If your child's doctor says that his health is at risk and your efforts at home have been unsuccessful, you may want to consider a formal weight management program. To locate a program for your child, you can contact a local university-based medical center. The Weight-control Information Network (WIN) maintains a list of nationwide university-based medical centers. (See link at right.)
Look for the following characteristics when choosing a weight-control program for your child. The program should:
be staffed with a variety of health professionals. The best programs may include registered dieticians, exercise physiologists, pediatricians or family physicians, and psychiatrists or psychologists.
begin with a medical evaluation of your child. Before enrolling your child in a program, make sure a physician reviews your child's weight, growth and health. Also be sure your child's progress is monitored by a health care professional at regular intervals.
focus on the whole family, not just the overweight child.
be adapted to the specific age and capabilities of your child. Programs for 4-year-olds are different from those developed for children 8 or 12 years of age in terms of degree of responsibility of the child and parents.
focus on behavioral changes.
teach your child how to select a variety of healthy foods in appropriate portions.
encourage daily activity and limit sedentary activity, such as watching TV.
include a maintenance program and other support and referral resources to reinforce the new behaviors and to deal with underlying issues that may have contributed to your child's extra weight.
have an overall goal of helping the whole family focus on making healthy changes to their eating and activity habits that they'll be able to maintain throughout life.
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