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It’s important to understand the changes and various developmental growth that is happening inside our children’s body. Their body knows when they need food. Perhaps we all have seen how our children masters on feeding themselves. Although they do not know exactly how much to eat but surprisingly they eat what portion they require by the body. This is why sometimes they can finish a whole apple at one go and sometimes they are done after few bites. This is because they have this control on how much to feed themselves.

Also sometimes we have seen that our kids love eating rice and after two weeks all of a sudden they don’t eat any rice. This is because their preference changes like this often and this is very common among toddlers. However, it’s very important that we feed them varieties of food with colorful mixture of vegetables, fruits and nuts etc on a regular basis.

So if you think your baby is not growing due to nutrition, we suggest you to check the height as well, not only weight. Babies attract lots of viral illnesses so their weight may tend to fluctuate.  But over time, they will usually manage to put on the required weight. So we suggest you to see the time period of 3 months, not just 1 week.

Rest assured: As long as your child is growing and gaining weight accordingly, you can be confident that your toddler is getting enough to eat. If you're concerned, ask your child's doctor to go over your child's growth chart.

Below is standard growth chart for boys and girls, provided by WHO. You can take this as a reference for your child growth.

Explanation: For example if a baby is 2.5 kg at birth and 47 cm at birth, then according to growth standard, your baby must be around 6.5 kg and 64 cm when at 6 months and around 8 kg and 72 cm when 1 years old.

 

When should you be concerned ?

If the baby is out of chart then it is an issue to be concerned. For example if earlier baby weight is 5.8 kg at the end of 1 year (against 8 kg standard), then it warrants  a complete nutritional and developmental check up.

Weight gaining foods

If your baby is indeed underweight, it’s a good idea to get him checked out by a pediatrician to rule out any medical problems. If everything is fine, then it’s basically a problem with nutrition. Below are some foods for weight gaining for children

- Dr Anu Maharjan

Pediatrician, Kanti Children Hospital