Is Your Child Overweight?

Child overweight Child overweight Is Your Child Overweight? Why do children gain too much weight? Feeding Dynamics Model of Child Overweight Q&A about Your Child's Weight with Ellyn Satter Provide, Don't Deprive, in the School Setting Child Overweight in the Community

Most of your child's size and shape is determined by heredity: the size and shape of his mother and father. You can't (and shouldn't try to) control the size and shape of body he develops. If you try to make your child thin, it can backfire and make him fatter than he might be otherwise. Some children grow up to be relatively tall and slender, others are more solid and muscular, still others are on the fat side. Any of these variations may be normal for your child. Your job as parent is to be positive and supportive with feeding, and let him grow in the way that nature intended. Most of the time, children grow normally. You can expect your child to grow at a consistent rate, following along a particular percentile curve on her growth chart. If she veers away from her usual growth pattern and quickly shifts upward across percentile curves, you need to look for reasons why. Factors in your child's environment may be upsetting her ability to grow properly. Don't assume that if your child gains weight too quickly that she overeats. It's surprising, but research shows that most children who become fat when they're older eat less when they are growing up than other children. Trying to get your child to eat even less to be thinner is not the solution. Instead, you need to help her eat the right amount for her by feeding her well and looking for what's making her grow unpredictably. To help your child eat the right amount; Maintain a Division of Responsibility in Feeding Offer a variety of foods Have structured meals and snacks Let your child be active by limiting sedentary activities Limit between- meal-times caloric beverages like juice and soda Make meals worthwhile Make sure you are feeding your child enough Offer moral support Respect eating quirks Get help with your own eating if you need it For a comprehensive set of educational materials that teach stage-related feeding and solve feeding problems, see ELLYN SATTER'S FEEDING IN PRIMARY CARE PREGNANCY THROUGH PRESCHOOL: Easy-to-Read Reproducible Masters (4th grade reading level, English and Spanish) and ELLYN SATTER'S NUTRITION AND FEEDING FOR INFANTS AND CHILDREN: Handout Masters (7th grade reading level, English only). Copyright © 2005 by Ellyn Satter. For more about feeding your child, see Ellyn Satter’s Your Child's Weight: Helping Without Harming. For permission to reproduce this handout, call (800)808-7976 or e-mail info@ellynsatter.com

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Ellyn Satter Associates
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