Assessment of Nutrition in Children

Assessment of Nutrition in Children

The well-being of children depends entirely on the environment as well as their nutritional health. Undoubtedly, the developmental milestone relies largely on the accessibility to safe and healthy nutrition (Ball et al., 2019). Children from impoverished backgrounds have disproportionate disparities in the quality of their health. Most often, these children experience undernutrition due to a lack of access to adequate food (Duncanson et al., 2021). Undernutrition in children is a health issue of concern as it predisposes those affected to other comorbidities.

In this study, a case of a 7-year-old severely underweight Hispanic child has been selected. A breakdown of the health issue and risk will be explored. Information for further assessment of the case will be gathered and sets of questions asked to provide more insight into the case studied. Finally, health promotion strategies will be suggested to the parents of the child to help improve his health for future well-being.

Health Issues and Risks for the Assigned Child

The case represents a health issue of underweight which is likely to emanate from undernutrition. Even though the child remains an incredible case for this study, the mother whom she spent the longest time with is also predisposed to the issue of underweight (Kofinti et al., 2021). The premise may lead to an abstract conclusion that the nutrition status of the child was attributed to poor feeding habits from the mother. While this assertion remains unclear, one may hypothesize the underweight condition of the child arises from low appetite, underlying medical condition, and increased need for energy required to achieve optimal growth and development (Claudia et al., 2019). Family factor may also result in underweight especially when the child is left to feed alone, lack of adequate meals, and poor food selection that fails to provide sufficient nutrients for growth.

Additional Information needed for further Assessment of the Child

Supplementary data are required to further assess and develop a diagnosis for the case study. The information needed includes the activity pattern of the child and their parents to ascertain the extent of risk. The social and economic status of the parents will also provide insights about how the child can access healthy and sufficient nutritious food to address the health issue (Ball et al., 2019). However, a health professional will acquire additional information about the family history, food-seeking behavior, and information about the perception of birth parents on underweight (Kubota et al., 2021). Besides, screening of the child and parents should be undertaken to gather information on the predisposition of the family to health conditions that may result in underweight.

The genetic background of this family could be a trigger to underweight to the child. The mother could be predisposed to a health condition that might be transmitted to the child and this could have contributed to underweight (Keats et al., 2021). However, it suffices to say that the sexual development of the child might have contributed to poor weight gain considering that undernutrition in children may arise due to nutrient deprivation.

Further Information needed to gain a full understanding of the Child’s Health

Health providers need to ascertain the health of the child by gathering sufficient data on the diet of the patient. Further information about food consumption includes 24-hour food recall, feeding patterns, mealtime locations, and cultural aspects of food selection (Kofinti et al., 2021). However, data on social behavior during food consumption would be needed to ascertain social exclusion, parenting techniques, and bullying during meal times that can affect overall meal consumption (Kubota et al., 2021). Nonetheless, data on underlying health issues for the case study are required to address the case of underweight amicably.

Three Specific Questions to be asked

1. What can you describe your feeding habits to be on a daily basis?
2. How do you consider the weight of your daughter compared to other children of the same age?
3. Has your child been diagnosed with any underlying health issue in the last six months?

Strategies Employed to encourage parents/caregivers to promote Child’s Health

Health improvement initiatives for the case study focus on improving nutrient intake to encourage weight gain for th