How to deal with obesity in children and adolescents, the possible consequences of gaining excess weight. Obesity in children The child is gaining excess weight

But when from extra pounds If a child is getting rid of something, you should be extremely careful so as not to injure the baby who is suffering due to his deficiency.

Here are ten things to avoid if your child is overweight:

Look for someone to blame

Obesity in children has many causes, some of which are quite difficult to control. There is no point in wringing your hands and blaming yourself, food producers or doctors.

You just need identify the problem and solve it: visit specialists with your child, get tested and teach the whole family to eat properly and exercise regularly.

Ignore the problem

If you doubt that your child is overweight, try calculating his body mass index yourself or go for a consultation at the Children's Health Center.

This will allow you to determine how serious the problem is and immediately get specialist advice.

Create forbidden fruit

Banning products outright can backfire. Most likely, your child will begin to provoke conflicts over food and look for favorite treats on the way from school. And he will definitely feel guilty.

You need to show the baby personal healthy example and explain in a simple way what sweets and chips do to the health of adults and children. Kids understand much more than adults think - provided that they communicate with them on equal terms.

Encourage a sedentary lifestyle

If you decide to fight your child’s excess weight, you will have to forget about passive leisure yourself.

Parents usually cannot get enough of it if a chubby-cheeked baby has a good appetite and quickly gains weight. IN primary school the completeness is not noticeable, so here too the problem goes unnoticed. Over time, it begins to worsen, but even then many adults convince themselves and those around them that the child will outgrow, stretch out, and mature.

As a result, in 50% of cases it ends in obesity with all the accompanying complications and a lot of internal complexes that teenagers suffer from. Therefore, it is so important to notice excess weight in a timely manner and, no matter what age, even a slight deviation from the norm is observed, to take appropriate measures.

The essence of the problem

IN Lately the scientific community is seriously concerned about the problem childhood obesity, which has swept the world. Against this background, much less attention is paid to excess body weight. Firstly, this is still not a disease, so complications are not so scary. Secondly, chubby babies cause affection. Thirdly, for some reason it is believed that obesity disappears by itself with age.

In fact, excess weight in a child is a problem no less pressing than obesity. To understand this, just look at the statistics in a comparative context:

• In Russia, among teenage girls, obesity was diagnosed in 1.6%, overweight - in 7.7%. Among teenage boys, 2.5% and 11.2%, respectively.
• In Europe, about 10% of children suffer from obesity, and at least 20% suffer from excess weight.
• In the USA these figures are 15% and 30%, respectively.

These data allow us to conclude that the problem of overweight children is even more acute than obesity. And it needs to be solved as quickly as possible so as not to lead to a disease that is difficult to treat and entails dangerous consequences for health (you can read about this in more detail).

Where to begin

Step 1 - determine your child's excess weight

This is to ensure two things. The first is that the problem is not far-fetched, and fatness is not caused by the width of the bones and the type of figure, but by excess weight. Second, it’s too early to talk about obesity.

There are two ways to do this. If you are under 6 years old, use special tables of height and weight ratios for the appropriate age.

For girls:

For boys:

After 5 years, you can use Quetelet’s formula for: weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters. If the result is between 25 and 30, the child is overweight, if above 30, the child is already obese.

Step 2 - track the dynamics

The sooner you start doing this, the more accurate the results will be. After you have discovered the problem, track the dynamics of your body weight and height. If BMI does not change for 2-3 months, most likely the cause of excess weight is individual characteristics body. Try reducing your daily caloric intake by 100-200 kcal. If the situation remains the same, contact an endocrinologist or nutritionist.

If the BMI continues to increase, this means that the child is gaining excess weight and there is a risk of soon falling into the category I degree of obesity. In this case, you need to immediately take measures: adjust your diet, start playing sports, register with an endocrinologist.

If BMI decreases, perhaps a temporary increase in body weight was due to some single factor: stress, puberty, illness. After they pass and the weight returns to normal.

By tracking the dynamics, you can understand whether the excess weight will go away as the child grows up without additional measures. If BMI increases - no, if it stays the same - both options are possible, if it decreases - yes (in 95% of cases).

Step 3 - see a specialist

Despite the fact that excess weight is not a disease like obesity, it is still a pathology that must be eliminated in order to avoid dangerous consequences. Therefore, you need to know which doctor to contact with this problem. The best option- see an endocrinologist. If this is not possible, go to a therapist (pediatrician), who will already redirect you where you should go. Most likely, you will need consultations with more specialized specialists: a gastroenterologist, geneticist, gynecologist, nutritionist.

Causes

The doctor will first try to determine what is the cause of excess weight. We’ll have to honestly tell him about all the nuances of nutrition, motor activity and family lifestyle, otherwise the recommended measures may be ineffective.

All causes of excess weight in children can be divided into several groups. Study them carefully and choose those that are relevant to your child.

Physiological:

• puberty: raging hormones control the behavior and appetite of a teenager;
• maternal smoking during pregnancy, diagnosing her diabetes mellitus;
• birth of a baby weighing more than 3.5 kg;
• premature birth;
• disturbances in the functioning of the endocrine system;
• artificial feeding;
• early puberty;
• heredity;
• slow metabolism (we talk about its role in weight loss);
• brain pathologies: traumatic brain injuries, hemoblastosis, tumors;
• diabetes;
• congenital diseases of the liver, gastrointestinal tract, pancreas;
• various genetic syndromes (Down, Itsenko-Cushing, fragile X chromosome and others).

Psychological:

• stress;
• low self-esteem, internal complexes;
• bullying;
• gadget addiction;
• parental settings;
• dysfunctional atmosphere in the family;
• addiction to sweets and fast food;
• feelings of guilt (this is typical for those whose parents are divorcing);
• spoiled: parents cannot deny their child anything, so he eats what he wants, when he wants;
• incorrect life priorities, when food occupies one of the main places and is the main source of pleasure - this usually happens when there are no hobbies, hobbies, or interests;
• imitation by parents: even if you introduce your child to a healthy lifestyle without adhering to it yourself, all your efforts will go down the drain.

Lifestyle:

• physical inactivity: lessons - TV - computer, lack of walks and sports in this chain leads to excess weight gain;
• unhealthy diet: lack of a schedule, passion for unhealthy foods, overeating;
• bad habits: teenage girls who drink alcohol and smoke are 2 times more likely to suffer from excess body weight than those who lead a healthy lifestyle;
• lack of sleep.

Social:

• communication with friends suffering from excess weight and obesity;
• the desire not to stand out from the crowd: no one eats in the school cafeteria - and I won’t, everyone went to the stand for hot dogs - and I’ll eat too;
• imposition of social stereotypes (model appearance): girls, in pursuit of slimness, sit on clothes, thereby earning a bunch of diseases leading to metabolic disorders, eating disorders and weight gain.

If you suspect that excess weight is due to physiological reasons, it is better to consult a doctor immediately. If the problem is psychological and social problems, parents cannot always cope with them on their own - they will help family consultations from a psychologist. But introducing a healthy lifestyle will have to be taken entirely upon yourself.

Age characteristics

Parents whose child is overweight need to know the features of this pathology for each age period.

At the breast

You can track excess weight in a child under one year old using the table:

The main causes of excess weight in infants are prenatal factors (smoking and maternal illnesses during pregnancy, congenital pathologies, prematurity), as well as artificial nutrition. If this problem occurs, you should consult your pediatrician and undergo necessary examinations and adjust nutrition with mixtures.

1-3 years

The main reason for excess body weight at this age is an incorrect transition from breast (artificial) feeding to a regular diet. There are two possible scenarios here: either the child was introduced to the adult menu too quickly, or he was kept on pureed dishes for a long time. Both lead to disruption of the gastrointestinal tract and metabolism, which contributes to weight gain.

At about 2 years old, children discover sweets and can no longer refuse Kinder surprises, chocolate bars, beautiful packaging, glazed baked goods. This increases appetite and promotes fat storage. The later you become acquainted with these hazards, the less likely you will be to be in the risk group.

4-6 years

At this age, the percentage of children with excess body weight drops sharply compared to the previous period. This is due to visiting a kindergarten, which has a well-established diet. Experts monitor its balance and the absence of harmful products. Therefore, the only ones who are to blame for a preschooler’s excess weight are the parents who do not provide him with a full dinner and continue to allow sweets and snacks.

During this period, psychological prerequisites may also arise: a preschooler may experience stress due to the divorce of his parents or the birth of another baby in the family (he experiences feelings of jealousy and uselessness).

7-10 years

7 years is a critical age when a child starts school. He may experience stress due to being in an unusual environment, rejection in class, or conflict with the teacher. This is the main reason for gaining excess weight in primary school. As a rule, by the age of 10, tension subsides and body weight returns to normal.

This period is very important. If parents send their child to the sports section and talk to the physical education teacher, the problem will be solved within 6-7 months. If this moment is missed, it can develop into obesity.

At the age of 9 you can already talk about forecasts for the future. If the problem goes away, it may return in the future only during puberty. If it remains, it is necessary to urgently correct the situation, and not hope that everything will return to normal with age.

11-16 years old

There are many provoking factors here.

Firstly, hormones. 12 years is the peak of excess weight in girls, associated with the onset of puberty; in boys it occurs at 13 years. But, according to doctors, if a teenager has no diseases at this point, he eats properly and plays sports, no deviations from the norm in body weight are noted.

Secondly, social reasons. The opinion of peers is important to a teenager, so he, along with everyone else, refuses to eat in the school canteen, gets addicted to fast food, starts smoking and drinking, girls are constantly on diets. This requires confidential conversations with parents and, possibly, consultations with a psychologist.

Thirdly, the psychological discomfort that almost all teenagers experience forces them to switch to food as the only source of pleasure. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to captivate them with something, provide a favorable atmosphere, and help in solving problems that arise.

Nutrition

The main task of parents of overweight children is to normalize nutrition. A recent study conducted in Russia discovered a shocking fact: more than 80% of schoolchildren eat only 2 times a day (breakfast and dinner), which does not fit into any norms. And it is this error that should be corrected first.

Diet

Pay attention to how your children eat breakfast. Those who study during the first shift eat a sandwich on the run, wash it down with coffee or tea and, being late, run off to class. Those who have classes during the second shift wake up too late, and the first meal is at 9-10 o'clock. All this goes against. Breakfast should be complete, carbohydrate-rich: porridge with milk with nuts and fruits, yoghurt, muesli, cereal, and if there are sandwiches, then not with sausage, but with lettuce, tomatoes and a piece of boiled meat. In terms of time, it must be organized before 8.00 am, regardless of the shift.

Most middle and high school students refuse to eat in the cafeteria. They either don’t eat at all or snack on buns, soda, or chocolates. All these carbohydrates go straight to fat reserves. Parents and teachers should work among teenagers, convincing them of the need for hot, nutritious lunches. Without them, it will be impossible to cope with excess weight.

The situation with dinner is better than with breakfast and lunch. As surveys have shown, most families have a tradition of getting together at the table in the evening. However, there are some nuances here too:

• most often family dinners are held too late, although they should be held at most at 19.00;
• they should not be plentiful, fatty and carbohydrates - they need proteins first of all;
• Do not allow your child to overeat at dinner, eat sweets and drink soda.

Don’t forget that a full meal includes lunch and an afternoon snack. To do this, you can give your child an apple and dried fruits with you to school, so that he eats them during recess, which occurs at approximately 11.00. You can remind him of this via SMS. After school, around 16.00, you can offer a milk-fruit shake or yogurt.

With children of kindergarten and younger school age in this regard it is simpler. IN kindergarten and in elementary schools they are voluntarily and forcibly forced to eat by the hour.

Serving sizes

Excess weight a child’s nutrition is directly related to how much he eats. Parents will need to calculate its daily caloric intake over the course of several weeks, the norm of which is:

If a child is overweight, these indicators can be reduced by 200-300 kcal, but at the same time ensure that the diet remains balanced and the body does not feel a lack of energy for physical and mental activity.

Product Set

Lists of healthy and unhealthy foods are familiar to all parents. But how can you deny your baby sweets? How not to buy a Kinder on the way home? How to convince a teenager that fast food and soda are real poison at his age?

Firstly, the same rigor is needed here as in education. You scold him for unlearned lessons or scattered things; there are some impermissible prohibitions, the violation of which is punishable. In the same way, you need to accustom yourself to culture. proper nutrition.

Secondly, enter into a kind of agreement with the child - this method is universal, as it works for any age. This “agreement” should contain useful and harmful products. In contrast to the unwanted ones, you can indicate that sometimes you can enjoy them. For example, 1 pack of chips, 1-2 ice cream, a couple of kinders a week and once a month - fast food. Such rare indulgences will not pose any danger, but at the same time it will be imprinted in the child’s consciousness that everything is allowed, just not as often as before.

Authorized products:

• kefir, milk, cottage cheese, cheese;
• egg;
• chicken, turkey, beef, pork;
• vegetables, fruits, herbs, berries;
• cereals;
• butter and vegetable oil;
• bread: up to 3 years - white, then gradually introduce rye into the diet;
• Sweets can include honey (if there is no allergy), marshmallows, marshmallows, jam, marmalade, kozinaki, halva, candied fruits (dark chocolate is only allowed after 10 years, as it contains too much caffeine);
• weak black tea, freshly squeezed juices, milk drinks.

Undesirable products:

• carbonated, energy drinks, coffee, green tea;
• mushrooms (only after 10 years and then in limited quantities and after careful heat treatment);
• smoked meats;
• fast food;
• snacks;
• mayonnaise, ketchup, store-bought sauces, mustard;
• sausages, frankfurters, sausages (only after 10 years and in limited quantities);
• lamb, duck, goose;
• canned food;
• candies, milk chocolate, kinders, cakes, donuts, ice cream, pure sugar and other sweets;
• spices, seasonings (possible, but in limited quantities).

Seafood, red fish, citrus fruits, and nuts should be introduced into the diet as late as possible and monitor the child’s body’s reaction to them.

Nutritional balance

Often the cause of excess weight is an unbalanced diet. Due to the addiction to sweets and fast food, there is a large bias towards carbohydrates and fats. Proteins, so necessary for the normal development of the child’s body, most often remain at a loss. Therefore, parents will also have to figure out in what quantities the main nutrients should be present in the menu.

Daily requirement of children (per 1 kg of body weight):

Parents often wonder if there is a separate diet for an overweight child. Until it comes to obesity, experts do not advise putting children on a limited diet. Just take into account the above points (balance, grocery lists, daily caloric intake, regimen) - this will be enough to correct the situation.

Recipes

For overweight children, you can choose dietary recipes that successfully combine low calorie content with a balance of essential nutrients.

Breakfast: millet

Place washed millet (50 g) in 200 ml of boiling water and cook for a quarter of an hour. Add 100 ml of boiling milk and boil. Place the chopped apple and 5 g of butter on a plate.

First thing for lunch: bean soup

Pour 50 g of beans, previously soaked in water, into 300 ml of boiling meat broth. Cook for half an hour over low heat. Add 50 g of peeled and randomly chopped vegetables: potatoes, carrots and onions. Cook for another quarter of an hour. Add a little salt. Pour chopped parsley into a plate.

Second for lunch: vitamin salad

Wash 50 g of cabbage leaves, pour boiling water over them, cut into small strips, add salt, and squeeze with your hands. Add 1 grated apple. Sprinkle with sugar, season olive oil.

Dinner: boiled flounder

Boil flounder fillet (150 g) in salted water until tender. Water on top lemon juice and olive oil, garnish green peas and chopped parsley.

Physical exercise

In addition to proper nutrition, sports will help your child fight excess weight. Thanks to him, you can lose a fair amount of kilograms. It will contribute to the normal formation of the musculoskeletal system and the building of muscle mass, which means a beautiful and slender figure. What should parents do:

• set a personal example (do exercises in the morning, run, exercise on a gym, get involved in some kind of sport);
• give preference to active types of recreation (hiking, cycling);
• enroll your child in a sports section from 4 to 8 years old;
• teach how to do morning exercises (the sooner the better);
• involve in morning jogging, starting from 12-13 years old;
• buy a minimum set for home training: a jump rope, dumbbells, a wall bars, an inexpensive exercise machine, expanders;
• engage in seasonal sports: in summer - swimming, tennis, football; in winter - skiing, skating, hockey, etc.

To ensure that your child enjoys playing sports, encourage him, be proud of his achievements, and praise him for his victories.

Excess weight in childhood- is not yet such a terrible problem as obesity, but this does not mean that when it is detected you need to be inactive. This is a chance that you can still fix everything and not lead to serious and dangerous consequences for health. Parents will have to work hard, but the effort is worth it.

Mothers of babies often proudly tell friends and relatives how well the baby is gaining weight after birth - pediatricians look at special tables and rejoice at the introduction of complementary foods on time, from children's advertisements touching babies with plump pink cheeks and with arms in constrictions look at us.

Meanwhile, the problem of excess weight is a real threat to a child’s health. How to determine the moment when it is time to stop being touched and face the truth? At what age should you worry about counting calories and what to do if it is already obvious that lack of action - on the part of parents, of course, in the first place - will very quickly crush your beloved little person with an unchildlike burden of illnesses? How to protect your child from possible problems in relationships with peers?

What do the statistics say?

The situation is not very happy - statistics show that every sixth child on the planet aged 2 to 19 years has some amount of excess weight, which can and definitely needs to be done something about. And the same statistics claim that the majority of mothers and fathers refuse to understand and accept the scale of the problem, even if information about the child’s excess weight is presented to them in open text: only 23% of parents immediately agree to help their offspring, while the rest prefer to pretend that there is no problem at all.

Many parents tend to feel guilty when it becomes clear that their child needs help: society places responsibility for excess weight on them. But it is obvious, and research confirms this, that the matter is often in the specific developmental characteristics of the child himself, his metabolism and eating habits, which are sometimes very difficult for parents to influence. In any case, you need to start by identifying excess weight as a fact.

How can you tell if your child is overweight?

To begin with, it makes sense to consult the same children's tables of weight and age - it is better to take those used by WHO, they have a very wide “range” of norms, tied to a certain age up to adolescence. If the child falls within the standard - even at its upper limit - then there is no need to worry too much, but if you are worried about being overweight, it makes sense to limit some foods and increase sports activities - more on that below.

If the weight exceeds the permissible norms, it is worth talking about the presence of one degree or another of obesity - and then the solution to the problem definitely should not be put on the back burner. Of course, the most reasonable thing would be to first contact a pediatrician, and then a nutritionist. Based on their recommendations, it will be clear what to do next.

What will a competent doctor do?

The right specialist will be able to accurately determine how serious the existing problem is and whether it exists at all - he will calculate the child’s body mass index, compare it with the existing table, carefully study the history of the child’s development and growth, evaluate family history and information about the physique of ancestors.

Only after this will a verdict be received about whether there is a problem with excess weight, how serious the situation is and what, in fact, to do about it. Perhaps, to clarify the full picture, the doctor will write out referrals to other specialized specialists to clarify unclear issues. If, despite the fact that the child is very ahead of his peers in weight and height, his development does not raise any doubts, he will, with a clear conscience, send the whole family to grow up in health and further.

What are the dangers of being overweight?

Excess kilograms are not only aesthetic problems and possible difficulties in communication with peers, for example, in active games. This is also a series possible complications with health. Let's list the most common ones.

Type 2 diabetes

This is a chronic disease associated with a failure in the processing of sugar - glucose. One of the most simple ways earn it in early age- obesity and sedentary lifestyle.

Metabolic syndrome

This is a complex of physiological problems that dramatically increase the possibility of developing cardiovascular diseases and ailments associated with metabolic disorders.

High cholesterol

Cholesterol impairs blood flow by creating plaque in the arteries. This can cause heart attacks and strokes in the indefinite future.

Asthma

The reason here is not entirely clear, but the relationship is clearly established: overweight children are at risk of developing asthma without other apparent causes. Immediately after eliminating the problem of excess weight, the threat of asthma, as a rule, disappears.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

The disease is dangerous because the accumulation of fat in the liver is asymptomatic - neither the parents, nor especially the child himself, even have time to notice that the situation is close in its picture to classic cirrhosis of the liver - then acting is much more difficult than trying to prevent the disease.

Why do children become overweight?

There is no clear answer. The situation is more or less clear when both parents and children are overweight - then we can talk about unhealthy family eating habits, a love of fast food and inattention to physical activity. Genetic predisposition can also be included in the overall picture.

But it also happens that a child of fit and slender parents is clearly overweight, other children are fine, slim and healthy, and one of the children is clearly with problems. Recognizing the difficulties in establishing clear and distinct boundaries and causes of excess weight, doctors speak with more or less caution about the following factors.

Unbalanced diet

In other words, the same ill-fated fast food, constant snacking on the go, and an addiction to factory-made sweets (including drinks, including, by the way, fruit juice, which is actively sold under the guise of “healthy and natural”).

Lack of movement

Everything here is obvious and simple: how much energy comes in, so much should be spent. Lack of physical activity very quickly leads to an increase in extra pounds and centimeters.

Psychological factors

Children, just like adults, often become obsessed with real or imagined problems. “Sweetening” your gray or boring and dull life is a sure way to earn more more problems, and they will certainly be completely real.

Socio-economic factors

The lack of funds in the family budget, unfortunately, sharply limits access to fresh vegetables and fruits and vitamins, but forces parents to buy the cheapest - and often the lowest quality - sweets in order to somehow please the baby.

What to do if your child is overweight?

It is best to take as a basis the list of actions that will be recommended specific child specialist after a full examination and study of all the reasons. If there are no other indications and contraindications that require special correction, the following actions may be taken.

Do not give your child sugary drinks - we are talking about carbonated factory-made sweet waters and fruit “juices”. It is best to switch to freshly squeezed juices without sugar, fruit drinks and compotes.

Try to feed your child as many vegetables and fruits as possible - be prepared that it will take some time to adapt to new eating habits.

Try to have lunch or dinner with the whole family at least once a day - at this time, remove gadgets from sight, turn off the TV and enjoy not only food, but also full communication with each other.

Limit the number of snacks - and carefully monitor the implementation of this rule. Children sometimes turn out to be much more inventive than we think.

Find a suitable type of physical activity for the whole family - dancing or swimming, for example, are perfect for those who do not want to engage in serious sports.

Obesity in children and adolescents is a serious problem that has not lost its relevance for many years. In most cases, excess weight in a child occurs due to the fault of the parents. Poor nutrition and a passive lifestyle are the two main reasons that provoke the pathological condition.

It is important to take timely measures to correct the current situation. In children, the problem of obesity causes not only an aesthetic complex, but also pathologies internal organs. Modern combination treatment will help bring the child’s weight back to normal, but for a long time it will be necessary to observe certain preventive measures. There is a high probability of a return to the previous state.

The most common causes of obesity in children are poor nutrition and a sedentary lifestyle.

What is obesity and why does it occur in children and adolescents?

Obesity is a chronic pathology accompanied by disruption of metabolic processes in the body, resulting in increased accumulation of adipose tissue. Excess body weight leads to impaired functioning gastrointestinal tract, heart, endocrine gland and other internal organs.

The main growth of subcutaneous tissue occurs in the first year of life. By the age of five, these processes should be completely stabilized. Doctors identify several critical periods when the likelihood of obesity is highest:

• from 0 to 3 years;
• from 5 to 7 years;
• from 12 to 17 years.

There are many factors that provoke the pathological condition, the most common of which is poor nutrition. Many parents do not see anything wrong with the fact that their child eats a lot of sweets, baked goods, fast food and often drinks carbonated drinks.

Excessive consumption of the above foods inevitably leads to the accumulation of extra pounds, since the body receives more nutrients than required. Other causes of childhood obesity include:

• Genetic factor. Scientists say that in families where one of the parents is obese, the risk of the child inheriting this pathology is 40%. If both parents have the disease, the probability increases to 80%.
• Physical inactivity is a sedentary lifestyle or its complete absence, long pastime at the computer/TV. Many children copy the behavior pattern of parents who spend their leisure time incorrectly.
• Hormonal imbalances. Chronic diseases often provoke the development of obesity. This is especially true for pathologies of the endocrine glands (in particular, the thyroid gland), and childhood hypothyroidism.
• Itsenko-Cushing syndrome (hyperinsulinism). Characterized by high production of corticosteroid hormones that affect insulin levels. The glucose level in the blood decreases, and appetite, on the contrary, increases. Children with this syndrome suffer from obesity and are short in stature.
• Body weight more than 4 kilograms at birth.
• Pathologies that cause pituitary dysfunction (traumatic brain injury, inflammatory processes/brain tumors, surgery) (we recommend reading:).
• Down syndrome.
• Adipose-genital dystrophy.
• Constant psycho-emotional stress - depression, problems communicating with peers and parents, serious psychological trauma.

Extra pounds sometimes happen when healthy way life, in this case the cause of the problem should be determined by the attending physician through a thorough examination of the child

Symptoms and degrees of obesity

The clinical picture of the pathology directly depends on the age of the child. As a rule, for each age group characterized by distinctive features that gradually become more pronounced. Symptoms of obesity in children are shown in the table:

Age	Symptoms
Preschool	body weight exceeds the norm; gastrointestinal problems (frequent constipation, dysbacteriosis); severe allergic reactions.
Junior school	overweight (we recommend reading:); increased sweating; the figure changes (fat folds appear on the stomach, thighs, arms, buttocks); surges in blood pressure.
Teenage	all of the above symptoms intensify; in girls, the menstrual cycle is disrupted; dizziness; constant headaches; fast fatiguability; swelling of the legs and arms; aching joint pain; depression, depressed state; deliberate refusal to communicate with peers.

Overweight children of high school age often experience psychological discomfort

In addition to physiological problems, adolescents who suffer from obesity develop psychological ones. They are ashamed of their appearance, many guys hear rude words from their peers because of their excess weight, so they consciously stop communicating with friends. Such children require not only special treatment, but also psychological help.

The disease has 4 degrees of severity. The classification is based on the height and weight indicators of the WHO norm. Degrees of obesity in accordance with deviations from the norm:

• Grade 1 – excess body weight is 15–20%. Visually, the child seems well-fed; parents ignore this condition, as they consider slight obesity to be a sign of an excellent appetite.
• 2nd degree - the deviation of the actual weight increases to 25–50%. The initial manifestations of the disease appear. Pathologies of internal organs develop, light physical activity causes shortness of breath. The child develops a depressive state.
• Grade 3 – the percentage of excess body weight is 50–100%. The state of health worsens, causeless headaches and joint pain appear. The first symptoms of diabetes are observed (we recommend reading:). The child is constantly depressed and refuses to communicate with peers.
• Grade 4 – real weight is 2 times higher than normal.

Table of norms for weight and height of children under 17 years of age

In addition to classification by degree and type, obesity in children can be determined using the table. It presents WHO analytical data on height and body weight standards for children from 1 to 17 years of age. Please note that the rates are different for girls and boys. This is due to certain physiological characteristics.

Age	Normal range for girls		Normal range for boys
	Weight, kg	Height, cm	Weight, kg	Height, cm
1 year	9, 3 – 11, 8	74 – 80	10, 1 – 12, 7	76 – 83
1 year 6 months	10, 4 – 12, 6	78 – 84	10, 5 – 12, 9	78 – 85
1 year 9 months	10, 8 – 13, 5	80 – 87	11, 8 – 14, 3	83 – 88
2 years	10, 9 – 14, 15	82 – 90	11, 8 – 14, 3	85 – 92
2 years 6 months	12, 3 – 15, 6	87 – 95	12, 6 – 15, 3	88 – 96
3 years	13, 3 – 16, 1	91 – 99	13, 2- 16, 7	92 – 99
4 years	13, 8 – 18, 0	95 – 106	14, 9 – 19, 3	98 – 108
5 years	16, 0 – 20, 7	104 – 114	16, 6 – 22, 7	105 – 116
6 years	18, 2 – 24, 5	111 – 120	18, 7 – 25, 1	111 – 121
7 years	20, 5 – 28, 5	113 – 117	20, 6 – 29, 4	118 – 129
8 years (we recommend reading:)	22, 5 – 32, 3	124 – 134	23, 2 – 32, 6	124 – 135
9 years	25, 1 – 36, 9	128- 140	24, 7 – 36, 5	129 – 141
10 years	27, 9 – 40, 5	134 – 147	28, 5 – 39, 0	135 – 147
11 years	30, 4 – 44, 5	138 – 152	29, – 42, 1	138 – 149
12 years	36, 5 – 51, 5	146 – 160	33, 8 – 48, 6	143 – 158
13 years	40, 4 – 56, 6	151 – 163	40, 6 – 57, 1	149 – 165
14 years	44, 6 – 58, 5	154 – 167	43, 8 – 58, 5	155 – 170
15 years	47, 0 – 62, 3	156 – 167	47, 9 – 64, 8	159 – 175
16 years	48, 8 – 62, 6	157 – 167	54, 5 – 69, 9	168 – 179
17 years	49, 2 – 63, 5	158 – 168	58, 0 – 75, 5	170 – 180

How dangerous is the disease?

Overweight negatively affects all internal organ systems. Late treatment of childhood obesity leads to serious consequences in the future.

Even if the pathology is completely eliminated or there is a positive dynamics of its course, complications may arise that significantly impair the quality of life:

• gastrointestinal diseases (cholelithiasis, fences, cholecystitis);
• high blood pressure;
• high probability of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus;
• cardiovascular pathologies (atherosclerosis, ischemic disease, stroke, angina);
• sleep disturbance (apnea, snoring);
• infertility;
• weak immunity;
• frequent colds;
• neuritis;
• oncological formations;
• anomalies of the musculoskeletal system (changes in gait/posture, flat feet, scoliosis, arthritis, osteoporosis);
• fatty liver depletion (cause of cirrhosis);
• psychological problems;
• failures menstrual cycle for girls, for men reproductive organs not fully developed;
• social isolation.

Very often, excess weight causes the development of diabetes.

Diagnosis of pathology

To identify childhood obesity, you should initially contact your pediatrician. The specialist conducts a survey regarding the child’s lifestyle and dietary habits. After which a series of examinations are prescribed:

• anthropometry – measurement of body weight and height, waist circumference, hip circumference, BMI;
• indicators of the thickness of the skin tissue in relation to the fat fold are recorded;
• to establish the cause of the pathological condition, consultations with highly specialized specialists (nutritionist, endocrinologist, neurologist, geneticist, psychologist, cardiologist, gynecologist, otolaryngologist) are required;
• blood chemistry;
• hormone analysis;
• Magnetic resonance imaging;
• electroencephalography;
• rheoencephalography.

Complex treatment

What to do if your child is obese? There are many effective ways to fix the problem. All therapeutic methods must be used comprehensively under the strict supervision of a pediatrician.

At the right approach you can lose excess weight conservative treatment. It includes:

• taking medications;
• physical activity and massage;
• following a special diet;
• psychological help.

Diet

Diet is an integral part of the fight against childhood obesity. A nutritionist is responsible for correcting the child’s nutrition. Its main goal is to stop the growth of fat deposits and achieve the removal of already formed ones. This method of losing weight is contraindicated for children under three years of age.

The child's diet during treatment should be varied and balanced. Dishes are consumed in small portions 6–7 times a day. It is advisable that the break between meals should not be more than 3 hours.

When fighting excess weight, it is necessary to minimize your child’s intake of fast carbohydrates.

• bread with bran – 100-160 g;
• low-fat dairy products(cottage cheese, kefir) – 200–250 g;
• lean meats and fish – 170–200 g;
• vegetable soups with a small addition of potatoes – 220 g;
• water porridge from barley, buckwheat and millet – 220 g;
• fresh vegetables and fruits are not limited in consumption;
• tea, freshly squeezed juices, compote.

This diet provides several daily menu plans. The offered dishes fully provide the body with the necessary substances. See the table for one of the daily menu options:

Eating	Time	Menu option for the day
1 breakfast	8:00	buckwheat/millet porridge with water; unsweetened tea; apple.
2 breakfast	11:00	boiled egg; a fresh vegetable salad; rosehip decoction.
Dinner	13:00	cabbage soup/vegetable soup; stewed cabbage with boiled meat or fish; dried fruits compote.
Afternoon snack	16:00	cottage cheese; kefir.
Dinner	19:00	boiled fish; vegetable salad with vegetable oil.
Before bedtime	21:00	kefir

Your child’s menu should include a lot of fresh vegetables.

To prevent the child from feeling hungry, it is allowed to give fruits and fresh vegetables between meals. What foods should be removed from your daily diet:

• semi-finished products;
• carbonated drinks;
• fried, fatty, spicy foods;
• cocoa, coffee;
• bakery, wheat products (pasta is allowed to be consumed once a week);
• spices;
• grapes, bananas;
• semolina;
• sweets;
• potato.

Physical activity and massage

Treatment of the disease must necessarily include daily physical activity. It is recommended that young children go for walks more often; it is advisable to replace stroller walks with walking ones. Try to play outdoor games with your kids, if possible, provide them with various sports attributes (wall bars, roller skates, bicycles, scooters, etc.)

Sports should be present in a child’s life every day.

At the age of 4–5 years you can already attend sport sections and a swimming pool. Light physical activity (running, skating, gymnastics, volleyball, wrestling, etc.) helps strengthen the body's protective functions and has a beneficial effect on the process of losing weight.

Additionally, consult with a qualified trainer to prescribe a course of exercise therapy. The specialist will draw up an individual training plan, taking into account the general state of health and the degree of pathology.

Massage - no less effective way combat obesity, but it is contraindicated for children with heart disease. The procedure must be performed by a doctor. Positive effects of massage:

• reduction of fatty tissue;
• restoration of metabolism;
• stimulation of blood circulation;
• normalization of muscle tone;
• improving the functioning of the musculoskeletal system.

Surgical methods

Surgery in the treatment of childhood obesity is performed only in extreme cases - when other methods of therapy have proven ineffective or the pathological condition poses a real threat to life.

Surgical methods are improved every year. There are currently a large number of various types operations (about 40), which help eliminate pathology and correct appearance.