How do I know my child is obese?

One mother asked how I knew my baby was obese.

Dr. Noha Abu Al-Wafa, a pediatrician consultant, replies: If you are worried that the child's weight is more than normal you should visit the pediatrician, and there he will make different measurements to know whether the child is overweight or not and can compare your child's normal growth rates with the normal growth rates of children through and Develop a child's own growth chart called a child's growth chart so you need to know the child's height to know the ideal weight.

As for the causes that lead to obesity, like most chronic health problems, obesity is caused by overlaps between the influence of genes, environment, behavior or eating habits.

Many studies have shown that there is not a significant difference in the amount of food eaten by the obese child and between the physical activity he exercises and those of the non-obese child, but perhaps there is a slight difference in eating and activity all the time with genetic readiness may actually reach weight gain.

And children who are obese generally tend to eat types of foods with high calories, especially those that contain fats such as french fries, biscuits and cakes without realizing from it and his family that it contains large amounts of calories, in addition to drinks Invasive or other sweetened beverages, of which the package contains the equivalent of half a loaf of bread of calories, as well as inactivity and physical activity are very important factors, especially sitting long in front of the TV and electronic games.

Dr. Noha emphasizes that so far there are no new drugs to treat obesity to be used successfully for children and adolescents and their use carries a lot of risks that may affect the development of the child and cause serious complications and that is much more important than any benefits it may have.

The cornerstone in the treatment of obesity in children and adolescents remains is to change the child's eating habits and family habits and the best ways to treat obesity before it occurs is prevention by establishing healthy habits for the family from the beginning and we must know that maintaining a healthy weight is much easier than losing weight.

In order to get rid of excess weight in children, care should be taken care of eating vegetables and fruits, drinking water, exercising constantly and staying away from fast food, which is high in fat.