Malnourished children are not what any parents want. If unfortunately your baby encounters this situation, the mother should pay attention to adjust the diet for the malnourished child to help him quickly "goodbye" to his "stunted" friend.
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Causes of malnutrition children
When is a child called malnutrition?
5 principles in the diet for malnourished children
For infants and young children, nutrition is the decisive factor for physical and brain development. If the child is underweight compared with WHO standards, adjusting the diet for malnourished children is the fastest and most effective way.
Malnutrition is a condition in which the body is not adequately supplied with energy and protein as well as other trace elements to ensure the growth of the body. This is a common condition in children under 3 years old. Common causes are:
Weaning too early: According to experts, if you want to wean your baby , you should wait until the baby can eat other foods. In particular, during the practice of solids-feeding, the mother should still give the baby milk. Nutrition for children in this period should still focus on milk, weaning foods are just supplementary and supplementary foods for the baby.
Understanding child care will help limit malnutrition
Feeding baby too early or too late: Children with poor digestive system, can not "load" all the protein in food. Therefore, feeding your baby too early can cause allergies, or digestive problems , leading to inability to absorb the necessary nutrients. Conversely, delayed weaning will prevent the baby from being provided with the necessary amount of nutrients, because over time, the baby's nutritional needs will increase, and breastfeeding will not be enough.
Due to long-term illness : When children suffer from respiratory tract infections, digestive disorders many times or have complications after pneumonia, measles, dysentery ..., it is easy to lead to physical weakness and failure. Serious nutrition.
Due to congenital malformations of the organs : For babies born prematurely, fetal malnutrition or birth defects such as cleft palate, cleft palate, congenital heart.
What do you know about the digestive system and how to take care of your baby as "perfect" as possible It is no exaggeration to say that a healthy digestive system is the foundation for the health of the whole body.
Based on the chart of average weight for each age, parents will evaluate their child's physical development. After birth , if the baby does not gain weight for 2-3 consecutive months, he / she must immediately see the doctor to examine and find out the cause. Do not wait until monitoring the weight of the child is much lower than the growth chart to worry about treatment.
There are 3 ways to assess the degree of malnutrition:
Malnutrition Level I: Weight 90% compared with age
Malnutrition Level II: Weight is 75% compared with age
Malnutrition Level III: Weight below 60% compared with age. This is the most dangerous level because if the health of the baby does not improve for a long time, it will lead to a very high risk of death.
Recently, the National Institute of Nutrition announced that the rate of stunting and malnourished children under 5 years old accounts for 25.9%. This means that 1 out of 4 children is not reaching maximum development. So, mothers need to pay attention to some principles in the daily diet of children:
1. Increase nutrients
Baby snacks should be nutritious and varied as much as possible. Depending on the child's age, the mother chooses the right food texture. When processing, pay attention to cut, cook and season to suit the child's taste.
Strengthening vegetables and fruits in children's meals is both nutritious and helps to limit diseases of the digestive tract
2. Add the necessary amount of grease to the dish
Because grease provides twice the energy of starch and protein. Each cup of flour, porridge or rice of malnourished children needs a tablespoon of oil or fat. Moreover, grease is also a solvent that helps babies absorb oil-soluble vitamins such as E, D.
3. Increase your meals
Snacks should be started about 2 hours before the main meal. This may also be the time to make up for a small meal beforehand. Children should eat 5-6 meals a day instead of just 3 meals. When sharing meals like this, children do not feel like having to eat a lot each meal or trying to force-feed. Note mothers remember not to overfeed babies before bed.
Tell mom how to prepare baby's afternoon snacks The time between lunch and dinner is quite long, and after a day of learning and playing, the baby is already starving when he gets home. An afternoon snack is a great way to make up for lost energy
4. Should let your baby use porridge instead of thin porridge
Porridge will make your baby feel like eating more, but with a very low energy level because it contains a lot of water. So mothers should limit cooking dilute porridge and cook porridge for the baby instead.
5. The meal was filled with joy
Every meal is not a fight. The atmosphere is happy to eat and to let your child eat more to the child's energy. Do not force-feed when the child is bored because force-feeding only makes the child afraid to eat, vomiting, and over time, it will lead to anorexia.
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