Factors affecting children’s growth and development Children’s height has always been a “big issue” for parents, especially in today’s society, where height has a great impact on children’s psychological development, schooling, employment, and marriage. Some parents go to great lengths to get their children to grow taller and seek medical help. In order for your child to grow taller, it is important for parents to grasp the laws of height growth and the factors that affect growth, so that they can detect abnormalities in their child’s height early and take appropriate treatment or intervention measures early. There are certain patterns of growth and development. Children’s height growth varies at different times, but generally speaking, the average length at birth is about 50 cm. Human growth has two peak periods, the first peak is the infancy period, that is, after birth to 2 years old, the general length of the first year growth 25cm, the second year growth 10-12cm, the second year after the annual growth rate of 5-7.5cm, 2-10 years old children’s height formula: age × 7 + 70cm; the second peak is puberty (girls after 10 years old, boys after 12 years old) Boys grow a total of 20-30 cm, girls grow a total of 15-25 cm; late adolescence, height growth gradually slowed down, generally girls at the age of 16, boys at the age of 18, height growth is stopped. Parents can compare the above rules, or with children of the same age, once found significantly lower than the average level of children of the same age, you should promptly go to the hospital to consult the relevant experts. Factors affecting growth 1, genetic factors. Children’s ultimate height, 70% of the acquisition is attributed to the genetic inheritance of both parents body height, that is, at least 30% of the factors are not genetic factors control, these factors include nutrition, environment, disease, etc.. These factors include nutrition, environment, disease, etc. And the same genes from the parents can cause different expressions when they are passed on to the next generation, resulting in different heights among the children of the same family. So don’t think that your child will be tall because you are tall, or that your child will not grow taller because you are short, thus missing the time for treatment. 2.Physical growth delay. Some children, all normal at birth, the first few years after birth (2-3 years) height nutrition status is also normal, but in other children are entering puberty, these children’s height growth is not accelerated, delayed sexual development, girls 14 years old, boys 15 years old still have not appeared secondary sexual characteristics. However, after other children have stopped growing or slowed down, these children show a surge in height growth. This condition is medically known as “somatic growth retardation” and is commonly referred to as “late growth”. This may be due to the delay in the normal puberty gonadotropin stimulation, once these children enter puberty, there will be an acceleration of height, gonadal development, and eventually reach the normal child height level. However, some parents often see their children are short, they always think that the child belongs to the “late growth”, do not go to the hospital examination has been waiting, until the child adult also did not grow taller, only to regret. 3. Precocious sexual maturity. Some girls begin to develop breasts before the age of 8, boys appear testicular enlargement before the age of 9, growth accelerated, in the same age children “stand out”, higher than children of the same age, but when other children began to grow, he stopped not growing. This situation is caused by “precocious puberty”, parents should not be blindly optimistic. Because of the early sexual development of children, bone maturation is accelerated, epiphysis closed early, his growth period will be greatly shortened, and eventually lead to adult height than normal children short. 4.Disease influence. Common diseases that cause short stature are as follows: hypothyroidism (after birth, it shows hoarseness, feeding difficulties, abdominal distension and constipation, prolonged jaundice, facial swelling, mental retardation, backward growth, i.e. cretinism); growth hormone deficiency (shows backward growth since childhood, childish face, proportional short stature, final height is generally around 135 cm. Most of the children have a history of difficult births such as breech or full-term births, birth asphyxia, etc.); chromosomal disorders, mostly in girls, commonly “congenital ovarian dysplasia”, which shows backward growth, and the final height is about 140 cm when the gonads do not develop at puberty; idiopathic dwarfism, i.e. unexplained dwarfism; chondrodysplasia (a condition in which the body is not The final height is about 140cm); low birth weight (i.e. birth weight less than 2500g); long-term malnutrition and some genetic metabolic diseases can cause short stature. 5, to promote the growth of three major prescription nutrition, exercise and sleep. Adequate nutrition is the most important material basis for growth, protein, calcium, zinc and other important components of the human body cells. Therefore, we should pay attention to scientific feeding, balanced diet, do not be partial food. It is especially important to note that milk is high in protein and calcium, which is the best food to promote growth, 250-500ml per day, 1-2 eggs, appropriate amount of lean meat, fish, vegetables and fruits, etc. Exercise can promote the secretion of growth hormone, especially bouncing exercise can stimulate bone growth, so children should be allowed to do more outdoor activities. Adequate sleep is one of the necessary conditions for growing taller, because the peak secretion of growth hormone occurs after one hour of mature sleep. Therefore, adolescents in the growth period should arrange their time reasonably, exercise appropriately during the day, arrange their homework and do not stay up late, otherwise their height will be affected. For parents, the most reliable way to know whether their child’s height can still grow is to take a wrist bone film and do bone age determination, if the epiphysis has closed, then it means the growth has basically stopped.