Nowadays, parents are paying more and more attention to their children’s height, but some overdone methods are harming them instead. I came to do a reminder, I hope that the role of enlightenment for mothers and fathers.
Case one: eating too well precocious children will not be high
When Lynn was still in third grade, she was often mistaken for a junior high school student. At that time, the 9-year-old was already 1.4 meters tall, plus her body shape was also fat, looking a bit like a big girl. Linlin’s parents believe that nowadays children are generally well-nourished, so they are not too fat and will naturally lose weight when she is stressed with homework. The family environment of Linlin is quite good, often follow their parents out to eat big meals, fish, shrimp, crab, eel, not to mention protein powder and other health products also eat a lot. After going to junior high school, her parents are afraid that she will study hard and use her brain too much, and often give her a variety of nutrients to drink. But by the second year, the other students in the class exceeded Linlin’s size one by one, but she was slow to move, and by the age of 13, her height was maintained at 1m52m. When she went to the hospital, she found that her epiphysis had closed early due to precocious puberty and would not grow any more.
The experts comment: With the improvement of living standards, the incidence of precocious puberty is also increasing year by year. Many children with precocious puberty are not short at that time, but their bone age is already overdue, and sex hormones are secreted in large quantities in advance, making the epiphysis close prematurely, leading to the premature stop of height growth and eventually short height in general. Children need to strengthen nutrition, but it should be scientific. Such as good protein can affect the secretion of growth hormone, is also a key factor in increasing height, like animal food such as: eggs, meat, fish, dairy contains a relatively complete essential amino acids, high nutritional value, appropriate to eat; soybeans and soy products protein is also high-quality protein, can also be eaten; but pay attention to the meat and vegetables with. Secondly, calcium is an indispensable mineral for children’s growth and development, so there should be calcium-containing foods in the diet, such as milk, egg yolk, shrimp, oysters, sesame paste, soybeans and soy products.
Case two: growth hormone deficiency parents high children will also be short
Xiao Qiang’s father is 1 meter 82 and his mother is 1 meter 65, so although Xiao Qiang has been short since he was a child, they didn’t take it too seriously, and from childhood to adulthood, they have been reminded that their children are so short, should they go to the hospital for a checkup. The parents of Xiao Qiang always say no: we both grew up like this, always sitting in the first two rows, to 14 or 15 years old, miso miso upward growth. The child will go up when he reaches the developmental stage! Many people think that the parents are not low in height, the son will certainly not be short. However, when Xiao Qiang reached the age of 14, his height was still only 1 meter 25, they became anxious and took him to the hospital to find out that he was short due to growth hormone deficiency. Even with active treatment, he could only grow up to more than 1 meter 60 because it was discovered too late. Both parents regretted the situation.
Expert comment: Most parents think that it doesn’t matter if their children are short when they are young, as long as they strengthen their nutrition during youth development, they will be able to make a big leap in height. Especially if the parents are of medium to high height, the easier it is to ignore this problem, so that the valuable time for treatment is delayed. According to statistics, one out of 8,646 newborns has “growth hormone deficiency”. The diagnosis of this type of dwarfism can be confirmed by a growth hormone stimulation test. After the diagnosis is made, the child can be treated with growth hormone injections in time. Children with this disease can have the same height as normal people as long as they are treated early, before the age of 6 to 7.
Case 3: Abuse of height-enhancing products leads to even shorter height in the end
Xiao Ye’s father is 1.7 meters tall and his mother is 1.58 meters tall, which is not too short, but always a bit worrying. In particular, Ye is a boy, always hope that he can grow to more than 1 meter 75. So although Ye has been growing up, his height has been maintained at an average level or below, his parents are still very worried. Looking at the overwhelming advertisements of various height enhancement products, they were also eager to try them. Finally, Xiaoye’s parents chose a height-enhancing health product for him, and although the price of the height-enhancing health product was quite high, the two of them bit the bullet and bought it. At first it was really “effective”, the first year Ye also grew 10 centimeters, but the second year is not so obvious effect, and then simply stopped growing. The parents of Xiaoye were so anxious that they took him for a checkup and found that his epiphysis had closed early and would not grow any more. It turns out that hormones are added to the height-enhancing supplements, so Ye will grow up in a short time after eating them, but this is at the expense of the child’s space and time to grow taller.
Expert comment: The diagnosis and treatment of children with short stature should be carried out under the guidance of an experienced physician. Do not blindly believe in the so-called “height-enhancing techniques” and buy “height-enhancing drugs” and other height-enhancing products after self-diagnosis, as this will not only delay the best time for treatment, but will even have a negative impact on the child’s health and reduce the child’s final height. Some height enhancement supplements do not contain hormones and may not be bad for your child after eating them, but the efficacy is not exact whether they can grow taller. If hormones are added, it will make the child’s epiphysis close early and the result will be worse. And the so-called growth aid machine, stretchers and whatnot, claiming to be able to stretch people under the action of external forces, is contraindicated in young children, which is tantamount to pulling up the seedlings, harmful but not beneficial.
Case 4: I thought I was just short, but it turned out to be a disease
When Li Dong was diagnosed with late-onset hypothyroidism, which had affected his intellectual development, his parents cried out in regret, but it didn’t help. Li Dong had been growing slowly since he was 5 years old, and was lagging behind his peers. Since his parents are of medium height and his sister, who is 5 years older, is a “big man” among children of the same age, the family never worried that he would not grow taller. As he grew older, especially after Li Dong went to elementary school, his height gap with his classmates became larger and larger. Now at the age of 10, he is only 115cm, far below the height standard of 140cm for children of the same age. For several years, Li Dong always felt that his stomach was very high and had a bad habit of constipation. The lively and active nature of this age is not found in him, and people are also more unresponsive, always giving the impression of laziness. These symptoms did not cause parents to be alarmed, until his academic performance slowly declined, from the middle students into poor students, last semester even took the last place in the class, confused parents even doubt the child’s IQ, only to the hospital for the child to see a doctor. The results of the examination surprised Li Dong’s parents, who suffered from “late-onset hypothyroidism”, with symptoms such as sluggishness, laziness, constipation, bloating and even short stature. Although most of the symptoms can be relieved through treatment, the neurological damage caused by hypothyroidism is irreversible, and the decline in academic performance is a sign that intelligence is seriously affected.
Expert comment: Short stature can also be caused by disease factors. If the child is short due to hypothyroidism, endocrine abnormalities, chromosomal abnormalities, central nervous abnormalities and other disease causes, eating any height-enhancing drugs or using any height-enhancing products will have no effect. Therefore, when parents find that their children’s height, growth and development are slow or excessively behind their peers, they must be alert and it is wise to go to the hospital for an early check-up. When a child has been in the top three in kindergarten and is 10-20 cm shorter than his or her classmates of the same age in elementary school, parents should be especially vigilant and it is wise to bring the child to the hospital for a checkup. Only early diagnosis and treatment can lead to good results.
Take a picture of your left hand to find out if your child will grow again
When parents find out that their child may have height problems, they must take the child to a pediatric endocrinologist immediately, rather than continuing to observe the child, which can easily delay the best treatment period. Generally, doctors will do a thorough physical examination, bone age check and blood tests to determine whether the child has short stature and try to identify the cause. The blood test mainly includes growth hormone secretion function test, chromosome test and other endocrine tests to clarify the diagnosis. Bone age test is to take an X-ray of the child’s left hand and wrist to see the age of the bones, which is closely related to the height. If the difference between the bone age and the actual age of a normal child is not more than one year, if the difference is too much, whether the bone age is bigger or smaller than the actual age, it is abnormal. If the bone age film indicates that the epiphysis has closed, it means that the bone will not grow again and the short stature is a foregone conclusion.
Parents should be reminded that they must seize the two golden growth periods of their children: one is infancy, the average length of a normal newborn is 50 cm, with an average growth of 2.5 cm per month in the first six months and 1.5 cm per month in the second six months. At the age of 75 cm. 2 weeks old can reach 85 cm; the height of children from 2 to 12 years old can be calculated according to this formula: height = age × 6 + 77 cm. The actual height of the child is normal if it is not less than 30% of this value. There is also a puberty, generally speaking, girls from the age of 9 or 11 years old, boys from 13 or 15 years old, pubescent children’s height can increase by 7 to 9 cm per year, a few people can reach 10 to 12 cm; after puberty (16 years old), development gradually mature, the bones began to calcify, the increase in height slowed down.
Promote growth, a few magic words
Although the human size by race and parental genetic factors, but practice has proved that the acquired factors should not be ignored, acquired factors include nutrition, exercise, sleep, emotional four elements.
1, from the perspective of nutrition, should be given attention in the fetal period. That is, during the gestation period to increase maternal nutrition, so that the fetus in the mother to obtain good nutrition, to lay the foundation for future healthy growth. After the baby is born, try to do three to six months of breastfeeding, and later in different growth periods, should be supplied with adequate and reasonable nutritious food. As we enter childhood, we should pay attention to a balanced diet. It is to match meat and vegetables, including animal and vegetable proteins, animal and vegetable fats, and refined and coarse grains, so that they can take in enough high-quality proteins and essential fatty acids, minerals and vitamins. In addition, attention should be paid to the intake of special nutrients, namely high-density unsaturated fatty acids – DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), which is a necessary substance for growth and development. This substance is mainly from fish food.
2, exercise is the second factor to promote children’s growth. The human body grows taller because the epiphyseal cartilage at the epiphysis of the long bones grows continuously, and the growth of epiphyseal cartilage requires a good blood supply. Regular participation in sports activities can promote blood circulation, accelerate metabolism, so that the skeletal tissue blood supply increased. The enhanced nutrition, coupled with the mechanical friction and stimulation during exercise, results in the proliferation of epiphyseal cartilage cells, resulting in vigorous bone growth and development. At the same time, let children go outdoors more often, so that they can get a longer period of sunlight, promoting the body’s vitamin D production, which is conducive to the absorption of calcium. It can also promote height development.
3, sleep is also another important factor for children to grow taller. As the saying goes: “people grow in sleep” is a valid point. On the one hand, sleep can make the brain nerves, muscles and other relaxation, to relieve muscle fatigue; on the other hand, after the child fell asleep, the body growth hormone secretion, sufficient sleep is conducive to the child’s growth.
4, timely treatment of diseases is also an important factor to ensure the normal growth and development of children. There are hundreds of diseases that affect children’s height, some of which can be treated, such as growth hormone deficiency, thyroid hormone deficiency, etc. You can improve your height through hormone replacement therapy, such as asthma, congenital heart disease and other primary diseases treated well will also have a catch-up growth; some genetic diseases do not have good treatment methods yet. Short children need experienced specialist physicians to examine, find the cause of the disease, the cause of symptomatic treatment.
5, mental happiness is conducive to promoting children’s growth, mental depression can inhibit growth hormone secretion. Therefore, parents should try to create a calm environment for their children, so that they can grow happily.