section 5
Monitoring height and weight
10-12 months
meeting
31
Let’s review:
Once the meeting starts, welcome everyone and ask the participants: • Who can help us remember what we talked about in our last meeting? • Who was able to do the activity at home that we asked you to do at the end of the meeting? How did it go? • Does anyone have questions or concerns after doing the activity?
What are we going to learn?
Continue to learn about monitoring a child’s growth and development through measuring weight and height. Also how to introduce solid foods in the baby’s diet. LET’S TALK ABOUT IT! We are going to look at some pictures, so we can talk about what we all know about this topic.
How often should you weigh and measure your baby? Why is it important to do this?
How much do you think a baby between 6 and 12 months should weight and how tall should he/she be?
In your community how do parents decided if a baby is healthy or not?
section 5 / 10-12 months • meeting 31
22
Activity:
“Confirming healthy growth” We will go over what we already know about measuring the baby’s height and weight, and we are going to make sure they are eating some solids for a healthy growth.
What we’ll need: • Growth and development charts
WHAT WE’LL DO: Remind the group that when the baby is 6 months old you can introduce solid foods and pureed baby food. As a group make a list on a flipchart of solid food that are available in the community that a baby of this age can eat. • Next review the growth and development cards, each mother can check to make sure that their baby is growing properly for their age (make sure you have told the the mothers in advance to please bring their childs’ cards to the meeting.) • Finish up by asking parents how they can support families with children that are under weight and below height for their age. This could include a promise to share seeds for gardens, agricultural produce, or time to prepare food together. OTHER SUGGESTIONS: If you have time and space you can practice making some solid food for babies together. Use foods that are easily accessible in the community.
Summing Up:
What did we learn today? Now, we’ll review what we discussed today. • How do you feel after this meeting? Why? • What are the two most important things you’ve learned today? • What will you do differently based on what you learned during the meeting? • What did you like the most? Are there things you didn’t like? • Do you have any remaining concerns or questions about what we talked about? To finish, what would you recommend to improve today’s meeting when we do it again with another group. (Explain that answering this question will help the meeting be even better in the future for parents with small children.)
To do at home:
Tell families to make or buy foods for the baby from the list of foods that was made during the meeting. Facilitator’s Manual
23
Basic information for the facilitator: Learning more about monitoring height and weight: 1- From the age of 6 to 8 months a child should begin to be fed 2 to 3 times per day, small
amounts of food that steadily increase in variety and quantity as the child grows and gets older. By 9 months to 2 years old a child should be fed 3 to 4 times per day. Nutritious snacks can be offered 1 or 2 times per day, as desired, in addition to continuing breastfeeding on demand. Inadequate nutrition in the first two years can slow a child’s physical and mental development for the rest of her or his life. In order to grow and stay healthy, young children need a variety of nutritious foods such as meat, fish, pulses, grains, eggs, fruits and vegetables, as well as breastmilk. A child’s stomach is smaller than an adult’s, so a child cannot eat as much at one meal. But children’s energy and body-building needs are great. So it is important that children eat frequently to provide for all their needs. Children should breastfeed frequently and receive other foods two to three times a day. Parents should start with soft or mushy foods (such as porridge) and gradually increase the consistency of food. Animal foods such as meat and eggs and fish can be given as early as possible, but should be mashed and cut into small pieces. Start with 2-3 spoonfuls per feed, increasing gradually to ½ of a 250 ml cup.
2- From 9 to 24 months: Children should receive other foods three to four times a day in addition to breastfeeding. Give infants 9-11 months ½ of a 250 ml cup per feed and children 12-23 months ¾ to a full 250 ml cup per feed. Animal foods, such as meat, fish and eggs, should be included as much as possible.
3- By 12 months: Most infants are able to consume “family foods” of a solid consistency, although many are still offered semi-solid foods, which they can eat more easily. Additional nutritious snacks (such as a piece of fruit or bread with nut paste) can be offered 1-2 times per day, as desired, from six months onwards. If quality or amount of food per meal is low, or the child is no longer breastfed, give 1-2 cups of milk as well as 1-2 meals extra each day. Ideally, this should only happen after 1 year old. Feeding times are periods of learning, love and interaction that promote not only physical but also psychological and social development. Talk to children during feeding, and treat and feed both girls and boys equally, slowly and patiently, with eye to eye contact.
section 5 / 10-12 months • meeting 31
24 The interaction with the child while feeding is as important as the food itself. Meal times provide the opportunity to interact and talk with children, and to support their learning, which helps to stimulate brain and social development. It is important to encourage children to eat, but not to attempt to force-feed children. Each child’s needs vary due to differences in breast milk intake and variability in growth rate. Infants need to be fed directly and young children should be assisted when they are learning to feed themselves.
Facilitator’s Manual