Support Children’s Healthy Growth

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Workshop Presentation

Support Children’s Healthy Growth

This presentation is intended for trainers to provide detailed information about

supporting children’s healthy growth and preventing overweight.

The project was supported by the National Research Initiative of the USDA National Research Initiative Grant # 2006-55215-16726

Objectives

Learner will be able to: – Describe the prevalence of childhood overweight.– Identify the causes of childhood overweight.– Describe ways to prevent childhood overweight

and support children’s healthy weight.– Recognize the role of active play in supporting

children’s healthy growth.

What’s Everyone Talking About?

• As of 2004, 66.3% of adults 20 years and older are overweight.

• 32.2% are considered obese.

Overweight and Obesity

Adults Aren’t The Only Ones

• Being Overweight is a growing trend both for adults and children.

Prevalence of Childhood Overweight

• Increased from 5% to 13.9% for children aged 2-5 years the past 30 years.

Why a concern?

• Low self-esteem

Why a concern?

• Health Complications

Diabetes

Why a concern?

• Health Complications

Heart Disease

Why a concern?

• Health Complications

Orthopedic Problems

Why a concern?

• Health Complications

Sleep Problems

Why a concern?

• Obese children are more likely to be obese adults

Causes of Childhood Overweight?

Genetics

Environment

Causes of Childhood Overweight?

Genetics

Environment

Causes of Childhood Overweight?

Environment

Identifying childhood overweight

?

How can you tell?

• The Body Mass Index, or BMI, is a measure of how proportionate a person’s weight is to their height.

Calculating BMI

• Weight (lb) / [height (in)]2 x 703

Interpreting Children’s BMI

• BMI is also the measure of choice for children over 2 BUT must be interpreted with care!

Interpreting Children’s BMI

• Children’s BMIs change with age so that what is normal for a 6-year-old is quite different than for a 12-year-old.

• See www.cdc.gov/growthcharts for more information.

Example: 95th Percentile Tracking Age BMI

2 yrs 19.3 4 yrs 17.8 9 yrs 21.013 yrs 25.1

For Children, BMI Changes with Age

Boys: 2 to 20 years

BMI BMI

BMI BMI

BMI-for-Age Cutoffs

> 95th percentile Overweight

85th to < 95th Percentile Risk of overweight

< 5th percentile Underweight

Supporting a healthy weight is important…what can we do?

Children’s Healthy Weight

Ideally, all children would to be at a healthy weight.

BUT preventing weight gain is a great goal.

An achievable goal for children is to lead a healthy life regardless of their weight.

Supporting Children’s Healthy Weight

• Support breastfeeding in your child care setting!

Supporting Children’s Healthy Weight

• Encourage the introduction of solid foods at approximately 6 months!

Supporting Children’s Healthy Weight

• Offer children small portions!

Supporting Children’s Healthy Weight

• No TV at mealtimes!

More ways to prevent overweight and support a healthy weight

• Visit: http://www.cals.uidaho.edu/mealtimeandactiveplay/ for information on feeding strategies

Active Play

• Being physical active is critical to supporting children’s healthy weight!

• Visit http://www.cals.uidaho.edu/mealtimeandactiveplay

Treatment and Partnership

• Treatment is prescribed by the child’s physician

• Critical to partner: you, parent, and the child’s physician!

Questions?