, the baby may begin to lag behind in weight.
5. Gluten intolerance or food allergies can also be a reason why a child cannot gain weight. Nutrients are simply not absorbed in his body. Also, the cause of insufficient body weight can be a metabolic disorder.

1. Feeling unwell or the onset of any disease can cause a poor appetite in the crumbs. Also, low mobility during the day can lead to problems with appetite.
2. The child does not like the taste of the food or the look of the cooked food.
3. After 7 years, the cause of underweight in children can be a sharp jump in growth, as well as a decrease in appetite against the background of stress due to the start of school life.

If you notice that your baby has begun to lose weight or has not gained weight for a long time, you should first consult a doctor to determine the cause of this phenomenon.

The doctor will send a small patient for an examination, as a result of which it will become clear what caused the shortage or loss of his mass. If the cause of the lack of weight is a disease, the doctor will prescribe the appropriate treatment that will return the baby to normal weight.

If it turns out that the lag in weight was not caused by a disease or disorder, the doctor will prescribe a special diet for the child to make up for the lack of mass.

What weight is considered normal?

To determine the norm of weight in childhood, there are several formulas that were developed by Soviet medicine:

Up to 6 months

800 grams should be multiplied by the age of the baby in months, and then add its initial weight at birth to the resulting number.

6 to 12 months

To 4,800 grams (800g * 6), you should add 400 grams multiplied by the number of months that the baby turned after six months, and then add its weight at birth.

After a year

The weight norm for children after a year is calculated based on the weight norm for 5 years, which is 19 kg.

In addition to the above norms, there is also a table of weight norms for children according to WHO, which is given below:

If the baby weighs less than the lower limit of the norm indicated in this table, this is the reason for his visit to a medical specialist.

Babies up to six months

For infants under 6 months of age who are breastfed, with a lack of weight, doctors usually recommend adding an artificial mixture to the diet, which the pediatrician will help you choose correctly.

With a lack of weight on artificial feeding, a doctor's consultation on feeding norms is also required or the transfer of crumbs, again on the recommendation of a pediatrician, to another milk formula.

Babies from six months to 1 year

If you are underweight between 6 and 12 months of age, your doctor may recommend the following:

1. Establish a feeding schedule for your baby. Maintaining a certain diet will help to establish metabolic functions.
2. Frequent feeding, but not more often than every 4 hours.
3. Increasing the intake of carbohydrates and proteins is usually carried out by increasing the amount of cereals and milk mixtures consumed. At the same time, do not forget to give the child meat, cottage cheese and kefir (provided that these products have already been introduced into complementary foods).

At the same time, remember that you should not overfeed or force-feed the baby in order to quickly make up for the weight deficit - this can lead to disorders in his digestive system.

In addition, you should not introduce fast-digesting carbohydrates in the form of pasta and sugar into the child's diet - they can cause disturbances in the body's metabolic processes, as well as feed fatty foods to the baby - it can adversely affect the processes of his digestion.

Year and older

After the child reaches the age of one year, recommendations for weight gain somewhat change their appearance due to the gradual transition of the baby to the “common table”:

1. Feed your baby at least four times a day.
2. The diet of the baby should include a varied diet, because even adults can get bored with monotony in food. In addition, you can try to decorate dishes beautifully so that the child wants to eat them.
3. Avoid snacking on buns or sugary foods shortly before your main meals.
4. Before eating, it is useful to give the baby a salad of fresh vegetables or sweet and sour fruits, which stimulate the production of gastric juice.
5. Also, eating in the company of relatives or friends can increase the appetite in children.

In addition to the above, the doctor may prescribe special preparations with prebiotics or probiotics for the baby to improve bowel function, as well as recommend an increase in dairy products in the diet.

In cases of severe lagging behind the norm, doctors sometimes prescribe special high-calorie nutritional mixtures (food shakes for weight gain) for underweight children.

All children are different, and each child has its own individual characteristics of the organism, therefore, the process of physiological development does not proceed in the same way. First of all, it concerns the weight gain of the baby. Naturally, some newborns are born quite large - up to 5 kg or more, while others may be born prematurely and have a small weight by the time of birth. However, regardless of the parameters at birth, there are certain norms, tangible deviations from which require mandatory consultation with specialists.

Children at birth have different weights, so the concept of the norm includes different meanings.

Common weight indicators for infants up to 1 year

Baby's age, month	Weight gain, grams
	monthly	for the entire period
1	600	600
2	800	1400
3	800	2200
4	750	2950
5	750	3650
6	650	4300
7	600	4900
8	550	5450
9	500	5950
10	450	6400
11	400	6800
12	350	7150

By the age of one year, the weight of the child increases significantly

These parameters are not strict and certain deviations in both directions are quite acceptable in newborns. They are caused by a genetic predisposition. Parents with shorter stature tend to have smaller babies than taller, larger-bodied moms and dads.

According to statistics, large babies gain more weight than newborns with normal parameters or babies born prematurely. For them, an increase of 600-800 grams every month, up to six months of age, is considered the norm.

If the baby is gaining less than the lower limit, it is worth consulting with a pediatrician.

indicators of poor weight gain

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Quite often, overly caring mothers and suspicious grandmothers begin to panic ahead of time and come up with unnecessary and unreasonable problems for themselves if the child is not gaining weight well. In order to avoid unnecessary worries, it is important to be able to understand why the child is not really gaining the required rate.

If such a situation occurs, in addition to significant deviations from the normal parameters shown in the table above, the infant may also have other symptoms. First of all, it concerns the condition of the skin. On the body, the crumbs do not have fat folds, and the skin becomes pale, uneven, inelastic, wrinkled and dry, like in the elderly.

A child with underweight is characterized by the absence of fat folds and pallor of the skin.

Secondly, the child is noted:

• lack of appetite;
• sleep disorders;
• a strong decrease in motor activity;
• moodiness and constant crying.

If, against the background of a small weight gain in a newborn, at least one of the listed factors was noticed, parents should definitely show the baby to specialists. This is especially true for families in which people are large in size, and the baby's physique is rather flimsy.

At the appointment, the doctor will examine the child, identify the causes and be able to correct the further actions of the parents to eliminate this problem, if any. Timely intervention is very important in such situations. However, if the little one is active, cheerful, eats well and does not spit up a lot, but does not gain as much as he should - these are just the characteristics of the body and you should not worry.

Wet diaper method

In order to check whether a child is gaining weight poorly, there is a well-known method of wet diapers. True, there is no scientific justification for its fairness, therefore it is up to the parents to rely on reliability or not. The meaning of the method is to count the diapers that the baby has wet during the day.

During the test, diapers are replaced with gauze diapers. The whole day, the baby must be fed exclusively with breast milk. The number of wet diapers received per day should be compared with the indicators that are the norm at the corresponding age. During the first 2-3 weeks of life, the number of urination per day for a newborn should equal his age in days. For 6 months, it is considered normal if the child pees from 10 times a day, and from six months to 8 months - at least 8 times.

In the event that a mother has difficulties or doubts about how she breastfeeds and whether her baby is getting enough milk, you should consult with breastfeeding specialists. Before asking for help, it is advisable to observe the baby a little. Knowing the doctor's habits, behavioral characteristics of the baby: how often he spits up, as well as the number of his wet diapers, will help to get a more correct picture and understand the reasons for low weight.

Reasons for low weight gain. How to deal with this problem?

The most important thing that parents need to do before taking any action to combat poor weight gain in infants is to find out the real cause of such a problem. Plus, you need to calm down and not be nervous in advance, especially for a nursing mother. Among the possible reasons leading to monthly small weight gain, the 2 most common ones should be distinguished:

• insufficient amount of breast milk that the baby receives for breastfeeding;
• indigestibility of the selected milk formula in children on IV.

A mixture selected for a baby may be poorly absorbed by his body.

Baby doesn't eat

Lack of mother's milk can be due to a number of factors:

1. incorrect attachment to the chest;
2. feeding according to the schedule, and not at the request of the crumbs;
3. refusal of night feedings;
4. mother's milk deficiency.

Sometimes it is difficult for an inexperienced mother who is breastfeeding to determine whether she has enough milk and whether the baby has enough. Signs that the baby is full and completely satisfied are his quick falling asleep after feeding and sound restful sleep for 2.5-3 hours. The reverse situation, when, after being attached to the breast, the baby cannot fall asleep for a long time and wakes up ahead of schedule, and the dream itself is quite restless, indicates that the milk eaten by the baby was not enough for him.

The strict implementation of the recommendations of doctors and breastfeeding specialists will help to eliminate the problem. First, follows the baby to the breast. Secondly, feeding should not be on schedule, but when a hungry little one requires. If the reason lies in the insufficient amount of milk, the mother should do everything to improve lactation. With further malnutrition of the baby, it is advisable to contact the pediatrician, who will select baby food that is appropriate for the age of the child.

A consultant will help solve the mother's problems and establish feeding

Digestibility of baby food

When breastfeeding a formula-fed baby, it is very easy to control the amount of formula he eats. You should contact specialists in the case when the baby receives the required amount of the mixture every day, but the weight gain does not meet the standards.

Most likely, the composition of baby food contains components that the baby's body is not able to absorb. This usually refers to cow's milk protein. The way out is the selection by the doctor of another mixture suitable for the baby.

Other causes of poor weight gain

Poor weight gain can be the result of an illness suffered by the baby at an early stage in life. During the period when the baby was sick, the body threw all its strength and resources into overcoming the disease. So it is absolutely normal if, even with a common cold, weight gain can become below normal. After recovery, everything will be restored, and the missing grams too.

Another cause of such a problem as underweight is often physical stress. It can be provoked by massage, therapeutic exercises or swimming. Procedures of this nature tire the little one, in their process he loses a lot of strength and energy. In order to find out if this is the reason for a small weight gain, it is enough not to do procedures related to physical activity for some time. If the baby’s weight gain is restored as a result, this will mean that the matter concerned precisely excessive physical exertion on the baby’s body during the procedures.

Intense exercise, such as swimming, can lead to weight loss.

Deviations from normal weight gain can serve as the first signs of a neurological disease or the appearance of helminths in a child. Also, genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis, galactosemia or adrenogenital syndrome can lead to weight problems. Doctors are obliged to detect and treat violations of this nature at a very early age.

The lack of prescribed grams by a premature baby requires a particularly careful attitude to his health. In children who were born prematurely, there are usually pathologies and various disorders in the functioning of internal organs. Doctors always inform parents about the presence of a problem and prescribe appropriate measures, under which, by the age of one, the baby will be able to catch up with his peers in terms of parameters.

What is not recommended to do with the problem of poor weight gain in a child?

It is important to take into account that, unlike an adult organism, a child does not store energy - he should receive the necessary amount of nutrients for each feeding, otherwise this may adversely affect the health of the baby.

If the weight grows more slowly than expected, the behavior of the crumbs plays an important role. The lack of the necessary grams in an active, vigorous, with healthy skin and sound sleep baby suggests that he has enough weight gain for normal development. There is no cause for concern in such situations.

If the baby is active and feels good, he has enough of the nutrition that he receives

Otherwise, you need to understand that only a pediatrician can determine the true cause of problematic weight. The specialist must decide what actions to take to eliminate deviations from the norm.

In the case when a young mother notices that the little one has stopped gaining the necessary grams, she should stop listening to experienced grandmothers and relatives. Their advice is far from always correct, and instead of being useful, it can harm the health of the crumbs.

A fairly common situation is when caring relatives or acquaintances explain the lack of weight by the fact that mother's milk is not of very good quality or low-fat, calling it "empty". By this is meant that it does not contain the nutrients and vitamins that are required for the normal development of the baby. However, breast milk has always been and will be the best option for baby food, because the body of a nursing woman has the ability to determine what the child lacks, to make up for a number of missing components in milk. Artificial improvement of the properties of milk can harm both the baby and the mother. It is advisable to simply take care of lactation so that the baby does not feel a lack of milk.

Poor appetite and overfeeding

Many moms and dads consider poor appetite to be the cause of the shortage of the desired grams. As a result, parents try to feed the child and force him to eat as much as possible, which is why the child simply spit up more and more (we recommend reading:). Feeding through force with natural and artificial feeding will not give a positive effect. A hungry baby will definitely not refuse food, but overfeeding threatens with problems with the well-being and health of the crumbs.

Do not force feed your baby - this is also fraught with a number of problems.

According to Dr. Komarovsky, often the problem lies not in bad, but in selective appetite, which in turn is a common whim. The kid does not want to eat what is offered to him, but does not refuse other food that he likes more.

You don’t need to try to force feed the child, in this way it will only spoil your nerves and the psyche of the little one - it’s better to go for a walk outside with the baby, do various physical exercises or just play active games. So he will be able to work up an appetite and then, without coercion, eat the offered portion.

Also, grandmothers often have an influence on a young mother, making her nervous about the weight indicators of a one-month-old baby. They will always find something to complain about in the state of the baby and make the already excited mother worry. Afraid to seem uncaring and following the lead of the older generation, she begins by all means to fatten the thin baby according to other people's words.

Probably, there is not a single parent who would not be bothered by the weight of their own child. Many are worried about being overweight, others because of its lack. From the very birth of the baby, all pediatricians have been telling us that his condition as a whole depends on the weight of the child.

Every month, our baby is weighed and measured at the appointment with the local doctor, comparing his physical indicators with the average statistical curves of growth and weight, and therefore they judge his condition, not only physical, but also psychological. According to these curves, the weight of a six-month-old baby should double compared to birth weight, and the weight of a one-year-old should triple. After your baby is one year old, the pace of his physical indicators somewhat slows down his growth, and the average weight gain per week is only 30-50 g.

Once your little one is on his feet and actively learning to walk, he will lose more and more energy and will not put on weight as quickly. And mothers begin to think about what is needed for the child to gain weight better after a year. Therefore, you should not be particularly upset that your child is already adding more than 900 g per month as in the first year of life. Now more and more attention is paid to proportionality, for example, it is believed that the circumference of the chest should be greater than the circumference of the head exactly by the age of the child in years. The older the child, the longer his limbs and the smaller his head.

In addition, it should be remembered that the increase in height and weight occurs “in leaps” (if he stretched a couple of centimeters this month, then he may not gain weight and vice versa, next month he will gain weight and not gain in height) ; and with all this, the constitution of the parents should also be taken into account (if the parents of the child are short and fragile, then you should not hope that the child himself will be tall and with a dense physique).

A growing child's body needs a balanced diet, it must receive the necessary amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates for normal growth and development. Moreover, not more, but not less than the norm. So after a year, the child should receive about 3.0 g of protein per 1 kg of body weight per day, 5.5 g of fat per 1 kg of body weight per day and 15-16 g of carbohydrates per 1 kg of body weight per day. In addition, the intake of minerals, vitamins, and organic substances, and, of course, water, is mandatory.

If you are still worried about the question of what is needed for the child to gain weight better after a year, and he looks thinner than his peers (bones stick out, there is no fat layer, the baby has no appetite, he is inactive and gets tired quickly), then you should contact a specialist: a gastroenterologist or just a pediatrician. Weight loss or lack of weight gain can cause various diseases: diabetes, food allergies, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, enlarged tonsils, and much more. Usually, after the course of treatment and complete recovery, the weight of the child also normalizes.

However, it is also possible that your child is very active, and the amount of food eaten does not replace the amount of calories burned. In this case, more high-calorie foods (cottage cheese, cheeses, nuts, caviar, etc.) can be additionally introduced into the child's diet.

And so, if you still decide that your baby needs to gain a few kilograms, then first you need to carefully coordinate everything with the pediatrician. Do not cost and overfeed your joy, everything needs a measure.

What to do so that your child gains weight better after a year? Here are some tried and true remedies:

• It is necessary to feed the child at least 5-8 times a day, because the more the child eats, the faster he will gain weight.
• Introduce more fats into your child's diet, especially since they are also useful for small children.
• Increase the amount of protein foods: dairy products (cheeses, sour cream, kefir, fermented baked milk, and so on), meat, fish, eggs.
• Cook for your child what he loves, then he will eat it all with pleasure, and you will not have to persuade him.
• The child should drink a lot, but remember that it is better to drink after eating, so as not to interrupt your baby's appetite.
• While eating, it is necessary to create a pleasant atmosphere so that the child enjoys the food.
• If your baby is naughty while eating, then mothers can also ask for help from their favorite crumb toys, they will most likely be happy to join their friend's meal.
• During the meal, you can also play, offering, feed your favorite toy, or simply invite guests for a cup of tea, all children are more likely to eat in company.
• Mothers are also allowed to feed their babies, but it is desirable that this be only an exception, not the rule.
• Remember that dishes should not only be tasty, nutritious, but also beautifully presented, because when it looks beautiful, you want to try it.
• Let your baby take part in cooking himself, because it is so interesting, and, of course, I want to try if it turned out to be as tasty as mom's.
• Praise your baby, because children are so happy to please their mother.
• You can please the baby and picnics in nature, the fresh air always improves appetite.

But I would like to warn you that you should not overfeed the child, because excess weight, just like its lack of abundance, can be fraught with all sorts of problems. I would like to note once again that everything needs a measure and in no case should you deprive the baby of physical activity, because life is in motion. Be outdoors more often, because fresh air is so necessary for a growing body.

Good luck in achieving the ideal weight for your baby.