Two Strategies that would encourage the Parents to be Proactive about their Child’s Health and Weight

Two Strategies that would encourage the Parents to be Proactive about their Child’s Health and Weight

Barriers in health promotion for weight and nutritional management exist between healthcare providers and the caretakers or the parents of children. The fulltime caregivers for the child are the parents and therefore, I would enhance patient education and health maintenance through collaboration with the parents. The two strategies that I would use include proper and effective communication and nutritional recommendations.

Further, I would need to fully understand the cultural origin and eating patterns of the patient’s family. This will be achieved through nutritional assessment before applying the recommendations and strategies. Often, social stigma arises due to low weights and malnutrition among families. Sometimes parents are not willing to discuss these with their care providers. They end up holding vital information that would help the clinician to solve the nutritional issues in a cheaper and more efficient ways (Dev et al., 2017).

I would ensure open and free communication to discuss with the parents about their knowledge of under-nutrition and low weight for age, as well as the risks associated with child under-nutrition. At this time, the actual etiologies of under-nutrition for the patient are unknown and this discussion would provide the possible etiologies and therapies. I would reassure the parents on their abilities and role in maintaining an adequate weight and health for their child and that their child’s low weight may not primarily be the result of their parenting skills.

Finally, the nutritional strategy would include advising the parents on their role on the child’s food intake and lifestyle. I would encourage the parents to give the child more meals in small quantities in a day. Increasing the frequency and reducing the amount of food intake allows the body to maximize the calories intake and absorption.

I would also encourage adequate sleep and increase in playing time for the child to promote cardiovascular function (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, n.d.). The parents would also be advised to provide adequate amounts of water to their child after meals and limit too much fatty foods as it would not be healthy for the child’s cardiovascular system.

References

• Balcha, S., Phillips, D., & Trimble, E. (2018). Type 1 Diabetes in a Resource-Poor Setting: Malnutrition Related, Malnutrition Modified, or Just Diabetes?. Current Diabetes Reports, 18(7). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11892-018-1003-7
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Help Children Maintain Healthy Weight. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/children/index.html.