Ways to Prevent Stunting in Children since Pregnancy

Stunting is one of the growth and development disorders that can occur in children. This condition causes the child to have short stature. The good news, stunting can be prevented early on, even since pregnancy. Stunting can be caused by genetic factors, poor sanitation, and lack of nutrition during pregnancy. Meeting the nutritional needs from pregnancy to a two-year-old child (the period of the first 1000 days of life) is one way that can be done to prevent stunting, of course while continuing to monitor its growth.

Recognizing the Stunting Condition in Children

Stunting growth disorders or short stature children can be monitored through the child's height development. Parents can monitor the child's growth by taking him to the pediatrician or posyandu regularly. Check your child's growth every month if you are under 1 year old, and every 3 months if you are 1-3 years old. Child growth will be monitored using growth curves according to World Health Organization (WHO) standards. A child can be said to be stunting, if his height is below the child's growth standards. Not only looks short, stunting also risks disrupting children's cognitive development and learning abilities. In addition, stunting can also increase the risk of children experiencing various chronic diseases as adults, such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.

How to Prevent Stunting

Stunting in children can be prevented from the time of pregnancy until the child is two years old, or also referred to as the first 1000 days of life. The following are some ways that can be done to reduce the risk of children experiencing stunting:

Inadequate needs for iron, iodine, and folic acid

Iron, folic acid, and iodine are important nutrients that must be fulfilled by pregnant women to prevent stunting. Lack of iron and folic acid can increase the risk of anemia in pregnant women. Children born to pregnant women with anemia are more at risk of stunting. Pregnant women can get these three nutrients by eating eggs, potatoes, broccoli, seafood, papaya, and avocados. In addition, pregnant women can also take prenatal vitamins according to doctor's recommendations.

Avoid exposure to cigarette smoke

For the fetus to be able to grow healthy, pregnant women must stop smoking and avoid exposure to cigarette smoke. Exposure to cigarette smoke can increase the risk of a baby being born prematurely or underweight. If a family member smokes at home, pregnant women should ask them not to smoke in the house. However, if pregnant women are outside the home, exposure to cigarette smoke can be prevented by wearing a mask.

Perform routine obstetric checks

Routine content check is no less important in preventing stunting. Routine examination during pregnancy is useful to ensure adequate nutrition consumed by pregnant women and detect if there are complications in pregnancy. The sooner known, pregnancy complications can be more quickly overcome. Then after the baby is born, continue efforts to prevent stunting by giving exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months to maximize growth and development. After more than 6 months of age, babies can be given additional nutrition in the form of complementary foods. Various environmental factors such as environmental hygiene, feeding patterns, and the incidence of infection in children also play a role in the risk of stunting. For that, make sure the food given to the Little One has been prepared properly, so that guaranteed cleanliness. Do not forget to give the child immunization as an effort to protect against various infectious diseases, especially basic immunization according to the recommendations of the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI). If parents see your child has a shorter stature than his peers, you should take him to the pediatrician to get the best examination and treatment.