Gone are the days where a chubby kid was termed to be healthy. We were all once brought up with the notion that a kid was healthy and was of the right growth for his/her age if they are chubby. On the contrary, a lean child was thought to be sick or ill.
We are now in the time wherein the child’s growth is tracked with Growth Parameters. These parameters are the weight, height, head circumference, and now with the inclusion of BMI. I wasn’t aware of any instances where my parent or my pediatrician mentioned BMI. But yes, today it is also one of the growth parameters. Welcome to the world of Millennial parenting.
The worry about growth parameters doesn’t start when your kid starts eating by self, but when you conceive. The ideal weight for the fetus, the length of the thigh bone, and the head circumference for each week is already there on the charts, anything less than that is something of a worry that your doctor lets you know.
The concept of structured meals is not only when the kid is out but starts from when they’re inside you. An ideal weight gain is a parameter that is fixed for pregnant mothers and her diet varies whether or not she is providing enough for the fetus. So, a healthy baby comes from a healthy mom.
Growth parameters and structured meals for kids in India are interconnected. Structured meals or proper meal planning must begin when you start solids. This not only helps the kid achieve the right growth parameters but also brings in a good eating discipline. Failing here in the first step slowly molds a fussy eater or a picky eater.
The child achieving the age-appropriate milestones also quite has a dependency on the growth parameters. Nowadays, visits to the doctor involve a mandatory graph plot against the WHO standards and a question on the milestone being attained age-appropriate.
This not only happens during the doctor visits but also since information is now available on our hands all the time, you also check instantly by making a google search or making it much easier you even have apps to plot them for you and give you a comparison report. The Grow Right Tracker from PediaSure is one such option. Just enter the data and download the report. It helps you identify the gaps and plan ways to ensure your kids #GrowRight. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? If you still have questions you can take the report along whenever you visit your child’s doctor. It reduces stress for the mothers. Try it now!
Talking about information available to us, imagine the kids, their exposure to media, peers, and the influence that can have on their eating habits. Healthy eating through properly structured meals must be practiced right from a young age. Providing kids with healthier options in a tastier and much appetizing way sure will make an impact on their food habits. By structured meal plan, I would like to stress upon planning their meal in such a way that it has all the nutrients in a right, balanced way.
But if you still do have a picky eater, don’t worry you could supplement their eating and make them achieve the right growth parameters.
Post eight months a child should have a meal pattern which should comprise three proper meals and two snacks in between them. A snack should be something wholesome and made at home. Say fruit bowl, popsicles, multigrain, or dry fruit-based snack which is all the more, healthy.
Also, make sure you observe the patterns and intervene if you see any distractions or deviations. No mood swings, tantrums during mealtime. Most importantly no gadgets or bribing with sweets to finish a meal.
Right from birth or even before that is when the body gets into rapid growth mode, both physically and mentally so make sure that the child gets what he/she needs necessarily from the beginning. Like I mentioned above your picky eater could also have proper growth with a supplement. A supplement that offers proper growth, immunity, and brain development. PediaSure could be your adequate nutrition provider supplement that helps merge the nutritional gaps of your fussy eater. Along with nutrition you also get to keep track of your child’s growth and achieve the necessary parameters.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not reflect the views of any brand. Any omissions or errors at the author’s end does not assume any liability or responsibility on any party mentioned in the blog.
That Madras Mom 
Yes giving them healthy food and making sure they are getting their daily dose of exercise is important. But having a growth tracker allows us to be knowledgeable about their development.
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Proper nutrition alongwith physical activities goes a long way. Having PediaSure completes the daily nutritional needs and tracker helps to keep a check.
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I’ve always believed in giving structured meals to my boy, right from his toddlerhood and it is very much related to a child’s eating habits. We too use this growth tracker.
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Pediasure has been a part of my children’s nutritional plan for a long time and I am a satisfied mother. Thanks for sharing about the growth tracker. It will really benefit a lot of parents.
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There’s no alternative to healthy food. However with Pediasure it becomes easier to be assured that our kids are growing well for their age. I like the growth tracker.
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frequent munching is one common cause of reduced appetite for main meals. tracking our child growth gives a good insight into the child’s nutritional status.
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Oh yes we have to check on kids overall development. Some kids today are so obese while some are too lean. Right nutrition does help.
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Yes physical appearance is no longer the right way to track growth
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This is quite a detailed post on growth parameters and structured meals, I loved reading it. I agree, gone are the days when chubby kids were considered healthy, parents are more aware of the growth and development of their little ones and also know how to measure it properly.
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Yes Kavita and I hope the message reaches many parents
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Very well written post. I too use Pediasure’s growth tracker to measure my son’s growth
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Thank you
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Having a good balanced diet is so important for growth. This article is so good in explaining that. I do not have kids but I know it is important to track the growth in kids.
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I will also send this article to my friends who have small kids and I am sure this will help them in balancing out the diets for their kids. Thanks for this article.
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Thank you Raksha. You’re too kind 😀
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Growth tracker gives you. the understanding of the nutritional requirement of your child and gives you the comfort of designing the diet of your child accordingly. Loved your post.
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Pediasure is a trusted brand and I have seen many parents raving about it. You have explained it nicely about growth parameters.
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Structured meals are important for the proper development of kids. It is needed to stop their junk intake and also too much munching in between meals. Increasing fruits, raw vegetables, sprouts is another way to introduce kids to a healthy lifestyle.
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Pediasure growth tacker is really important for kids. This is such a greatinitiative by PediaSure! My sister is using this tracker and she is quiet happy.
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This is such a detailed post on growing children. A growing child needs constant monitoring. And weight can’t define sound health.
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I am a mom of 5 years old and to be true a true advocate of Pediasure. I found the less the junk the more the growth and truly rely on fruits and veggies a lot. Pediasure is one of the brand which is present in my house since last 3 years and have observed the difference with my own eyes. Really a nice post
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I totally agree that Nutrition and physical activities are equally important for the right growth of every child. Even we are using growth tracker.
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I worry more for my daughter, as she is fussy eater whereas my son is foodie. I have start giving her pediasure.
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This is such an eye opening post! I love Pediasure for my kids. They both are fussy eaters and I am stressed as hell for both of them.
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I guess a food and development track is important for growing kids. Food, activities and mental growth are very important for today’s kids ..
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Measuring growth parameters is so crucial these days, as most kids enjoy junk food over healthy options. Thanks to Pediasure, help is available for parents to track their children’s growth.
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It is very vital to note growth parameters of a child and with right parameters we can do track it in correct manner.
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It is crucial to plan a structured meal especially for a child during his early growth year and a perfect indicator is with this tracker. I too am tracking my child’s growth with this
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A growth tracker is definitely needed, other than ensuring nutritious food and right amount of physical activity.
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Right nutrition clubbed with physical exercise is very important specially for the kids and Pediasure is an additional booster for them.
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Tracking the growth is important. Ensuring that the kids are on track is critical too. We adopt trackers at so many points in our lives, and one to track a child’s growth seems like something that could come really handy. Very informative post.
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For a picky eater its really difficult to get proper nutrition through foods only. So they need extra care and Pediasure can take that extra care
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