Growth Pattern among Pre-School Children in Urban Slums of Visakhapatnam

Children find full expression of their growth potential, where there are no constraints of socio-economic and dietary nature. However, in poverty situations, dietary deficiency and environmental stress, invariably co-exist. Growth will be determined by the severity of dietary inadequacy and severity and frequency of Infectious episodes. Most children grow normally till about the fourth or sixth month, during which period they are fed almost exclusively on breast milk. Growth retardation sets in thereafter and reflects the cumulative effect of dietary inadequacy and frequent episodes of infection.