Nutrition and Growth

Supporting Information

When children are sick, especially when they have diarrhoea or measles, their appetite decreases and their body uses the food they eat less effectively. If this happens several times a year, the child's growth will slow or stop.

It is essential to encourage a sick child to eat. This can be difficult, as children who are ill may have no appetite. It is important to keep offering foods the child likes, a little at a time and as often as possible. Extra breastfeeding is especially important.

It is essential to encourage a sick child to drink as often as possible. Dehydration is a serious problem for children with diarrhoea. Drinking plenty of liquids will help prevent dehydration.

If illness and poor appetite persist for more than a few days, the child needs to be taken to a health worker. The child is not fully recovered from an illness until he or she weighs about as much as when the illness began.