What are the symptoms of children failing to keep up with their nutrition?

The most typical manifestations of children's failure to keep up with nutrition include growth retardation, reduced resistance, and abnormal mental and cognitive status. However, what is easily overlooked by parents is that not only thin children are undernourished, but many overweight children may also suffer from "hidden malnutrition."

I encountered such an example last week at the children's nutrition clinic. 5-year-old Hao Hao Dun can eat two large bowls. Braised pork and fried chicken legs are his favorites. Everyone who sees his chubby body praises him for being well-raised. As a result, his mother is extremely worried. She said that she has only grown 0.8 centimeters in height in the past six months. He catches a cold every month. After checking his trace elements and dietary assessment, he found that his high-quality protein, vitamins A, D, and zinc were far below the recommended intake. He was a typical patient with excess energy but insufficient key nutrients. To put it bluntly, he "ate a lot, but not the right foods."

The first clear signal is actually the change in the growth curve. Many parents have the habit of regularly measuring the height and weight of their children, but most of them will only compare it with "other people's babies". In fact, what is more reliable is to compare it with the baby's own previous growth trajectory. If it has been stable in a certain percentile range before, and then shows a significant decline for 2-3 consecutive months, or even drops two percentile ranges, excluding the factor of illness, it is basically that the nutritional supply cannot keep up with the growth consumption, especially for babies who have just added complementary foods, or for school-age children who have suddenly become more physically active recently. This situation is easy to happen. Don't always hold on to the luck of "late growth". If you really wait until you are far behind your peers to make up for it, it will be too late.

In addition to slow growth rate, there are other signs that will be taken as "baby is born with a weak constitution". For example, if there is a cross-infection in kindergarten, he will be infected. Others will recover from a cold in three to five days, but he will have to wait ten and a half months. He also suffers from recurring oral ulcers and angular mouth inflammation. His hair feels dry and yellow, and it falls off when combed. Some babies even have white spots and barbs on their nails. Most of these are related to insufficient intake of zinc, B vitamins, and high-quality protein. Previously, there was a 7-year-old boy who kept complaining about knee pain. His parents took calcium supplements for three months, but to no avail. Later, he adjusted his diet and added an egg and a carton of milk every day, and ate more dark green vegetables. Within two weeks, he stopped complaining of pain. In fact, he was not deficient in calcium, but in vitamin C and protein. The soft tissue repair could not keep up with his daily running and jumping consumption, which was why he always had pain.

There are also some more subtle signs that will be regarded as "baby disobedience". For example, a child who was quite active before has suddenly become wilted recently. He gets tired after playing for a while, can't sit still in class, and his attention is always distracted. The teacher reports that he is often in a daze, and some children even develop pica, such as chewing walls and eating paper. Don't scold the child for being playful and ignorant. First, check whether he is iron deficient. Anemia induced by long-term iron deficiency will not only make the child mentally poor, but will also affect cognitive development over time, and the damage to IQ is irreversible.

Nowadays, the industry has been popularizing the problem of hidden malnutrition. In the past, everyone always thought that "thin means poor nutrition, and fat means well-nourished." In fact, according to clinical data in recent years, nearly 30% of overweight children have varying degrees of nutrient deficiencies, and most of them are It is because you eat too many empty-calorie foods that are high in sugar and oil, eat too much polished rice and white noodles, and eat too little meat, eggs, milk, and fresh fruits and vegetables. You may see your weight gain quickly, but you may not get enough of the key nutrients needed for growth, immunity, and cognitive development. This situation is harder to detect and more harmful.

In fact, you don’t need to be so anxious when raising a baby. You should pay more attention to it. Don’t just focus on how much the baby eats and whether he has gained weight. Occasionally, touch your hair to see if it is dry and see how much it has grown during this period. If you are really unsure, find a nutritionist to evaluate the dietary structure. It is much more reliable than buying supplements at home.