How many calories does my child need to consume?

One of the most common questions I get from parents is "How many calories does my child need to consume?" With one in three overweight children and almost two in five children with obesity in the United States, this is a legitimate question. Obviously there are a few children who are consuming more calories than they need. No two children need to consume the same number of calories on a specific day. Such factors as the level of activity, stress, growth rate, and basal metabolism all vary. We as pediatricians carefully measure the caloric results when we plot the height, weight, and circumference of the head when we review a healthy child. Our goal is for each child to maintain a BMI (calculated by weight (cm) divided by height (m) squared) between the 5th and the 85th percentile. We can use the child's weight in kilograms to give you a target number of calories per day by age group. Generally, the older the child is, the lower the average calories per kilogram of body weight he needs. To calculate how much your child weighs in kilograms, divide each pound by 2.2.


Age: <---------------------------------> Caloric needs:
newborn at 3 months <---------------------------------->100 calories per kilogram per day
3 months to 3 years <--------------------------------------> 90-100 calories per kilogram per day
3 years to 8 years <-----------------------------------------> 80-90 calories per kilogram per day
8 years to 12 years <---------------------------------------> 60-80 calories per kilogram per day
12 years to 16 years <-------------------------------------> 45-60 calories per kilogram per day

These are approximations. For children who are low in weight, (BMI under 5%) or overweight (BMI over 85%) more or less calories should be consumed respectively. You can calculate the BMI here. https://nccd.cdc.gov/dnpabmi/Calculator.aspx Here is a sample calculation. My son is 3 years old and weighs 40 pounds. Its weight in kilograms is 18 (40 / 2.2). Your BMI is 50%. He needs approximately 1440 to 1620 calories per day to maintain his percentage of BMI present. For many American children consuming a typical American diet, it is very easy to exceed the number of calories recommended. For example, a hamburger contains 350 calories, a soda contains 182, and a medium serving of potato chips contains 365 calories. That's 897 calories, or, 50-60% of the daily calories in a single meal! If at breakfast time they ate a 205-calorie pop tart and a 73-calorie chocolate with another 182-calorie soda, the recommended caloric limits have already been reached in just two meals. As long as your child is following a BMI curve between 5% and 85%, you do not need to worry about counting calories. In fact, this could be harmful. However, if your child is underweight or overweight, it may be appropriate to set approximate caloric parameters. This should be done in conjunction with your doctor and possibly a nutritionist as it is important to ensure that your child is receiving an adequate amount of vitamins, minerals, protein, fat and fiber.

SOURCE: Rachel Nelson MD