Vietnamese mothers' mistakes that make their children short

A series of daily mistakes of mothers in choosing time and nutrition are the reasons why their children cannot grow tall.

Associate Professor, Dr. Le Danh Tuyen, Director of the National Institute of Nutrition, advises parents to change their thinking and "take care of their children to compensate".

"This is a completely wrong concept that exists among many parents, especially in young families who are too busy to take care of their children from an early age. Meanwhile, the "golden window" period of the first 1,000 days of life plays a decisive role in height and brain development," Associate Professor Tuyen emphasized.

There is no formula that helps children grow taller.

According to Associate Professor Tuyen, in the first 1,000 days of life (from pregnancy to 2 years old), formula milk should not be used.

No formula milk can help children grow taller.

Consider milk as a calcium-rich food like chicken eggs, duck eggs... that can be used for children after the first 1,000 golden days of life. "Up to now, there has been no serious scientific research in the world confirming that any type of milk other than breast milk plays a role in height growth," Associate Professor Tuyen emphasized.

He recommends that mothers breastfeed their babies for at least the first 6 months of life. In reality, there are still many mothers who believe that their milk is not as good as formula milk and prefer foreign milk...

Wrong weaning method

Weaning too early or too late can affect a child's development. According to the World Health Organization, the best time to start weaning is when a child is 6 months old.

“The idea of ​​giving children complementary foods early to make them stronger from the third month onwards is completely wrong. This not only wastes breast milk but also easily causes digestive disorders leading to malnutrition,” Associate Professor Tuyen analyzed.

On the contrary, when supplementary feeding is given late, breast milk is not enough to meet the needs and the child will gain weight slowly.

Weaning at the wrong time and in the wrong way can limit a child's development.

Because breast milk after 6 months cannot meet the increasing nutritional needs of children, it is necessary to give them additional foods. At this time, in addition to breastfeeding, children need to eat 1-2 more meals of rice cereal per day.

The Director of the Institute of Nutrition advised mothers that when feeding their children solid foods, they should give up the habit of chewing rice and then feeding it to their children, which is both unhygienic and a source of disease transmission to children.

Another common mistake is that many mothers believe that meat juice and bone broth are nutritious enough and that they do not need to eat the solids. In fact, these types of juice do not contain protein.

Or some families do not let their children eat fish, crab, shrimp, eggs... because they are afraid that their children will be allergic to the food, afraid of the fishy taste... This can easily make children lose their appetite, and at the same time create biased eating habits that are difficult to change later.

Taking care of sick children the wrong way

Child care before, during and after illness is very important, not only helping children recover quickly but also helping to increase resistance.

Children with fever and diarrhea need more nutrients and energy than usual, while some mothers have the misconception that their children must abstain from fat, only eat flour and sugar, not breastfeed or eat green vegetables... for fear of having more diarrhea.

Another mistake is that children have fever and dehydration but are not given rehydration or Oresol; children are forced to diet...

After illness, children need to eat more to recover their health. Unbalanced meals can easily cause malnutrition.

Overeating

Children's supplementary meals must ensure adequate essential nutrients, meet needs, and be balanced to help children develop well.

If the diet is too high in protein, it will make the immature digestive system work hard, easily causing digestive disorders, causing loose stools, diarrhea...

According to Zing