How can I help my overweight child?
The Weight Control Information Network (WIN)
Information and tips for parents.
Basic Tips
Encourage healthy eating habits
Discourage inactive pasttimes
Be a positive role model
Rules and Tools To Protect Kids From Obesity
Childhood obesity prevention during pregnancy
Basic Tips
Involve the whole family in building healthy eating and physical activity habits. This benefits everyone and does not single out the child who is overweight.
Do not put your child on a weight-loss diet unless your health care provider tells you to. If children do not eat enough, they may not grow and learn as well as they should.
Tell your child that he or she is loved, special and important. Children’s feelings about themselves are often based on how they think their parents feel about them.
Accept your child at any weight. Children are more likely to accept and feel good about themselves when their parents accept them.
Listen to your child’s concerns about his or her weight. Overweight children probably know better than anyone else that they have a weight problem. They need support, understanding and encouragement from parents.
Encourage healthy eating habits
Buy and serve more fruits and vegetables (fresh, frozen, canned or dried). Let your child choose them at the store.
Buy fewer soft drinks and high-fat or high-calorie snakc foods like chips, cookies and candy. These snacks may be okay once in awhile, but always keep healthy snack foods on hand. Offer the healthy snacks more often at snack time.
Make sure your child eats breakfast every day. Breakfast may provide your child with the energy he or she needs to listen and learn in school. Skipping breakfast can leave your child hungry, tired and looking for less healthy foods later in the day.
Eat fast food less often. When you do visit a fast food restaurant, encourage your family to choose the healthier options, such as salads with low-fat dressing or small sandwiches without cheese or mayonnaise.
Offer your child water or low-fat milk more often than fruit juice. Low-fat milk and milk products are important for your child’s development. One hundred percent fruit juice is a healthy choice but is high in calories.
Limit the amount of saturated and trans fats in your family’s diet. Instead, obtain most of your fat from sources such as fish, vegetable oils, nuts and seeds.
Plan healthy meals together as a family. Eating together at meal time helps children to enjoy a variety of foods.
Do not get discouraged if your child will not eat a new food the first time it is served. Some kids will need to have a new food served to them 10 times or more before they will eat it.
Try not to use food as a reward when encouraging kids to eat. Promising dessert to a child for eating vegetables, for example, sends the message that vegetables are less valuable than dessert. Kids learn to dislike foods they think are less valuable.
Start with small servings and let your child ask for more if he or she is still hungry. It is up to you to provide your child with healthy meals and snacks, but your child should be allowed to choose how much food he or she will eat.
Be aware that some high-fat or high-sugar foods and beverages may be strongly marketed to kids. Usually these products are associated with cartoon characters, offer free toys and come in bright packages. Talk with your child about the importance of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and other healthy foods-even if these foods are not often advertised on TV or in stores.
Discourage inactive pastimes
Set limits on the amount of time your family spends watching TV, playing video games and being on the computer.
Help your child find fun things to do besides watching TV like acting out favorite books or stories or doing a family art project. Your child may find that creative play is more interesting than TV.
Encourage your child to get up and move during commercials and discourage snacking when the TV is on.
Children are good learners and they often mimic what they see. Choose healthy foods and active pastimes for yourself. Your children will learn to follow healthy habits that last a lifetime.
You may want to think about a weight control treatment program if:
You have changed your family’s eating and physical activity habits and your child has not reached a healthy weight.
Your health care provider has told you that your child’s health or emotional wellness is at risk because of his or her weight. The overall goal of a treatment program should be to help your whole family adopt healthy eating and physical activity habits that you can keep up for the rest of your lives. Here are some other things a weight-control program should do:
Include a variety of health care professionals, including doctors, registered dietitians, physicatrists or psychologists and exercise physiologists
Evaluate your child's weight, growth and health before enrolling him or her in the program. The program should also monitor these factors while your child is enrolled.
Adapt to the specific age and abilities of your child. Programs for 4-year olds should be different from those for 12-year olds.
Help your family keep up healthy eating and physical activity behaviors after the program ends.
Rules and Tools To Protect Kids From Obesity
The Do's and Don'ts of Childhood obesity prevention during pregnancy
Do
• Have cut-up fruit in the refrigerator. Wash and drain spinach leaves for an easy-to-make salad.
• Have almonds and whole-grain bread in your cupboard. You’re more likely to eat better, and later your children will too, if your home is set up to make eating healthy easy.
• The amount of recommended weight gain depends upon your initial body mass index or BMI. For the average weight woman (BMI 19.8–26.0), about one pound per week during the 2nd and 3rd trimesters — or a total of about 25–35 pounds is suggested. If carrying twins, slightly larger weight gain is expected.
• Drink at least 32 ounces of water.
• Fill up on fiber by eating whole-grain breads and cereals, as well as dried beans, legumes and nuts.
• Eat every 3 to 4 hours. This will maintain your blood sugar level, you’ll have more energy throughout the day, and you’ll be less likely to binge.
• Eat sweets and fats every once in a while. You’ve seen what happens when you try to deny yourself that candy bar — you end up eating three instead of the one you wanted in the first place. Treat yourself to low-fat frozen yogurt instead of ice cream. Instead of eating the entire candy bar, eat half of it. Choose baked chips instead of regular chips.
• Get early and regular prenatal health care. In addition to taking good care of yourself during pregnancy, this is a period when you have a little time to consider what things you want to emphasize when you have your own children, in order for them to grow up as healthy as they can. This can include decisions about breastfeeding, getting immunizations and general child rearing.
• Walking during and after pregnancy is a great way to limit the effects of eating “for two” and will also counter the tendency to cut down on your normal active lifestyle during and after pregnancy.
Don't
• Neglect your healthy lifestyle and other habits. Routine daily exercise, adequate sleep, stress-avoidance and parenting education are all helpful when considering pregnancy. If you smoke, you will never find a more important time or reason to quit.
• Avoid sex if you feel like it. Check with your OB if you have any questions.
• Use drugs and alcohol if you are pregnant, or are planning pregnancy. The investment you put into your own health and well-being will pay dividends not only to you, but also to your child.