Experts point out that there are various causes for the short stature of some children who grow a few beats slower than their peers. From the time a child is born, parents should prepare a special book to regularly measure and record the child’s height and weight.
If an infant under the age of three grows less than 7 cm per year, or less than 5 cm per year between the age of three and puberty, or less than 7 cm per year during puberty, it may indicate that the child has a growth retardation problem. Parents can also pay attention to comparing their child’s height with that of children of the same age. If your child is significantly shorter than his or her peers, or if he or she was previously at a normal height but has gradually slipped to the lower-middle range, it may indicate that your child has a growth retardation.
If a child does have a growth retardation problem, how to grasp the best time to treat short stature? Experts say that the best age to diagnose and treat short stature is from 3 years old to pre-puberty. If parents find that their child is short, they should go to the growth and development clinic of a regular hospital in time to find the real cause and receive treatment through physical examination, blood test, bone age test, genetic analysis and imaging examination, etc.