As the saying goes, “A dragon gives birth to a dragon, a phoenix gives birth to a phoenix, and a mouse is born to make a hole”, referring to the power of genetics, and the same is true in terms of height. Those parents whose height itself is not ideal, they will be particularly concerned about the height of their children. And children born to tall parents often don’t pay attention to their children’s growth curve, grow up but not tall enough to detect the problem in time, which may affect the child’s life!
However, genetics does not determine everything about a child, at least in terms of height, genetic influence only accounts for 70%, and 30% depends on the nurturing of later in life. That is to say, if raised properly, short parents can also raise tall children, on the contrary, if not raised properly, children born to tall parents, height is not necessarily high.
How to avoid similar regrets? What do we need to pay extra attention to in the process of child growth?
First, parents should pay attention to the child’s bone age.
It is advisable for parents to have their children’s bone age measured regularly at a regular hospital. In reality, there are always parents who think that their children are temporarily not tall because they are “late growing” like they did back then, and that they will be taller when they wait for middle school or high school. In fact, we often encounter children with early growth in our clinics. For example, a 12-year-old boy is 153 cm tall, which looks good from the outside, but if the bone age is already 13 or 14 years old, it means that the child’s future growth potential is already much smaller than his peers. This is why in the selection of athletes to strictly measure the bone age of the reason.
Second, scientific feeding is also important.
It is recommended that parents pay attention to the general principle of maintaining a balanced nutrition by combining coarse and fine, meat and vegetables in the diet. One egg, 200 ml of milk or yogurt per day is a must. Eat shellfish once or twice a week for zinc to ensure your child has a good appetite. Limit your child’s high sugar, high fat and high salt diet to avoid precocious puberty.
Third, strengthen exercise.
Do exercise more than 3 times a week, each time the time to last more than 40 minutes, for example, basketball, running, jumping rope and other bouncing sports, swimming, etc., are very good aerobic exercise.
Fourth, pay attention to sleep.
There are many children sleep late due to the pressure of learning, which is very detrimental to the growth of children. Because growth hormone is secreted at night, there is a peak period between 11 pm and 1 am, if children sleep late for a long time, they will miss the first peak, and their size will be affected. Generally, it takes 40-50 minutes for a child to fall asleep before the growth hormone pulse occurs, so it is recommended that children must fall asleep before 10:00 pm.
Fifth, pay attention to keep your child’s mental health.
There is a special category of clinical mental psychological factors caused by short, such as parental disharmony, frequent scolding, etc. Children in this family atmosphere are very depressed for a long time, and their size will be affected, so parents let their children keep a happy mood is also conducive to growth.
Finally, the short height is not formed in a day, so the growth pattern is also need parents long-term attention. It is recommended that children between the ages of 3 and 12 should have their height measured once every six months and their bone age assessed once a year. The best age to intervene for dwarfism is from 5 years old to pre-puberty, so don’t let parents’ negligence cause your child’s lifelong regret. It is important to master the growth pattern of your child and be a well-informed parent to avoid the continuation of regrets.