What if the child is fat? What are the causes of overweight problems in children?

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

Everyone likes rosy-cheeked butuses who smile and look at their parents with joyful eyes. These chubby arms and legs in folds in infancy delight, and after three or more years they are alarming. And the older your round peanut gets, the more difficult it will be for him to communicate on an equal footing with his peers. What to do if your child is fat?

Obesity and overweight: what's the difference?

Often such concepts as "obesity" and "overweight" are confused. In most cases, they are considered identical. However, this is not quite true. The fact is that not always when a child is fat, he suffers from obesity. Almost all of us have our own normal weight, which corresponds to our age and height.

If, for some reason, this norm is violated (in the direction of its increase), then this will indicate that you are overweight (ie, over the norm). Being overweight can come and go easily with a combination of measures, such as diet and increased exercise.

Obesity, on the contrary, is very complex and dangerousdisease, the main symptoms of which are considered to be rapidly increasing body weight. We can talk about obesity when the amount of useful energy consumed with food is ten times higher than its daily consumption. As a result, characteristic fat deposits appear on the body of children, which only increase over time.

At the same time, it is not so easy for such a child to lose weight. Most often, a variety of inherited diseases, metabolic disorders and other ailments lead to obesity. This photo of a fat child clearly demonstrates the problem children face with obesity.

What causes children to be overweight?

As the famous pediatrician Komarovsky says: "Children should be thin and with an awl in their ass." Therefore, problems with extra pounds that your baby has appeared should cause concern, especially among adults. But in order to deal with this trouble, you need to look at the root and identify the causes of excess weight in children. For example, one of the most common causes is heredity. This also includes chronic diseases, heart disease and other ailments that lead to weight problems.

The second reason when parents have fat children is metabolic disorders, slow metabolism, etc. And if in the first and second cases nothing really depends on the child and his parents, then the third reason is directly related to education and proper nutrition. For example, if inSince it is customary for a family to eat exclusively processed foods and fatty foods, a baby growing up in such an environment is unlikely to be slim and thin.

In addition, fat children often grow up in families where parents are too busy to give them proper attention. In other words, an extremely busy mom or dad simply has no time or is too lazy to warm up soup or porridge for their child. Instead, they buy them chips, cookies, french fries, and other tasty but high-calorie foods.

What other situations can lead to childhood obesity?

One of the leading reasons in recent times is children's fascination with computer games. Entering the excitement, schoolchildren and young children simply do not move away from the next game application. They literally eat without getting up. But since they do not want to spend time warming up and putting food on a plate, chocolate bars, seeds, flour products, crackers, etc. often become their favorite food. And it's all very high in calories again.

In addition, the fattest children grow up with parents in whose family there are certain social problems. This also includes the difficulties of the child in the team. So, a situation is common when, in the process of communicating with peers, a baby may experience fear, discomfort, and other sensations. If the child fails to discuss his psychological state with his father or mother (or he does not find mutual understanding with them either), the baby begins to "seize" them at the time of a difficult psychological situation.

The installation also negatively affects the babycertain rules at the table, for example, when the child is regularly reminded that he must eat his portion to the last crumb. As a result, the child is fat, as he gets used to and tries to follow these rules at all times.

In addition, grandmothers often add fuel to the fire, who now and then try to feed their grandchildren with cookies, freshly baked pancakes, donuts and other goodies from the oven.

What are the causes of excess weight in babies?

Sometimes weight problems are observed not only in children after a year, but also at a younger age. Why is this happening? For example, if you have a fat breastfed baby, then this may indicate an incorrect ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in the diet of a nursing mother. Also, genes can be the cause of childhood obesity. That is, obese parents most often give birth to children with similar problems.

If the baby is bottle-fed, then one of the reasons for his excessive weight gain is improper preparation of the mixture. Often, mothers dilute the milk formula not strictly according to the instructions, but “by eye”, which leads to overeating. The same thing happens when a baby is fed from a bottle that contains an opening that is too large. As a result, the baby eats food much faster than the satiety signal enters his brain. As a result, the child does not get enough, and the mother gives him another bottle and overfeeds. A similar problem of infancy obesity is illustrated by this photo of a fat child.

What is baby paratrophy?

Paratrophy is a term applied to obese children under 3 years of age. Three stages of this disease are known:

• when the child's weight is 10-20% overweight;
• when excess weight exceeds the norm by 25-35%;
• when overweight is 40-50% overweight.

If your child is fat and has paratrophy, then he either eats too much or his daily diet is not balanced. These children are characterized by common signs:

• very short neck;
• small chest size;
• presence of rounded body parts;
• presence of characteristic fat deposits in the waist, abdomen and hips.

What is the danger of paratrophy?

Paratrophy is often complicated by allergic reactions, disorders of the endocrine system, problems with digestion and metabolism, as well as with the respiratory system. In addition, many experts are simply sure that well-fed children endure SARS much more difficult than children with a graceful figure. As soon as they catch a cold, they begin to have a prolonged runny nose, accompanied by severe swelling of the mucosa and other troubles. An overweight child breathes heavily while walking and running. He is often short of breath and sweats profusely.

What threatens children with obesity?

Childhood obesity can lead to comorbidities. For example, obese children can develop diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cirrhosis of the liver, ischemicheart disease. They may also experience:

• cardiovascular disease;
• high blood pressure;
• atherosclerosis;
• chronic cholecystitis;
• frequent constipation;
• fatty hepatosis.

In addition, a fat child, due to his large body weight, moves less. He has inferiority complexes and difficulties in communicating with peers. Heavy weight interferes with the normal development of bones, which leads to deformation of the skeleton and knee joints.

How to tell if a child is obese or not?

If you have a baby under one year old, and you suspect that he has problems with obesity, you must first check for compliance with the norm of his weight. This can be done according to the table established by the Ministry of He alth (see it below). Here is the age and norm in grams. Therefore, for convenience, doctors advise creating a similar plate for yourself and adding your child's weight to it from the moment of birth. Thus, it is possible to determine how much the body weight of a baby or teenager meets the established standard.

You can also visually identify problems with weight (for this, it is worth comparing the external parameters of your child's body with his peers). In addition, a fat child (we will tell you how to lose weight for him later) will gain weight very quickly. This will be seen, first of all, by the clothes.

Your therapist can tell you how much weight is appropriate for your baby's age. It would not be superfluous to contact an endocrinologist.

Child fat: what to do?

If you find weight deviations from the norm in your child, do not rush to panic. First you need to consult with experts. Remember that being overweight is more of a consequence than a cause. Therefore, it is necessary to initially identify the cause of obesity in a child. To do this, you should make an appointment with an endocrinologist, pass the appropriate tests.

If you have a fat child at 2 years old due to malnutrition, it will not be superfluous to make an appointment with a nutritionist. He will help you make the right diet for you, tell you which foods you can eat and which ones you can’t. Will give useful advice and recommendations.

If a similar problem is observed in an artificial baby, consult a pediatrician about the correct introduction of complementary foods and dosage. Try to add greens to the diet of older children, reduce the amount of easily digestible and unhe althy carbohydrates, replace sugary carbonated drinks with natural fruit and vegetable juices.

Steam more and oven bake with minimal fat. Cook jelly and fruit drinks without a lot of sugar. Replace white bread with bran, Borodino, coarse grinding. Introduce fruit dishes into the children's diet. Eliminate snacks in the form of cookies and sweets. Let the baby better eat an apple, carrot, dried fruit, dates, raisins or nuts.

Sport is strength and the way to a perfect figure

Active children are rarely overweight, so children who are prone to obesity should be given to some kind of sport. Play with them often in the yard andon the street in active games, such as football, badminton. An ordinary jump rope perfectly copes with excess body fat. Young children should regularly exercise using a large fitball. In this sense, children's yoga and gymnastics will also be useful.

What not to do with obesity?

When childhood obesity is not recommended to self-medicate. No need to put children on an adult diet or force them to pump the press hard. Everything should be in moderation and agreed with experts. For example, if you decide that your child needs intense physical activity to lose weight, first consult a doctor. Otherwise, ignoring the advice of experts can lead to unpredictable consequences.

You can't let everything take its course, as the lack of treatment leads to disastrous results and psychological problems of the child.

In a word, watch your children's weight, walk more in the fresh air, play sports and contact specialists in a timely manner!