Dietician consultation – children and youth

A paediatric dietician is a specialist in the nutrition of children and youth, who combines the knowledge on paediatrics, metabolic diseases, internal medicine, allergology, psychology and food sciences.During a consultation, a paediatric dietician assesses the nutritional status and the diet of a child, as well as presents the dietary recommendation that take into account the patient’s lifestyle, his/her needs, health status and age. The role of a paediatric dietician is to nutritionally treat eating and appetite disorders in children and youth.

The task of a paediatric dietician is also to provide advice on such conditions as:

• food allergy;
• coeliac disease;
• food intolerances;
• diabetes;
• autoimmune diseases;
• anaemia;
• metabolic syndrome;
• overweight in children.

Moreover, the role of a dietician is to educate, undertake preventive actions and provide substantive support for child carers in terms of nutrition.

An appointment with a paediatric dietician for children and youth includes:

• precise nutritional history and analysis of the current eating habits, verification of the nutritional value in terms of the calorific value and the content of fat, proteins and carbohydrates,
• assessment of the child’s nutritional state, calculation of the body mass index (BMI),
• advice on healthy eating.