From Dawn Till Dusk

“Tabachingching,” that’s what most people comment whenever they see the healthy physique of Nico. For us, that’s suppose to mean a complement as we’ve observed that the same physical trait was often the gauge of people for judging that we are indeed doing a good job as far as raising our only child for now is concerned. And to relatives and friends and acquaintances who knew Nico was a preemie with a heart issue before, they were surprised even more as they didn’t expect the tiny little baby who “can literally fit in a shoe box” before to now have grown up bigger as kids his age. “Akalain mo nga naman mag-grow up at tumaba ng ganyan ang batang yan,” was a comment that we often hear.

Well, at least on a Pinoy’s general perspective, a child who is chubby is often tagged as healthy while a child who is thin or what is often tagged in the Pinoy language as “patpat” is the opposite. I have to say so myself as we’ve experienced all sorts of comments for both the “patpat” and “tabachingching” phases in Nico’s physical growth.

When Nico was still a tiny little baby, he was thriving but not really that much despite our extra caring efforts, because of his still unresolved heart anomaly. He’s in the lower to middle percentiles for height and weight charts for so many months, thus most people tagged him as “patpat”. Until the hole in Nico’s heart miraculously closed when he was six months old, there we began to notice Nico growing taller and gaining weight incrementally fast. Then the very same people who used tagged Nico as “patpat”, labeled him as “tabachingching”, with emphasis on the big thighs and legs they called “pata-pata”. The same set of comments three years ago remain up to this day.

At age three, Nico weighs 23 kilos, automatically putting him in the overweight category, according to the weight-for-age growth monitoring chart of the International Reference Standards. And if the Recommended Classification by Weight of Filipino Children is to be referred to, the ideal weight for three to four year old boys is from 12.5 kilos up to 18 kilos only.

Left photo shows overweight Nico at 2 years old. Despite being weaned from the bottle at 3 years old, he hasn’t shed any pound, as shown in the right photo.

I have to believe that every doting parent around would naturally love to hear such positive comments—they flatter you, they lift up a little pride in you. We could have been happier earning all these set comments, if only the label of being “tabachingching” is truthfully synonymous to the medical expert’s way of defining “the truly healthy child”. Scientifically speaking however, it’s not.

Many studies (like this link) have shown that an overweight kid (like my Nico) is the most at risk of developing asthma, hypertension, and worst, diabetes. During our well-baby check-ups and some unscheduled trips due to sickness, the doctor clearly emphasized to us this reality and advised us to start managing Nico’s weight. Noting that Hubby’s side has family histories of asthma and hypertension and diabetes on my side of the family, it makes Nico doubly at risk. But then again, the slightly stubborn kind of parents that we are, we didn’t seriously take the doctor’s advice the first time it was brought up to us. “Our little boy is perfectly fine and we’re not alarmed at all,” that was our mantra before.

Reality bites
Until fairly recently, when repeated cycles of coughs and colds got Nico’s chest wheezing in sticky phlegm, we were alarmed. Every leaf of Oregano picked, steamed and extracted sure worked wonders to take out the phlegm and which we are very much thankful for. But for how many times in a month Nico catches a cold then a cough and be forced be nebulized and to drink the herbal medicine only for the poor little boy to feel better is entirely a different story altogether.

After recuperating from a terrible cough last month (he was grasping in breaths of air and wheezing that almost got us rushing Nico to the hospital, but thanks he was still spared), Hubby and I realized we need to be serious in managing Nico’s weight before it’s too late. In the latest follow-up check-up that we had, the doctor confirmed Nico’s frequent coughs may soon developed into asthma. Again, it was hard to be convinced, but the fact that Nico’s overweight was what the doctor identified as the primary culprit. “Overweight kids have predominantly bigger diaphragms that often block the passage of air from and to the lungs, thus, creating a wheezing sound,” the doctor further explains just as so we are assured we have the accurate information.

Our battleplan
Aside from avoiding sweets and junk foods, the doctor also recommended that we reduced Nico’s milk in-take and if possible, switch from milk powder to fresh milk. Milk is rarely the cause of asthma compared to dust, mites, pollens and infections which are often asthma triggers, but rare as it is, the possibility of triggering asthma is still there, especially for kids drinking powdered milk. That’s a double Argh! and Argh! on our side of childcare because Nico, though already weaned from the bottle at three years old, is still drinking Nido Fortified from the glass about three times a day (one glass in the morning, another one before napping in the afternoon and one before going to sleep at night). We’ve anticipated that it will totally impossible to wean Nico from drinking milk for now so we’ll just be switching to fresh milk (which produces lesser filmy coating in the mouth and throat compared to powdered milk) in the meantime.

We’re also cutting down on Nico’s TV time to strictly two hours a day and hopefully engage him in more physical activities such as exercise and outside play that will help him be fit and attain a healthy body weight. We’ve also been pondering on enrolling him in swimming lessons when summer time arrives next year.

We’ve already started with weight management and I hope that next time that we hop Nico in the weighing scale, he’ll fall in the normal range. The “tabachingching” concept for healthy kids and the very complement that it gives doting parents may sound great. But if being “tabachingching” will be the same reason why my son will be vulnerable to many sorts of sickness, I’d rather have no praises at all.