Healthy weight for your toddler.

PROMOTING A HEALTHY WEIGHT FOR YOUR BABY WHAT REALLY CAN BE DONE?

TODDLER– A young child who has begun to walk, play, laugh, and discover the world’s wonders. It is the biggest gift of nature to the parents experiencing their normal baby growth and development. But at the same time, parents do have concerns about how to make their child look healthy. Similarly, social pressure and so many public opinions make them confused about what to do or not. This article will make parents understand well how to nurture their toddler into a happy, healthy, and thriving individual without taking parental pressure from society.

WHO IS A TODDLER?

A toddler is a child whose age is approximately around 1-3 years old. However, the age group may vary in other definitions of a toddler. They are babies who have started developing memories, playing games, participating in activities, laughing, smiling, and enjoying. Their mood can change in a blink of an eye and they are everywhere in the house. One cannot imagine the energy they are having and yes, they are never tired and never want to go to bed. These little hands and feet are a mere blessing one can ever have in life.

IS THERE ANY STANDARD TODDLER’S WEIGHT?

Parents usually seem to get worried regarding their toddler’s weight and growth, especially the new parents in town who are subjected to so much advice regarding how to increase their toddler’s weight.

That’s the turning point!

This means parents need to understand in which category their kid’s health is lying, and do they even need to worry about something like that or if they are just skeptical and under pressure from society.

All toddlers have their physical structure and nature of the body, and every baby responds differently. Some toddlers are overweight, and some are underweight but if both are equally active and energetic, it means they both are healthy in their way and there is no need to compare them.

So, there is no standard weight to measure your child’s health. Parents need not to worry about their toddler’s weight if they are eating well and are active.

SIGNIFICANCE OF MAINTAINING HEALTHY Toddler’s WEIGHT: –

The growth of young kids is extremely rapid. Each day, week or year that goes by, you will feel that your child is growing bigger and bigger. At this stage of growth, healthy weight for children implies fitness, confidence, and activeness. Well-fed kids enhance their health status by controlling their weights through encouraging them to eat well and staying active. This will be beneficial to the individual in future as they will acquire knowledge faster, become smarter and stay healthier. It determines what children are going to be like both physically and mentally in the future depending on what parents feed them with during this time. Therefore, it is important to eat properly to maintain a healthy body size

HOW TO CACULATE TODDLER’s weight: –

Use BMI: Body mass index to measure body fat, it uses body weight and body height to determine exactly how much of it a person has. To determine the BMI of your child, weigh him/her and record the height.

Kids may fall into one of four categories,

UNDERWEIGHT	BMI below 5 %
NORMAL WEIGHT	BMI at 5 and below 85%
OVERWEIGHT	BMI at 85 and below 95%
OBESE	BMI greater than 95%

It is a good indicator to determine your child’s current health scenario but not a standard one.

HEALTHY WEIGHT GAIN: –

Some toddlers are picky eaters. They do not fulfill their appetite due to any medical issue. This can also occur as side effect of medicine. Such kids are usually underweight. They struggle to gain weight easily. Maintaining a healthy diet for such kids is important. Parents should consider adding all food groups into their meals.

Following are foods one can add to their kid’s diet for healthy weight gain

Proteins	Fats & oils	Carbs	Fruits and vegetables	Dairy	Beverages
Red meat	Ghee	Rice	Apple	Full-fat yogurt	Smoothies blended with full-fat butter, coconut milk, or nut butter
Chicken	Butter	Corn	Bananas	Buttermilk	Protein shakes prepared from protein and chocolate milk powders.
Soy proteins (tofu, soy milk)	Canola oil	Potatoes	Root vegetables	Whole milk	Hot cocoa made with whole milk
Fish (tuna, salmon, trout)	Olive oil	Pasta	Figs	Fresh cream
Eggs	Salad dressings	Oats	Squash	Cream cheese
Nuts (almonds, walnuts, cashew nuts)		Sweet potatoes	Dried fruits such as raisins, cranberries, apricots, and currants	Sour cream

Use fresh ingredients when making your toddler’s food. Refrain from giving cold liquids, energy drinks or soda. Be sure to provide them meals which contain many calories and nutrients. It is good to build the habit of not skipping meals.

USEFUL TIPS FOR HEALTHY WEIGHT IN TODDLERS: –

HEALTHY DIET: –

The parents should encourage the children to consume more of apples and carrots. These foods contain lots of fiber and nutrients. To state it simply, children who intake vegetables and fruits reportedly do feel full, making them less likely to eat junk food.

WATCH PORTION SIZES: –

Understanding your toddlers’ portion size is important which should depend upon their weight, height, and metabolism. As some children are happy eating 3 big meals and some do better with smaller meals, like eating in chunks throughout the day. Find out what is best for your kid.

GET THEM INVOLVED IN TASKS: –

Get your little one moving! Take them for strolls or play fun games together. This keeps kids healthy and helps burn off extra energy. They will have a blast while staying active.

LESS SCREEN TIME: –

Nowadays parents feel easy to give their smaller one’s gadgets to make them engage in something not messy. But this will not only damage their cognitive ability but also affect their health. So, limit their screen time and make them busy with healthy activities.

SKIP THE SUGARY DRINKS: –

Artificial-flavored juices, drinks, sweets, and tea have little nutritional value. They can only cause weight gain in your kids because they have high sugar content. So, let them drink water, electrolytes, fresh juices, coconut juices milk, etc.