Malnutrition, children & the developing brain

Stunting builds up over months and years. WHO says it holds children back from reaching their physical and cognitive potential.

In 2024, the largest numbers of stunted children lived in Asia and Africa, and Africa held 43% of the world’s total.

Wasting can happen quickly during a food crisis or serious illness. In 2024, 6.6% of the world’s children under 5 were wasted.

It is an emergency for a child’s health and needs care from health workers. Famine & food crises: the mental health toll covers crisis settings.

A child can eat enough food yet miss important vitamins and minerals. Research shows that iron and iodine shortfalls, along with severe and long-term undernutrition, can affect brain development.

In the U.S., severe malnutrition is less common, but food insecurity is not. In 2024, 18.4% of households with children were food insecure.

Even marginal food insecurity is linked with children’s behavioral, emotional and school difficulties.

Undernutrition during pregnancy can slow a baby’s growth in the womb, which raises the risk of stunting by age 2.

WIC supports people who are pregnant with healthy foods and nutrition advice. See Pregnancy & mental health before birth for emotional support.

The Lancet’s maternal and child nutrition series calls for focusing on women of reproductive age, pregnancy and children in the first 2 years of life.

WHO says good nutrition in the first 1,000 days gives the best possible start in life, with long-term benefits.

A major review found that whether early undernutrition has lasting effects depends on how severe it was, when it happened, the child’s surroundings, and the chance to recover.

When a baby babbles or points and an adult responds, brain connections grow stronger. Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child calls these serve-and-return moments essential.

Easy ways

• Copy their sounds and faces
• Name what they look at
• Sing during feeding or bath time
• Take turns, and wait for their reply

In the 1980s, community health workers visited families of stunted toddlers in Jamaica every week for two years, showing parents simple ways to play and talk with their child.

Twenty years later, those children earned 25% more as adults, enough to catch up with peers who had not been stunted.

Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child recommends reducing toxic stress while strengthening supportive relationships, for lifelong health.

A warm, predictable adult can buffer a child from a lot of hardship.

Early food insecurity is linked with differences in early thinking and learning skills.

Babies can’t tell us they’re hungry or worried. Regular growth checks with a clinical provider help catch problems early.

Food insecurity is linked with inattention, acting-out behavior and lower school performance.

Food insecurity is linked with depression in teens.

Teens often hide hunger because they fear stigma, and may quietly help provide for the family.

A review of 17 studies in 11 countries found that babies of mothers with depression were more likely to be underweight or stunted.

This isn’t about blame. It shows why caring for parents’ mental health is part of caring for children. See Parents’ mental health.

USDA notes that children are usually protected from big cuts in food, even in very low food security homes. In about half of food-insecure U.S. households with children, only the adults were food insecure.

Protecting your child is loving. Getting help so you can eat too protects them as well.

Experts behind the Nurturing Care Framework note that poverty, violence and discrimination can harm caregivers’ mental and physical health, making it harder to give the care they want to.

WHO’s guidance for treating children with wasting includes psychosocial support and play-based stimulation, along with support for the mother or caregiver and baby together.

Care can happen in hospitals, outpatient clinics and communities, with community health workers playing a big role.

Stunted toddlers in Jamaica whose families got weekly play-and-parenting visits caught up with non-stunted peers in adult earnings 20 years later.

The first years are a key window, but brains keep forming new connections later in life too.

Older children and teens benefit from steady meals, encouragement and help at school.

WIC offers healthy foods, nutrition advice, breastfeeding support and referrals to health care. Parents, foster parents and other caregivers can apply for children in their care.

Children can get breakfast, lunch or after-school meals during the school year. In summer there are free meal sites and, in many states, a summer grocery benefit for school-age kids.

SNAP helps low-income households buy groceries. Some non-citizens can get SNAP. Rules about benefits and immigration can change, so if you’re worried, ask a free legal aid or immigration help organization before you apply.

Find a nearby food bank or pantry by ZIP code on Feeding America’s website.

USDA National Hunger Hotline: 1-866-3-HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479), Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET. You can also dial 2-1-1.

Ideas

• Eat together when you can, even a snack
• Keep meal and snack times roughly the same
• Let kids serve themselves from what’s there
• Offer a mix of foods without pressure

Try

• Count beans or peas together
• Let them help stir, pour or wash
• Name colors and shapes on the plate
• Tell a story about a family recipe

When food is scarce, children can feel worried or guilty about eating. Reassure them it’s the adults’ job to find food.

Avoid

• Calling foods “good” or “bad”
• Comments about weight or body size
• Using food as a reward or punishment

Ideas

• Borrow picture books from the library
• Narrate what you’re doing as you cook or shop
• Play peekaboo and hand-clapping games
• Sing songs from your own culture

In the Jamaica study, community health workers made weekly home visits that helped parents play and talk with their children, with benefits lasting into adulthood.

Many communities offer home-visiting programs for new parents. Ask your clinical provider, WIC office or 211.

School meals feed children during the day, and teachers and counselors can notice when a child is struggling.

Many faith and cultural groups share food and look out for families quietly. Familiar foods and traditions comfort children too.

WHO guidance gives community health workers an important role in finding and caring for children with wasting, close to home.

USDA National Hunger Hotline: 1-866-3-HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479), Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET.

211: dial 2-1-1 or visit 211.org for local food and family help.

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. Calls with interpreters are offered in more than 240 languages.

Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741.

If a child seems seriously ill or a life is in danger, call 911.

Local health clinics and community health workers can check a child’s growth and connect families to food and care.

findahelpline.com lists free, confidential emotional support helplines in many countries.