One of the most significant challenges we face as parents is ensuring that our kids develop at a healthy pace.
To combat this, we take them to regular check-ups with our GP or nurse, where vital measurements, including weight and height, are recorded and compared to the ‘ideal’ range.
But how accurate are these measurements? What to do if your baby’s weight is outside the ideal range?
How is kid’s weight measured?
It is vital to help our kids maintain a healthy weight. Around 80% of kids People who’re obese during adolescence will struggle with their weight throughout their lives.
GPs and nurses frequently measure your baby’s height and weight and use growth charts to visualize your baby’s growth over time. They often use two charts covering:
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birth to two years of age, which it assumes World Health Organization standards. They were developed based on studies in six countries that measured the growth of healthy breastfed infants
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from two to 18 years old, which takes the charts from US Center for Disease Control for kids and adolescents, body weight, height and body mass index (BMI).
These charts use percentile lines to plot a toddler’s measurements in the type of a growth curve, which is then compared to the expected – or ideal – range of weight and height taken from children of the same age and sex.
A baby’s development is considered healthy if his or her measurements consistently follow percentile lines. Poor growth is characterised by a bent for a toddler’s weight or height to decline at each percentile.
For children under two years of age, a body weight above the eighty fifth percentile is considered extent of obeseand weight-for-age above the 97th percentile is included in the obesity range.
In children over two years of age, a BMI above the eighty fifth percentile is taken into consideration overweight and a BMI above the ninety fifth percentile is classified as obesity.
But height and BMI charts are usually not perfect
Growth charts provide a straightforward yet effective indication of our child’s growth and development. They may help healthcare employees detect potential health problems early in order that they might be examined by a specialist.
However, growth charts could cause parents numerous anxiety and stress because they do not understand that every child grows and develops at a unique rate.
That’s why it is so vital to assess trends and changes in body weight over time and not react to measurements that will show outliers.
1 thing to avoid if your child is above the ideal range
NO limit your child’s food intake or restrict your eating regimen if they fall outside the ideal range. Although this may increasingly help them lose weight initially, it’s going to be harmful later.
Putting a eating regimen on a young child affects their ability to metabolize food and their innate ability to regulate their food intake as they grow and develop. This may have an effect their relationship with food and over time they speed up the weight problem.
Holding on to your child’s weight may also lead to anxiety, low self-esteem, and eating disorders body image problems.
6 things you may do
If your child’s weight is outside the ideal range, proceed to monitor his or her growth over time and deal with allowing her or him to “grow” to a healthy weight. You can do this by:
1. Focus on health, not weight
Each of us has a predetermined weight: a set value that our body protects. It is programmed in the early years of life – especially in the first 2,000 days of life – from conception to age five.
Our genes play a task in programming our weight setpoint. Just as DNA determines whether we’re shorter or taller than others, this is what it is be born with a bent to be slimmer or larger. But our genetic makeup is only a predisposition, not an inevitable fate.
Developing healthy habits and a positive approach to eating, exercise and body image in the family home will help your child achieve an optimal body weight throughout their life.
This includes:
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teaching your child about nutrition by discussing the importance of the foods we eat and why certain foods are only eaten sometimes
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finding time for each day activity that focuses on having fun with movement moderately than exercising to lose weight or change your appearance
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being attentive to how we discuss our bodies and avoiding negative comments about weight and appearance.
2. Reach for nature first
Provide your child with loads of “nature delicacies” – for instance, fresh fruit and vegetables, honey, nuts and seeds. In their natural state, these foods trigger the same pleasure response in the brain as highly processed junk and fast food, and additionally they provide the nutrition your body needs.
3. Eating a full rainbow
Offer your child a large range of foods with different colours and textures. Cook your family’s favorite dishes in alternative ways, e.g. spaghetti bolognese with lentils as a substitute to spaghetti bolognese with beef.
Being a more adventurous eater helps kid’s development palate and provides them with the nutrients their bodies need for healthy growth and development.
4. Making meals relaxing and enjoyable
Involve the whole family in meals. Improve your baby’s innate characteristics appetite regulation slowing down and eating together at the table. Slowing down your eating means there is enough time for appetite hormones to be sent to your brain and signal that you’ve got had enough.
Meals which are calm and enjoyable also help create positive associations with healthy eating and help overcome dietary problems.
5. I play day-after-day
Consider (*1*)national business guidelines to understand your child’s movement needs at every stage of its development. For most age groups, this is about 60 minutes of physical activity or vigorous play, which might be divided into several smaller series.
Schedule regular time for activities that involve movement and play, resembling lively games, sports, and family walks and bike rides.
6. Back to screen time rules
Ensure your child has a healthy exposure to screens and a very good night’s sleep by developing healthy technology habits and implementing easy rules, resembling setting screen-free zones at mealtimes and in the bedroom.
Create positive entertainment alternatives that bring the family together.
