What To Do When You Are Concerned With Your Child's Weight
As your child grows, he or she will gain weight and increase in height, but if your child appears to be extremely overweight to you, it might be a topic of concern you should discuss with your pediatrician. Many children today are overweight, and a large number of kids even fall into the category of being obese. Obesity is something you should take seriously, and here are several things you may want to talk to the doctor about.
How overweight your child is
Each time you bring your child to the doctor, they will weigh and measure your child. They will then place this data into your child's file, and they are likely to show you growth charts. These growth charts will often reveal a weight issue with a child, and your pediatric doctors can help you understand how severe the problem is. If your child is only overweight by a few pounds, the doctor is likely to tell you not to worry about it. If the child is severely overweight, the doctor will probably talk with you about their personal level of risk and ideas to help your child to lose weight.
The health and emotional risks this can cause
Being overweight at any age presents risks to the individual, and for kids there are health risks and emotional risks. One of the health risks of obesity is heart problems. Being overweight is very hard on a person's heart, and this can lead to all kinds of other health problems.
In addition, kids will often experience emotional issues from being overweight, and this is often a result of how other kids treat them and act towards them at school. Kids can be very mean, and they may tease and ridicule your child simply because he or she is overweight. This can be devastating to kids, and can lead to a variety of different problems, such as depression and anxiety.
What you can do about it
The doctor might recommend trying two things at first to see if this helps. The first is encouraging your child to exercise more, and this could involve joining a sport or just playing outside more often. The second thing might be changing the child's diet. To do this, you may need to get rid of all the junk food you have in your home and replace it with healthy, low-fat foods.
If making these changes does not work, the doctor might test the child for health issues. There are health disorders that can cause kids to be overweight, and treating the conditions might help resolve the problem.
As a parent, it's important to discuss all or your child's health concerns with their pediatrician. If you have questions or concerns about your child, schedule a visit with a pediatrician today.