Poor Weight Gain
Parents’ concerns about their children’s slow development in height and weight are commonplace. Many even wonder about their children’s poor appetite, despite providing them with tasty, nutritious foods at home.
Underlying causes range from inadequate nourishment, food intolerance, frequent illnesses, worms and eating disorders to mental illnesses. Moreover, some children suffer from frequent stomach pains, bloating, vomiting after consuming certain foods that contain wheat, proteins, milk, etc. – indicating food sensitivity.
Timely medical intervention, however, can speed up the growth of the child, prevent complications later during puberty and ward off other deficiencies, namely, anaemia and weak bones. With proper nourishment, the child’s concentration and poor memory can be markedly improved
Poor Weight Gain – Causes
- Inadequate food intake: the child shows reduced food intake, resulting in the following inadequacies:
- low iron
- low vitamins
- low proteins
- low calcium
- Failure to assimilate or inability to absorb and retain nutrients, due to two main reasons:
- food intolerance
- gluten sensitivity; wheat or proteins causing stomach sickness
- lactose intolerance; unable to tolerate milk and milk products such as curd, cheese or milk in any other form
- medical reasons
- worm infestations
- frequent illnesses such as diarrhoea, fever and respiratory allergies
- food allergies due to colours and preservatives in the food
- thyroid dysfunction
- tuberculosis
- genetic diseases, such as Down’s syndrome and inborn error of metabolism
- premature or preterm babies
- certain medications that can interfere with the absorption of food
- type 1 diabetes
- heart diseases
- Psychological and behavioural problems:
- mood swings
- mood disorders
- risky behaviour
- stubborn, obstinate children throwing temper tantrums
- difficult child
- disobedient, angry and irritable children
Poor Weight Gain – Symptoms
Following are the signs and symptoms of poor weight gain in children:
- The child’s weight is stagnant for more than three months.
- There is no height increase for more than six months, except in the older age group.
- The child is easily fatigued, sometimes experiencing fainting spells and dizziness.
- The child catches infections easily or is constantly ill.
- The child has a problem of absentmindedness and low concentration.
- The child has eating as well as mood disorders and displays rigidness, irritability, irrational fears and worries, making them prone to risky or troubled behaviour.
Reasons behind poor weight gain in children are as follows:
- Parents have inadequate knowledge about the daily food requirement according to the age of the child.
- Eating amidst distractions, such as the TV or a quarrel in the house.
- Forceful feeding, such as punishing the child physically or verbally for not eating food.
- The child is made to eat in a hurry.
- No encouragement is given to eat healthy food.
- Lot of family outings involve eating junk and fast foods.
- Parents are either too strict or too yielding to the demands of their children.
- Children have unhealthy eating patterns.
Poor Weight Gain – Diagnosis
- height and weight records
- details of the child’s growth milestones as well as the mother’s pregnancy history to identify developmental delay
- identifying underlying medical illnesses, behavioural issues and environmental triggers at home or school
- nutritional intake and eating patterns of the child
- specialised blood test and scans (i.e., X-ray or USG), if needed
Complications
Ignoring poor weight gain can lead to the following complications:
- nutritional deficiencies
- anaemia, bone pains, brittle bones, rickets, osteoporosis
- extreme dryness of skin and early hair loss
- low immunity
- growth retardation
- delayed puberty – underweight boys and girls fail to develop secondary sexual characters, with inhibited periods in girls
- problems in concentrating, learning and memory
- cardiac problems, in severe cases
Poor Weight Gain – Treatment
According to a study conducted in Cuba, 84% children treated with homeopathy attained normal weight, whereas only 30% attained normal weight with placebo.
Studies and clinical trials have shown effective results of homeopathy treating children having food sensitivity and intolerance.
Various case studies estimated the benefits of homeopathy in correcting absorption disorders, thereby treating poor weight gain in children.
Conventional treatment | Possible outcome | Advantages of homeopathy |
Supplements | Overdose may interfere with food absorption | No overdose and homeopathic tonics to enhance food absorption |
Anti-helminthics (medicine for worms) | Worm infestations might recur | Homeopathic medicines help reduce and eliminate the tendency of having worms |
Antibiotics for repeated infections | Diarrhoea and loss of appetite may interfere with food absorption | No side-effects; improves the immunity and decreases the tendency of infections |
Counselling for behavioural problems | It helps, but it is slow and tedious | Calming medicines in homeopathy help calm the child emotionally without any side-effects |