Feeding requirements for boys

This page gives information about the feeding requirements for young boys, with a focus on malnutrition. (There is a separate page for girls.) The birth data and measurements of weights and lengths are taken as an input. These are compared with the growth curves for Dutch boys. Based on this comparison a conclusion is drawn about the nutrition state. The second part of the page can be used to calculate the required calory intake, taking in account the nutrition state. The data is taken from `Enterale voedingswijzer kinderen', a publication by Nutricia.

Disclaimer: Although I have take great care in constructing this page when my son Andy was not gaining weight anymore, I do not take any liability with respect to its contents and use. The information provided herein should not be used for diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions. Please be aware of the fact that the Dutch are among the tallest people in the world, and that the growth curves may be different for different people groups.

Birth date

Give the birth date, or the expected date of birth if these differ more than one week. (The calculated values are not accurate for prematurely born children.)

Day: Month: Year:

Measurements

Give known weights and lengths from the past in centimeter and gram. (1 inch = 2.56 cm and 1 lb. = 454 gram.) These can be entered in any order. It is not necessary to provide a weight and a length for each date. Press the `compute' button to calculate the values at the given date.
DayMonthYearLength (cm)Weight (gram)

Nutrition state

The age in years for the selected data is: .

Below a table is given which compares the measured length and weight with the growth curve for boys. It also gives information about whether malnutrition can be concluded from the parameter. Weights and lengths from earlier dates, if available, are used to determine malnutrition. Providing these can lead to a more accurate conclusion. A question mark in a field indicates that not sufficient data was available to calculate the given field.

MeasuredP3P10P50 SDSMalnutrition
Length/age
Weight/age
Weight/length

The column P50 gives the average value found for boys at the given age or length. The columns P3 and P10, give the values for the 3 and 10 percentile lines, meaning that 3% of the boys have a length or weight lower than the value given in the P3 column. The column SDS gives the standard deviation from the average value.

Daily energy intake

The daily energy intake can be calculated, based on a number of factors which are given below. Initial values for these factors are filled in whenever the nutrition state is calculated for a certain date. The resulting required energy intake per day is also calculated.

In case of malnutrition, the growth factor should be corrected depending on a desired weight. The desired weight can either be taken from one of the percentile lines of the growth curve, for a given SDS value, or given manually. Please select the method for determining the desired weight:

The desired weight used for correcting the growth factor (blank means that no correction is applied) is:

Calculating the energy requirement

The factors on which the energy requirement depends are: Based on these factors the energy requirement ranges
from to Kcal per day.

The factors listed above can be edited, after which pressing the `(re)compute' button calculates the resulting energy requirements.

According to the British Nutrition Foundation, the average energy requirements (independent of weight) at the current age is:
.