Thin child: reasons, what to do?

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

The worst dream of mothers and grandmothers in the world is a thin child. For some reason, it is generally accepted that a baby who is raised according to all the rules should be plump, with rosy cheeks. Any other appearance of the little one is perceived as a sign of his malnutrition or some kind of soreness. Most often, caring parents exaggerate the problem a little, but the fact remains: you always need to monitor the weight of the baby. Loving mothers literally ask themselves questions every day, looking at the thin legs and arms of their sweetheart: are they feeding him correctly, are they offering him the right foods, are their little ones enough of the necessary vitamins? We will try to answer these questions and pay attention to what needs to be done so that the arrow of the scales gradually moves up.

Worry or not worth it?

Often parental worries are completely groundless. The physique of the baby depends not only on his he alth in general and on how and what he eats. And so it is clear: if the parents-grandparents are notheroic physique and do not have excess weight, then a very small percentage of the fact that the baby will grow plump peanut.

You need to understand that if a very thin child ate, then he would not immediately gain weight, and a huge dish of flour goodies would not make him an exact copy of the plump kids from a neighboring house. But if you force the little one to eat hard, this can only aggravate the situation and develop in the baby an aversion to the food offered.

Types of thinness

To agree or, on the contrary, to disagree with these concerns is possible only after consultation with specialized experts. Modern medicine has comparative tables, according to which it is possible to determine the normal weight for a child. This indicator will depend on the height, age, gender and activity of the baby.

If a pediatrician has identified a weight defect, then you need to look for its cause. There are two types of thinness. He althy - when the structure of the body is due to a predisposition in connection with genetics. Pathological - it will be the result of the impact on the body of a certain disease or slow development.

In the first case, you can defeat a small body weight simply by using the normalization of the baby's nutrition. In the second, timely adequate treatment will come to the rescue.

Studying the test results

Do not immediately sound the alarm, wondering the age-old question why the child is thin. Because of what this happens, we will consider a little later. As a rule, loss of appetite is the primary source of thinness. It happens byphysical or psychological reasons. It has long been known that if a baby has had ARVI, tonsillitis, or some other infectious diseases, he loses a tenth of his weight. But after only two or three weeks, he is quite capable of regaining the kilograms spent.

No less common is the psychological factor. Great emotional excitement, stress received in kindergarten or school, caused by misunderstanding or novelty, lead to depression, apathy. The result is disturbances in the digestive system.

There are times when everything seems to be in order, but a thin child. In this case, the loss of body weight is due to parasites. Toddlers may not always follow the rules of personal hygiene, so helminths are not uncommon for them. If the baby has developed the habit of taking everything in his mouth, if he is reluctant to wash his hands and loves to hug all the yard dogs and cats, it is quite likely that worms have settled in his body.

But be that as it may, before panicking, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive examination of the baby's body for the presence of pathologies. You can understand whether there is any deviation from the norm by examining the results of a blood test, urine, feces, ultrasound and x-rays of internal organs.

Why do newborns slowly gain weight? They're just malnourished

The reasons for very slow weight gain in infants must be considered separately. Newborns, due to the fact that they cannot speak, will not be able to explain to their mother that theirworries. Therefore, parents should carefully monitor the slightest changes in the he alth of the crumbs. The most common source of abnormality is malnutrition. A thin child in a year or only three or four months old may be precisely due to the fact that he eats little. In this case, the mother can weigh the baby before and after feeding. After collecting several indications of changes in the baby's body weight, she must report this information to the attending physician. If all suspicions are confirmed, then he can prescribe additional nutrient mixtures that will help to cope with the current situation.

Activity of kids does not allow them to get better

When a mother makes up a diet for a baby over the age of five months, she needs to consult a specialist. Quite often there is a violation of the absorption of nutrients due to the fact that not enough vitamins, fats or carbohydrates.

The baby grows up, starts to crawl, then learns to walk. So he becomes more active.

In this case, thin children, whose photos can be seen in the article, are not sick children. It's just that they can now perform a lot of movements, due to which it is difficult for them to recover.

The main thing for a mother is to know: if her baby is a little behind in weight from her peers, but at the same time she rarely gets sick, and develops physically and mentally quite correctly, then she should not worry and worry. Indeed, in the vast majority of cases, this is either a predisposition, inherited, or a structural feature of the body.baby.

Important causes: food and heredity

There are six main reasons why both a small child and a slightly older child remain thin.

The first reason. The baby does not eat milk. This can be even when he spends half a day near his mother's breast. And yet, the little one will remain thin - due to the fact that he sucks badly, his mother has little milk, or he simply falls asleep while eating. It is necessary to track how much a toddler can drink at a time. If the figure is less than the norm, then the pediatrician will teach you how to properly apply it to the chest and even tell you what products can be purchased in order to increase lactation. Sometimes your doctor may recommend supplementing your baby with formula if they are under four months of age, or mashed vegetables if they are between 4 and 5 months of age.

The second reason. The figure is inherited from the ancestors. A thin child may not be because he is sick. He just inherited his figure from his parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle. Both the height and weight of the baby are largely dependent on genes. If mom and dad are slender, then in most cases their little one will have the same complexion (although in this case there are some exceptions). If the baby is not born very large, but he is absolutely he althy and is gaining weight steadily (even if a little less than the average rate is supposed to be), mom should not worry.

And then a thin child is always more dexterous and mobile than a plump one. These children often have better he alth than their peers.strong men.

Important reasons: taste preferences and diet

The third reason. The baby does not like the taste of new products. It happens that babies refuse to eat from a bottle or from a spoon instead of sucking at the breast. They do not agree to eat mashed potatoes - both vegetable and fruit, cereals, curds. But even in this case, you should not immediately get upset if, in the first days of feeding, the little one begins to act up and does not want to eat. Mom needs to be patient and diligently offer him complementary foods for several days. One day, the baby will still taste adult food and will be happy to absorb it in the future.

The fourth reason. Mom made the wrong diet. And the baby is growing, but never getting better, the child is thin. What to do in this situation? Mom should make it a habit to add 3-5 g of vegetable or butter for every 100 g of vegetable soup. If the baby is already very thin, then oil can even be added to porridge and desserts. A monotonous diet and more than necessary, the amount of sugar in dishes can also be the reason for the baby's low weight.

Important Causes: Mobility and Illness

The fifth reason. The baby is quite mobile. The peanut does not sit in one place. He is constantly doing something: crawling, turning over from his tummy to his back, waving his arms and legs. All these activities consume a lot of energy. Therefore, the child remains thin, because the fat does not have time to be deposited, because the calories received with food are spent very quickly.

Sixth reason. The little one got sick. If it happens that at first the baby develops well, but at some point it stops gaining weight. In this case, you should consult a pediatrician. It happens that the cause of all this is diseases, such as celiac disease or cystic fibrosis. In addition, mom needs to pay attention to the fact that worsened appetite and rare weight loss may be due to the fact that there are parasites in the body of the little one.

If the baby is a little behind the generally accepted indicators of height and weight (regarding his age), but at the same time he feels good and develops correctly, masters new skills in accordance with time, then parents should not worry.

What should I do?

Yes, it happens that, despite all the efforts of the parents, the child remains thin. The reasons have been stated above. So it is already clear that not in all cases it is necessary to sound the alarm desperately.

Mommies need to remember: for a baby, a poor appetite is not dangerous. The child's body has one magical mechanism that allows you to determine how much food and what kind of food he needs to eat in order to grow and develop normally. But if the little one is still a bad eater, then the doctor’s observation will be very helpful: he will tell you what substances the baby lacks and how to replace them.

The main thing is that the baby does not have any unpleasant associations from food. After all, the mother does not have a goal to force the baby to eat. She needs to create conditions for him to wanteat.

If a mother is too worried about her baby's poor appetite, it is better to offer him small portions for a while, that is, the food on the plate should be a little less than usual. When a baby sees a full bowl of soup or porridge, he understands that he must eat all this, otherwise his mother will scold him. This is even more capable of reducing his appetite. Therefore, it is better to put a teaspoon of vegetables, the same amount of meat or the same amount of flour food. And when the baby eats all this, praise him and ask if he wants more. It will take him only a few days to figure out and ask for a supplement from his mother on his own. So the appetite can become much better.