Increase Height in Children

                                 Increase Height in Children

   Short stature refers to children whose height is lower than 2 standard deviations of the average height of children of the same sex, same age, and the same race. For example, the growth rate of children is less than 7 cm/year before 3 years old; and less than 5 cm/year from 3 years old to puberty. Puberty is less than 6 cm/year.

Experts say that stunting in children will lead to an increase in the incidence of chronic

diseases such as physical and mental retardation, cardiovascular disease, etc., leading to future labor losses and a huge burden on society and families. It is understood that there are 7 million people with short stature in my country between the ages of 4 and

15 at present, but only less than 300,000 people visit doctors.

It is often said: "Parents are taller, children must be taller in the future." In this regard, Xu Ruiying explained that although the genetic factors of parents account for 60%-70% of the factors affecting children's height development, there are diseases besides heredity. Factors, educational factors, nutrition, exercise, sleep, psychological and environmental factors in life, the height of children born to the same parent will also be different. Therefore, the children may not be tall in the future, if the parents are tall, and height monitoring needs to be done. 

  Some parents think: "The child is short now and grows late, and the twenty-three is still a jump."  This argument is unscientific. "Late growth" in medicine refers to the physical delay of puberty. If the child is lagging behind in height before puberty, a professional doctor should judge whether it is late and must not just wait.

  Other parents said: “The child grows fast, now he is taller, and there will be no problem in the future.”  If the child’s bone age is confirmed to be older than his age, and the height and weight grow prematurely, it may be an early manifestation of precocious puberty. Precocious children develop early physical fitness, shorten childhood, accelerate the progress of puberty, and close the epiphysis earlier. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the development of the child's secondary sexual characteristics to see if precocious puberty occurs. There are many factors that affect height, such as nutrition, genetics, and spiritual factors. According to research, 75% of the final height of the human body depends on genetics. In other words, under normal circumstances,

Parents are short and their children are short: parents are tall and their children are tall.  However, the height of parents is not the only factor that affects the height of children, and the influence of external factors, namely environmental conditions, on height cannot be ignored.

there are two most important periods for a child's growth and development: one is within three years of age, especially the first three months within one year of age, and its growth rate is the sum of the latter nine months. The other is puberty, some children during which can grow 10 to 14 cm a year. Parents should pay special attention to grasping these two critical periods, and children should keep up with nutrition and get enough sleep.

 

physical exercise and good sleep are critical to the growth of children’s height

       Apart from heredity, what are the external factors that affect height?  Exercise is very important for height. the secretion of growth hormones is promoted by physical exercise. According to research, the secretion of growth hormone will increase significantly after the exercise.

 Children who have been severely traumatized will have slow growth or even stagnation. Because depression and sadness not only make children susceptible to various diseases, but also affect their growth and development, and even "decay before old age. Ensure that the child’s diet is balanced and nutritious, and do not blindly eat health products.

       It is generally believed that the heritability of height is as high as 70% to 80%. However, a study in China in 2004 estimated that the heritability of height was actually only 65%. There are also 35% acquired environmental factors that make it possible for children to continue to grow in height.

 Vitamins cannot be ignored when growing up. For calcium to be deposited in teeth and bones, vitamin D must be involved. Vitamin D regulates calcium and phosphorus metabolism and promotes bone growth; vitamin A participates in important processes such as embryonic development, visual function, respiratory diseases, child growth, and immune regulation; iron, selenium, vitamin E, etc.

How to achieve a balanced diet? It is recommended that infants aged 1.0 to 6 months should be exclusively breastfed and fed on demand; infants aged 7 to 24 months should be guaranteed milk and complementary foods, and food should be gradually diversified.

 For preschool children (before 2 to 6 years old), the diet should focus on cultivating children to eat regularly, encourage daily milk drinking, choose healthy and nutritious snacks and avoid sugarily drinks and high-fat fried foods.

For school-age children and adolescents, three meals should be reasonable, eat regularly, and cultivate healthy eating behaviors; the types, sources, and colors of the food are rich and varied, and no less than 12 foods a day. Including milk, fish, meat, eggs, beans, nuts, etc.; supplement fresh vegetables and fruits, more then 5 kinds a day, rich in color, dark vegetables account for more than half, often eat fungus and algae; ensure staple food and energy intake, the staple food thickness Reasonable collocation of food.

  It is recommended that parents start with daily maintenance: Ensure that children have enough sleep and strengthen bounce sports to promote their growth. 

It is possible to tell whether the child is normal or underweight or overweight - the family a doctor can evaluate the child's height and weight in the growth curves and calculate the body mass index (BMI), as well as in the percentage curves because the bioimpedance measurement only evaluates the proportions. Therefore, the correct answer as to whether a child needs to gain "weight" and whether special eating recommendations are needed to gain weight can only be made when the weight and gender of the weight are known.

When it comes to nutrition, it is important to know whether children play sports regularly, what kind of sport it is because individual dietary recommendations are given depending on it.

 Nutrition advice can also be provided by an instructor who trains children, as he or she is likely to know and be able to assess the intensity and duration of the exercise. If such advice or recommendations are required, a nutritionist may also be consulted.