How to gain weight of my underweight child and diet chart

Ruman

1 year ago

How to gain weight of my underweight child and diet chart

Nutrition Digestive issues

Happy Tummy Expert

1 year ago

Dear Ruman, Thank you for the question

Ages 1-6 years witness gradual and continuous growth and development. During this period it is important to take care of all nutritional needs and give children a nutritionally adequate & well-balanced diet, to ensure that growth and development is achieved optimally.

The reference ideal body weight and height for 4-year-old male can be considered as 14.6-18.4kg and 99.2-112.cm height.

The reference ideal body weight and height for 4-year-old female can be considered as 14.2-17.8kg and 98.4-111.8cm height.

The causes of underweight or unintended weight loss can be due to genetics, inadequate food intake, malabsorption or other underlying health condition.

In any weight management programme, it is very essential to consume a healthy diversified balanced diet with few dietary modifications and regular physical activity. For weight gain it is essential to focus on your daily balanced diet with high calorie, high protein and regular meals. With any weight gain diet, changes take time to reflect as your body requires sufficient time to adapt to the changes in order to show results.

A high calorie and high protein diet is recommended for weight gain. The recommended dietary intake of protein (RDA) for children 4-6years is 16.0g/day. Some of the sources of high protein include pulses, lentils, milk, paneer, soybean, eggs, lean meat, nuts & seeds etc.

Pre- schoolers have an established daily routine and need regular mealtimes to be part of this routine. Parents should provide suitable foods at mealtimes, including morning and afternoon snack. Food should be attractively presented and should be in bite sizes to ease the child’s meal times. Make the food colorful and attractive, to engage the child and keep him/her interested in trying out the food.

Here are a few general Dietary guidelines to be considered for weight gain in children

Try to include a healthy Diversified Balanced Diet that includes all the 5 food groups (cereals, pulses, fruits, vegetables, milk & milk products) in the right quantity which thereby provides the child with all the essential macro and micro nutrients that the body requires daily for proper functioning.
Make the plate colorful by including variety of fruits and vegetables
Maintain a positive energy balance where the calorie intake should be more than the energy expenditure.
Include energy dense foods, keeping in mind the daily needs. Some of the energy dense foods include Whole wheat, Multigrain, millets, dairy products, nuts, colocasia leaves, banana, raisins, pulses/lentils etc.
Three major meals a day with healthy nutritious snacks in between is preferred.
Try to increase the serving size and portion size gradually and systematically
Include healthy fats from nuts and seeds

Food should be slightly seasoned so that they taste better and the child takes it well.
Child should never be forced to eat more than he can take
Food preference of the child should be taken into consideration by Emphasize on the child's likes and dislikes
Foods like tea and coffee should be restricted as they overstimulate the system.
Home based diet provide adequately for growth and development of the child provided they are calorie dense and given in small frequent meals.
Foods that can cause choking should be avoided.
Ensure sufficient consumption of milk and milk products
Present finger foods to preschoolers
Encourage involvement in food preparation for easy acceptance of new foods
Encourage physical activity for optimal growth