5 cooking principles to help children overcome malnutrition
Malnutrition is the main cause of increased mortality in children under 5 years old. The disease also causes children to have diarrhea, prolonged respiratory diseases leading to poor eating, mental and physical decline.
Therefore, mothers need to supplement valuable nutrients in each of their children's meals. Below are 5 cooking principles to help malnourished children gain weight quickly, mothers should pay attention.
1. Increase nutrition
Increasing nutrients is the advice nutrition experts give to mothers when their children are malnourished. Children's food needs to be diverse and rich, the more nutrients the better. Depending on the age of the child, mothers should choose appropriate foods so that the children can absorb them most easily.
It is best to chop, mash, cook until soft and season to suit your baby's taste. Malnourished children should especially eat more eggs, minced meat, minced fish and chopped vegetables.
2. Add fat to your baby's food
Each bowl of food for your baby needs 1 to 2 tablespoons of oil or fat. Oil or fat provides twice the energy of starch and protein, helping your baby easily absorb vitamins such as vitamin E and vitamin D.
3. Cook thick porridge for baby
Cook thick porridge for your baby to eat, because if you cook it thin, you may see that your baby eats more but in fact it is a lot of water, the baby does not absorb much energy. You need to cook it thick enough for your baby to eat, and change the flavors to make your baby interested when eating.
4. Eat extra meals
In addition to the main meal, mothers need to supplement their baby with a snack, about 2 hours apart from the main meal. Snacks will help the baby make up for the small main meal before, helping the baby have enough energy to be active all day. Milk, yogurt, and fruit are good foods for the baby's snack, helping the baby sleep better. Every day, mothers can feed the baby 5-6 meals instead of only 3 main meals, so the baby will eat more and have more energy, the baby will not feel bored.
5. Do not force children to eat
Vietnamese mothers often have the habit of forcing their children to eat, fearing that they will be hungry if they do not eat enough. However, let children eat at their own pace, do not force them to eat when they are full. Forcing them to eat will only make them more afraid to eat, lose their appetite, vomit, and may cause them to lose their appetite.
Above are 5 cooking principles to help malnourished children gain weight quickly that mothers should refer to and learn. When applying these 5 principles correctly and sufficiently every day, your child will definitely improve the condition of malnutrition and rickets a lot.