Adult mistakes that cause malnutrition in children

Dr. Nguyen Trong Hung, Deputy Head of the Department of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, National Institute of Nutrition, said that malnutrition is common in infants and children of breastfeeding age. There are many causes as follows:

Mother does not know how to breastfeed

This is the leading cause of malnutrition in children. "Many mothers are afraid that their breasts will be uneven, so they often breastfeed their children alternately between the two sides. In fact, the first milk is very thin when breastfeeding, and the last milk is thick, providing the most micronutrients in breast milk," the doctor said. When babies breastfeed alternately between the two sides, they will only receive the thin first milk, leading to not receiving enough nutrients.

In addition, many mothers often lie down to breastfeed. This position does not produce much milk, making the baby hungry. Doctor Hung notes that mothers need to let their babies suckle one side dry before switching sides to take advantage of this precious source of milk. At the same time, the more the baby suckles, the more milk is stimulated to secrete.

Mom doesn't know how to cook porridge for baby

When cooking porridge for their children, mothers often pay attention to the amount of protein and forget about other ingredients, especially the amount of fat. In fact, fat is a very important group of nutrients, playing a major role in providing energy for children, helping to form adipose tissue that regulates body temperature, and providing fat to help the absorption of important vitamins in the body.

"Many people are afraid that adding oil or fat to porridge when cooking will cause children to have stomach aches or become obese. However, only adults need to worry about lipid disorders, children are in the development stage so they really need these ingredients," Dr. Hung emphasized. "When cooking porridge for their children, mothers should add 1-2 tablespoons of oil or fat, you can add both vegetable oil and animal fat at the same time or eat them in between meals."

In addition, because of being busy, many mothers often cook a pot of porridge and feed their children all day, this habit is very harmful. Porridge left all day is at risk of food safety, and is also boring, making children become more anorexic. It is best for mothers to prepare 2-3 meals of porridge/powder every day with different types of food, not repeating.

Mother feeds her child processed food

Also because of being busy, many mothers buy nutritious porridge and food from outside. This is not recommended because this porridge does not provide enough essential nutrients for children. Eating it continuously will cause children to be malnourished.

According to Dr. Hung, to ensure adequate nutrition, children's food needs to contain four nutritional groups, including starch (rice, noodles, corn, potatoes...), protein from meat, fish, shrimp, crab..., fat from cooking oil which is essential for brain development, and finally vitamins and minerals from vegetables and fruits to provide energy for the body. Mothers should cook these things at home, which is better and safer.

Mother only feeds the child water, not solid food.

Dr. Hung said that the protein in meat, fish, shrimp... still exists in the meat residue. Vitamins C, E, A, iron, zinc... in vegetables also only dissolve in water in very small amounts. Therefore, if children only eat the broth without eating the food, they will lack protein and vitamins, leading to malnutrition and anemia. At the same time, children will be constipated due to lack of fiber. In addition, mixing porridge, flour or rice with broth makes children feel easy to swallow, but over time, children will form the habit of being lazy to chew, or holding food in their mouths, leading to loss of appetite. Therefore, mothers should grind, grind or chop all foods for children to ensure adequate nutrition.

According to Dr. Nguyen Trong Hung, mothers should feed their children adequately according to their age needs under the guidance and advice of a nutritionist, and at the same time increase their physical activities. When children are seen to be stunted and showing signs of malnutrition, they should go to the hospital early for a plan to combat malnutrition.