Nutrition Issues in Children with Disabilities

Nutritional data needed for holistic management of children with disabilities is inadequate in India. Based on informed consent, this work examined the nutrition profile and feeding difficulties of 242 children, 2-16 years, with various disabilities. Over 80% children faced 3-15 different feeding problems, some being more pronounced in different disabilities. Mothers emerged as the main caregiver with several concerns about their child's diet. Dietary and anthropometric assessment indicated unbalanced, inadequate diets with about one third children underweight/stunted. WA, HA, BMI, MUAC, TSF, AMA and AFA emerged comparable for screening undernutrition. Knee height gave good result as a proxy measure for height across all disabilities. Children with cerebral palsy (CP) had maximum feeding problems and worst nutritional status with low energy, vitamin A and C, niacin and iron intake. Ten children with CP followed up for 6-9 months, showed positive impact of need based dietary counseling on nutritional profile. These findings are likely to be of great benefit to nutritionists, professionals and caregivers involved in the rehabilitation of children with special needs.