Is Your Toddler Overeating?

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Here’s something you never thought you would worry about: Is your toddler overeating? You’re happy to be blessed with a perfect little toddler. A chubby vision of cuteness, whose cheeks everyone likes to pinch. When it comes to eating, unlike your friends’ fussy children, your toddler eats happily, does not push away her plate or turn her face away.

However, at play dates and at the park, you notice that she is considerably larger than other children of her age. She doesn’t seem to run and play with the same mobility as other children.

Now you begin to be concerned, is your toddler eating too much? Is she overweight? And, why is it so important at this point, when she is still a baby? Well, obesity in childhood is a factor of later obesity, leading to heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Before you panic about your toddler overeating, use an online calculator to figure out her BMI. Your paediatrician will compare her BMI to that of other children in her age group, and only if she is much, much heavier, say about 85 percent more, you need to worry about your toddler eating too much.

TRY OUT OUR ONLINE BMI CALCULATOR TO FIGURE OUT YOUR TODDLER'S BMI

Here are some ways to deal with a toddler overeating:

Don’t put her on a diet: Your toddler is too young to be deprived of the nutrients she gets from meals. Don’t significantly reduce her portions, cut down her meals or give her low fat versions, especially milk.

Cut out unhealthy foods: Take stock of her diet. Is it sugary? If she drinks juices, give her fresh fruit too, as they contain only natural sugar. Avoid sweet breakfast cereals, artificial baby foods, packet chips, and sweet snacks.

Serve healthy food: Try filling soups, home cooked grains, boiled and sautéed veggies, and grilled meats; this will prevent your toddler overeating. Present her plate creatively, so that the home-cooked food will be appealing as the packaged stuff.

Give her the right number of meals: Your toddler’s stomach is small, so doctors recommend 3 meals with 2 snacks. Your toddler should eat at the table. As you’re concerned about your toddler overeating, don’t encourage her to snack throughout the day.

Let her stop when she’s full: This helps in preventing your toddler from eating too much, as she knows her appetite. Parents are obsessed with making children 'clear their plates' or 'waste nothing' and it ends up with the toddler eating too much.

Don’t give her supplements: Don’t force her to have cord liver oil, malt tonics, waterbury’s compound or other preparations to make her 'healthy'. These things contribute to weight gain, so only give her what the doctor recommends.

Switch off the TV: TV contributes directly to childhood obesity. Your toddler won’t get the exercise she needs to be healthy. Also, many of us snack while watching TV. Hence, your toddler eating too much while watching TV is a real concern.

Be careful about her body image: If your toddler is a young girl, you have to be sensitive. Don’t talk in about your toddler overeating in her presence, don’t restrain her from snacking by talking about how she will gain weight; rather emphasise on how she needs to eat healthy.