Thrive Pediatric Nutrition Specialists is committed to evidence based approaches to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.
What is a healthy weight?
Thrive believes children are created to be all kinds of shapes and sizes. Measuring a child’s weight over time is important to identify risk for disease. If extra weight interferes with their ability to learn, play and live a happy life it may be time to intervene. If excessive weight gain is ignored, it becomes difficult and oftentimes impossible to correct. Just as importantly, not enough weight gain may be a sign of underlying illness or inadequate nutrition. If you suspect your child is gaining weight too quickly, or not gaining enough, ask your pediatrician to share his growth curve. If his or her growth is not following a proper curve, it may be time to intervene with an expert who can help your child and family identify problem areas and facilitate positive change.
In Person Consultation
A Dietitian/ Nutritionist will meet with your child and family to assess his or her growth and nutrition intake. If growth patterns are abnormal, our experts will identify factors which may be contributing to poor growth. Each session includes nutrition counseling to ensure the child is motivated to make the necessary therapeutic or behavior changes. Nutrition education is woven into every visit to establish a healthy view of eating and exercise. Goals and expectations are established for self monitoring to begin. Our specialists will work with your child to develop an individualized plan with a purpose to improve his or her health.
Diet Strategies
Rather than providing you with a list of “what to eat” and “what not to eat”, we believe in counseling methods which promote real and lasting change. Based on your child’s history, we will work with your child to develop a plan. Children will be given specific, but basic principles
for mealtimes and active play. The child’s age, as well as the parent’s role in caring for their child is always considered in creating a plan that fits.
If your child is overweight, we recommend that he/she be carefully followed by a Nutritionist. Self monitoring and accountability are crucial to success . We offer a 3 month intervention which consist of 6 individualized sessions, which occur bi-weekly. While we understand this is a commitment, it has proven to be most successful to reverse weight trends and potentially eliminate risk for obesity related disease which may plague the future of your child.
Our registered dietitians practice evidenced-based therapies and are knowledgeable experts to assist with specialized diets. We welcome physician referrals for special diets.