Healthy eating, active living

Children’s Wisconsin is committed to educating parents and caregivers about healthy living. We also strive to provide parents and caregivers with realistic ways to promote good habits at home. Children with elevated BMI, especially those who lack healthy eating and active living resources and opportunities, are at higher risk for health problems such as: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, liver disease, type 2 diabetes, severe asthma, sleep apnea. Our team of specialists at Children’s Wisconsin works to support healthy behaviors and prevent chronic diseases through:

• Promoting eating together
• Eating regular meals and not skipping
• Decreasing time on screens
• Increasing physical activity
• Reducing sugary drink consumption

For children with an elevated BMI and known health concerns, Children’s Wisconsin offers a program called NEW Kids. 

What is the NEW Kids™ Program?

The NEW (Nutrition, Exercise and Weight Management) Kids™ Program at Children's develops an individualized treatment plan for each patient. It combines the expertise of nurse practitioners and dietitians. The NEW Kids Program helps children ages 2-18 with medical conditions related to having an elevated BMI or gaining weight too quickly.

NEW Kids referral form >>>

The NEW Kids Program works to improve lifestyle-related health issues for your child

A dedicated team of health professionals works to improve the overall health of children with medical conditions related to gaining weight too quickly or lacking healthy eating and active living habits. Our NEW Kids Program will provide a customized care plan designed specifically for your child, because no single program will work for every kid and family. It is our goal to help your family establish both a healthier lifestyle and positive eating habits.

The NEW Kids Program uses a patient-centered and team approach to find lifestyle and environment factors that may affect your child's health conditions. A pediatric nurse practitioner will diagnose and monitor weight-associated health conditions. A dietitian will educate your family on lifestyle factors that can impact your child's health. The team will work with you to make choices that can help improve your child’s health and quality of life.

Getting started

If your child’s BMI is elevated (over the 85th percentile for their age) and there's a related health condition, like high cholesterol, elevated liver enzymes, or high blood pressure, your doctor can refer your child to the NEW Kids Program.

Your first visit

You and your child will visit with a nurse practitioner, who will screen your child for medical conditions associated with elevated BMI. You will review results from your child's laboratory tests, talk about physical activity levels and discuss eating habits. The nurse also will ask about your family's "readiness to change" to see if your family and child are ready for our intensive program at this time. This one-hour session will help start to define specific goals.

Follow-up visits

Sixty to ninety-minute sessions are scheduled about every 4 to 6 weeks for five visits total, but may be extended or shortened based on medical judgment and your family’s needs.

Please note that weight loss is often not the primary goal of treatment because children still are growing. The team's most important goal is improving your child's health and teaching your family lifelong healthy habits.