Excess weight in a child - degree of obesity, causes

Obesity is a disease that is manifested by increased deposition of fat in the subcutaneous tissue, which leads to excess body weight in the child. The diagnosis of obesity is made only if the child’s body weight exceeds normal by 10 percent or more.

The problem of obesity in children is becoming alarming and is characterized by steady growth. According to WHO statistics, about 22 million children under 6 years of age are obese.

It is worth noting that the cause of the development of obesity in adults often originates in childhood. With age, this disease contributes to the development of more serious conditions: type 2 diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, orthopedic problems, etc. Thus, the widespread prevalence of obesity in the population and the large number of complications of this disease determine the relevance of this problem in pediatrics.

Causes of obesity in children

Excessive quantity and improper quality of child nutrition, which leads to changes in the functioning of centers in the brain that are responsible for appetite.
Hereditary factors.
Traumatic brain injuries. Often such injuries occur during childbirth.
Infections (neuroinfections).
A tumor that affects the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is a brain structure that performs various functions, including regulating appetite and satiety in a child.
Chronic foci of infection in the nasopharynx and paranasal sinuses.
Stress.
Use of hormonal contraceptives by adolescent girls.
Pregnancies and abortions in minor girls.

The above reasons play a role in the development of primary obesity (i.e. obesity as an independent disease). It is worth noting that there are cases when obesity develops secondary to other diseases.

There are cases when obesity develops against the background of other diseases.

How to understand that a child has a hernia of the linea alba

The main symptoms that parents should pay attention to are a round or oval lump in the midline of the abdomen. At the stage of preperitoneal lipoma, the disease does not in any way affect the overall well-being of the baby.

As the disease develops, the site of the protrusion often becomes painful due to infringement of the abdominal organs. The pain intensifies with physical activity or after the child eats. Other common symptoms include nausea, vomiting, and belching. As already mentioned, in children, LV hernia very rarely progresses to this condition, however, if this happens, you must urgently make an appointment with a pediatric surgeon.

Classification of obesity in children

Types of obesity in children

Primary obesity. The most common form of obesity in children. It is represented by nutritional-constitutional obesity .
Secondary obesity. Develops against the background of other endocrine diseases.
Diencephalic obesity. This group includes: hypothalamic, cerebral and mixed obesity. Complex terms, the essence of which boils down to the fact that the child has a disorder in the functioning of the central nervous system. This violation subsequently leads to excess weight in the child. Among this group, it is worth noting hypothalamic obesity . Hypothalamic pubertal syndrome (HSPS) is the most common form of obesity in adolescence and the most common endocrine-metabolic pathology of adolescents in general.
Hereditary syndromes that are accompanied by excess weight. There are a huge number of them. We will not go into the essence of the problem of each of the syndromes, but will only list the most common of them: Prader-Willi, Lawrence-Moon-Bardet-Bill, Froelich, etc.).
Mixed.

Thus, the most common forms of obesity in children are nutritional-constitutional and hypothalamic obesity.

Types of obesity in children

There are two types of obesity in children: hypertrophic and hyperplastic. Hypertrophic obesity is characterized by increased accumulation of fat in fat cells and an increase in their size. Hyperplastic is characterized by an increased number of fat cells. From the point of view of prognosis, the most favorable is the hypertrophic type of obesity, as it responds well to dietary treatment and a decrease in the size of fat cells during treatment. Hyperplastic is difficult to treat. Resistance to treatment is associated with irreversibility of the number of fat cells.

Excessive nutrition of a pregnant woman and overfeeding of a child in the first months of life stimulate the proliferation of fat cells and, therefore, contribute to the development of hyperplastic obesity.

Excessive nutrition of a pregnant woman and overfeeding of a child in the first months of life can lead to the development of hyperplastic obesity.

Degrees of obesity in children

The degree of obesity depends on the percentage of excess body weight:

1 tbsp. – 10-29%
2 tbsp. – 30-49%
3 tbsp. – 50-99%
4 tbsp. – more than 100%

As a rule, 3 and 4 tbsp. Obesity is almost never based on primary endocrine disorders and is observed in secondary obesity.

Complications of obesity in children

Disorders of the musculoskeletal system.
Pathology of the cardiovascular system, lungs, liver, kidneys, gonads.
Metabolic disorders.

The most serious complications are: type 2 diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, atherosclerosis.

Preventive actions

To prevent the appearance of abdominal pain in a child, you initially need to normalize the diet and eating routine. To improve the digestive process, children's menus must include fermented milk products. In addition, you need to worry about the child’s body receiving all the necessary vitamins and minerals. Moreover, food for a child must be of high quality. You should avoid consuming sweet juice, soda and flour in excessive quantities.

To maintain the health of the digestive tract, it is important to monitor the child’s diet and compliance with hygiene measures. The diet must be balanced taking into account the child’s age.

A favorable family environment helps reduce the likelihood of abdominal pain. It is necessary to protect the baby as much as possible from stressful situations and nervous shocks. This is dangerous for children of any age and can cause disruption of body functions.

If a child regularly experiences abdominal pain, it is necessary to consult a pediatrician and gastroenterologist to determine the cause and select treatment.

If you identify the problem in a timely manner and begin therapy, you can often completely cure the baby, as well as improve the quality of life. In addition, this helps reduce the frequency of exacerbations and, as a result, the cost of medications. You shouldn’t let the disease get worse; it’s better to seek specialized help in time.

Symptoms of obesity in children

Primary obesity (nutritional-constitutional) is characterized by:

Uniform fat deposition.
Increased appetite. Characterized by an almost constant feeling of hunger, which does not go away even after a large meal.
Normal or tall height.
Delicate, elastic skin. Sometimes pink stretch marks (skin lesions in the form of stripes) and keratosis pilaris (small raised rashes on the skin) are observed.
Earlier or delayed sexual development.
Girls experience early menstruation.
Flat feet and X-shaped knee deformity.
Increased blood pressure.
Shortness of breath is common. It occurs even with light physical activity.
Headaches in the morning associated with decreased oxygen at night.
A decrease in the child’s self-esteem, the development of depression, which negatively affects the child’s education.

In more severe cases, Pickwick syndrome may develop . This syndrome is characterized by a rapid increase in body weight, narrowing of the upper respiratory tract, cardiorespiratory disorders (rapid breathing, rapid pulse, poor circulation), drowsiness or falling asleep while standing.

It is important to exclude the development of Pickwick's syndrome.

Hypothalamic syndrome of puberty is characterized by:

The onset of obesity in early childhood. Children aged 11-13 years become especially fat, so they look older than their peers.
Formation of uniform obesity according to the female type (deposition of fat on the hips and lower abdomen).
Tall.
Enlargement of the mammary glands.
The appearance of pink stripes on the skin of the abdomen, shoulders and thighs - stretch marks.
Increased blood pressure.
Constant feeling of hunger. The feeling of hunger especially occurs in the second half of the day, towards night.
Thirsty.
Frequent and copious urination.
Accelerated sexual development. Young men often exhibit pseudoeunuchoid body features, enlarged mammary glands, hypersexuality, and are prone to early sexual activity. Girls may experience increased male-pattern hair growth and menstrual irregularities.

Increased fatigue. The child gets tired quickly

In most cases, increased fatigue and exhaustion of the child’s nervous system has very specific causes and is quite easy to correct or treat.

It is very important to understand and find the reasons why fatigue occurs. Treatment must precisely target the cause of the problem. Unfortunately, we often see the opposite examples. For example, a child gets tired due to a chronic infection, and he is taken to a psychologist and “behavior is corrected,” or, for example, the cause of fatigue is related to hormonal levels, and he is sent to a psychiatrist and prescribed medications that are unnecessary in this case. The opposite situation is possible: the child does not have any special health problems, but only psychological problems that lead to fatigue. It is necessary to clearly understand the reason for what is happening, and only then the treatment will bring the desired result.

A child's abrupt switching from active and dynamic games to complete loss of strength, in which the child can fall asleep in one minute, is the norm for children from two to five years old.

At this age it will be absolutely normal fatigue followed by a transition to activity.

Increased fatigue should alert you if:

The child is so tired that he cannot concentrate, lags behind his peers in learning and mastering new skills;
The child cannot sleep or wakes up at night, feels drowsy during the day;
In the morning the child wakes up tired, has difficulty turning on, refuses breakfast;
The child often suffers from colds;
You notice a prolonged (more than 2 weeks) general lethargy in the child, dark circles under the eyes and pallor, a decline in mood;
The child is in a negative mood most of the time, gets offended and cries for no objective reason;
Drowsiness, apathy and indifference to previously favorite activities appear;
The child complains of headache or dizziness;
The child loses motor dexterity, shows aggression, and often changes positions when reading or doing homework;
The child complains of fatigue and/or pain in the legs.

Increased fatigue is mainly due to the fact that the child's nervous system cannot maintain arousal long enough to support everyday tasks, including learning, mastering skills, speech, and so on.

A tired child finds it difficult to maintain attention on one thing, it begins to dissipate, as a result of which the child resists learning, which turns out to be too difficult for him. The situation develops into conflicts, and the reason for this is increased fatigue.

Exhaustion of the child’s nervous system due to prolonged stress,
i.e. “getting stuck” of the body in a state of preparation for responding to danger. The stress response is designed by nature to be short-term; it comes to quick realization and a way out of stress. But if suddenly the stress readiness in the child’s body becomes long-term, the nervous system is gradually depleted. Thus, brain exhaustion occurs and, as a result, rapid fatigue.
Sleep disturbance .
Normal healthy sleep consists of four stages, of which the deepest and most important are the 3rd and 4th. With a deficiency of deep stages of sleep, nervous exhaustion occurs quite quickly. Frequent variants of sleep deprivation in children: the child has a normal sleep duration, but sleeps superficially, the child sleeps with awakenings, the child has shortened sleep (falls asleep for a long time or wakes up too early). Some sleep problems can be clarified by performing overnight EEG monitoring.
The presence of increased intracranial pressure
, when the brain is pressured by an excessive amount of cerebrospinal fluid and cannot remain in a state of excitement for a long time.
Chronic diseases,
and very often these are metabolic disorders, infections (adenoids, chronic tonsillitis), decreased thyroid function or other endocrine imbalance. Chronic infections can be associated with the herpes virus, streptococci, which very often cause such chronic fatigue. In this case, we will suggest that you put the child’s immunity in order, treat infections, and then the health of the child’s nervous system will be restored.

Diagnosis of obesity in children

The main condition for diagnosis is excess body weight.

To assess body weight, special tables are used that allow you to determine the ideal body weight depending on the gender, age, and height of the child.

In everyday practice, pediatricians use body mass index, which you can calculate at home. It is determined by dividing body weight in kilograms by height in meters squared (kg/m2). A BMI greater than 30 indicates the development of obesity in a child.

In addition, to make a diagnosis, the doctor may prescribe:

General blood analysis.
Biochemical blood test (lipid profile).
X-ray of the hand. Allows you to determine bone age, which may differ from the passport age.
X-ray of the skull in two projections. It will allow you to judge the pathology of the pituitary gland, as it shows the state of the anatomical structure - the “sella turcica”.
Consultation with a neurologist.
Consultation with an ophthalmologist.
Determining blood sugar levels, as well as carrying out a sugar load to identify disorders in carbohydrate metabolism.
Hormonal examination.
Calculation of the insulin resistance index, or as it is also called the HOMA index. In healthy children and adolescents, the HOMA index is <3.5.
Determination of leptin levels in the blood.
Ultrasound of the thyroid gland.
Consultation with a geneticist – according to indications.

Why does heaviness occur after eating?

Eating from birth occupies an important place in the life of every person.
First we are fed, then we learn to feed ourselves. Not all periods go smoothly, since problems can appear in the digestive system almost from birth. A baby always runs the risk of getting an intestinal infection, since he puts everything into his mouth while exploring the world around him. Another cause of tummy problems may be intolerance to lactose or other products, which can be very difficult to determine, much less predict. All this can affect the child’s digestion.

A child’s digestion is greatly influenced not only by what he eats, but also by how it happens. Sometimes, in order to persuade a child to eat calmly, not to fidget and not be distracted at the table, various attitudes are used: “When I eat, I am deaf and dumb,” “Don’t play around.” Eating turns into a status event, where everyone must behave decorously, meekly, and nobly. What about the child? He is looking for a way out of the situation. You can swallow the food you hate and return to the game. Or start stalling for time, playing at the table, begging for sweets.

Teenagers are under stress, school grades, tests, exams, sections. Everything needs to be done in time, but there is never enough time for a measured, proper meal. In addition, in adolescence, and sometimes even with the beginning of school, parents can no longer so clearly control everything that the child eats.

Most of the time the child eats outside the home. The quality of food in the school canteen may not suit everyone, especially if there are restrictions. Advertisements for fast food, snacks and carbonated drinks are everywhere. Snacking on the run becomes a habit. What can we say about children, if adults may prefer to get by with a sandwich between tasks instead of a full lunch. As a result, children may experience unpleasant sensations in the stomach: discomfort, heaviness after eating, bowel movements, etc. What can help?

Surprisingly, chewing your food well can be a helpful tip. Few people know that digestion begins in the oral cavity, and chewing is important not only for grinding food. The fact is that during chewing, food is processed by saliva, which contains enzymes - substances that help break down and subsequently absorb food.

Instructing your child to eat slowly and chew everything thoroughly rarely has any effect. First of all, the baby watches how the parents eat at the table. You can involve your child in cooking, and the meal itself will be the final stage of the whole game. This way children can get to know the products better and touch them. It is better to touch raw potatoes than to catch boiled ones from the soup with your hands. Children may be more willing to eat homemade food. You need to learn how to chew food thoroughly yourself and instill this skill in your children.

For teenagers, prohibitive measures often do not work. Simply telling people not to eat candy bars or drink soda won't help. The child should have an accessible alternative: food taken from home, the opportunity to buy ready-made healthy products.