Is a child's height a problem? How to identify deviations from the norm, and what parents should do if they find themselves in such a situation.
Since we will be talking about childhood growth, we first need to find out what excessively tall growth in a child is, understand the reasons, and also understand what should be done for the psychological and social development of a tall child.
IMPORTANT: Remember, you cannot evaluate the problem of a child’s growth from the perspective of an adult; it is necessary to take into account many surrounding factors: age, weight, social environment, character, finally.
Often we can determine the approximate height of a child at birth, because it depends on genetic factors. Look at your parents - it’s unlikely that two short people will give birth to a basketball player, is it? So pediatricians measure the newborn baby, weigh him. Then there is the question of harmonious height and weight, because the growth of a child is a direct reflection of his development.
How do nutrition and physical activity affect a child’s growth?
Nutrition also has a huge impact on the growth of a child, because a young body needs proper and balanced nutrition containing vitamins and substances necessary for the construction of a growing body. The diet must contain vegetables, fruits, and dairy products that provide sufficient calcium .
IMPORTANT: Nutrient deficiencies in the diet can cause growth deviations in both directions
Physical activity affects a child's growth in different ways. For example, strength sports and wrestling do not contribute to increasing height, unlike tennis, volleyball, and basketball.
Let's take a look at the approximate norms for the development of a child's height and weight in early childhood and try to figure out what causes excess growth.
The child grows unevenly and spasmodically. In the first year after birth, the child grows and develops quite intensively, then growth begins to slow down a little. If you measure the height of your child at home, then you should allow for errors.
IMPORTANT: After one year and up to four years, the average increase is 2-3 cm per year, then the figures gradually increase - 3-4 cm per year. The next big growth spurt can be expected during puberty, which occurs between 11-14 years for girls and 12-17 years for boys.
What affects a child's weight?
Several factors can affect how quickly a child gains weight. These factors include:
Floor
Boys often weigh more at birth than girls, and they gain weight more quickly in infancy.
Nutrition
Weight gain and growth rate depend on whether the baby consumes breast milk or formula. Breastfed babies gain weight and grow faster than formula-fed babies during the first 6 months. However, this figure may change from 6 months. Breastfed babies may not gain weight and grow as quickly as formula-fed babies from 6 months to 1 year.
Diseases
Underlying medical conditions can cause weight gain to occur slowly. For example, children with congenital heart defects may gain weight more slowly. Conditions that affect nutrient absorption, such as celiac disease, can also lead to slow weight gain.
Premature birth
Premature babies grow and gain weight more slowly during the first year of life. However, many babies born prematurely gain weight quickly in the first months and may catch up to the weight by the first year.
It is important to remember that even if the baby's birth weight was minimal, it will not necessarily be small. The reverse is also true; big kids don't necessarily become tall adults. Knowing the average weight of a child by month can help assess whether the child is growing well, but these measurements are not the only sign of good health.
Research article on the topic: Maternal stress leads to overweight in children.
Table of approximate development of height and weight of children
It all depends on age, so I suggest you consider a table of the approximate development of height and weight of children.
Age | Girls | Boys | ||
Weight, kg | Height, cm | Weight, kg | Height, cm | |
Newborns | 3,330±0,440 | 49,5±1,63 | 3,530±0,450 | 50,43±1,89 |
1 month | 4,150±0,544 | 53,51±2,13 | 4,320±0,640 | 54,53±2,32 |
2 months | 5,010±0,560 | 56,95±2,18 | 5,290±0,760 | 57,71±2,48 |
3 months | 6,075±0,580 | 60,25±2,09 | 6,265±0,725 | 61,30±2,41 |
4 months | 6,550±0,795 | 62,15±2,49 | 6,875±0,745 | 63,79±2,68 |
5 months | 7,385±0,960 | 63,98±2,49 | 7,825±0,800 | 66,92±1,99 |
6 months | 7,975±0,925 | 66,60±2,44 | 8,770±0,780 | 67,95±2,21 |
7 months | 8,250±0,950 | 67,44±2,64 | 8,920±1,110 | 69,56+2,61 |
8 months | 8,350±1,100 | 69,84±2,07 | 9,460±0,980 | 71,17±2,24 |
9 months | 9,280±1,010 | 70,69±2,21 | 9,890±1,185 | 72,84±2,71 |
10 months | 9,525±1,350 | 72,11±2,86 | 10,355±1,125 | 73,91±2,65 |
11 months | 9,805±0,800 | 73,60±2,73 | 10,470±0,985 | 74,90±2,55 |
12 months | 10,045±1,165 | 74,78±2,54 | 10,665±1,215 | 75,78±2,79 |
1 year 3 months | 10,520+1,275 | 76,97±3,00 | 11,405±1,300 | 79,45±3,56 |
1 year 6 months | 11,400+1,120 | 80,80±2,98 | 11,805±1,185 | 81,73±3,34 |
1 year 9 months | 12,270+1,375 | 83,75±3,57 | 12,670±1,410 | 84,51±2,85 |
2 years | 12,635+1,765 | 86,13±3,87 | 13,040±1,235 | 88,27±3,70 |
2 years 6 months | 13,930+1,605 | 91,20±4,28 | 13,960±1,275 | 81,85±3,78 |
3 years | 14,850+1,535 | 97,27±3,78 | 14,955±1,685 | 95,72±3,68 |
4 years | 16,02±2,3 | 100,56±5,76 | 17,14±2,18 | 102,44±4,74 |
5 years | 18,48+2,44 | 109,00±4,72 | 19,7±3,02 | 110,40±5,14 |
6 years | 21,34+3,14 | 115,70±4,32 | 21,9±3,20 | 115,98±5,51 |
7 years | 24,66+4,08 | 123,60±5,50 | 24,92±4,44 | 123,88±5,40 |
8 years | 27,48±4,92 | 129,00±5,48 | 27,86±4,72 | 129,74±5,70 |
9 years | 31,02±5,92 | 136,96±6,10 | 30,60±5,86 | 134,64±6,12 |
10 years | 34,32±6,40 | 140,30±6,30 | 33,76±5,26 | 140,33±5,60 |
11 years | 37,40±7,06 | 144,58±7,08 | 35,44±6,64 | 143,38±5,72 |
12 years | 44,05±7,48 | 152,81±7,01 | 41,25±7,40 | 150,05±6,40 |
13 years | 48,70±9,16 | 156,85±6,20 | 45,85±8,26 | 156,65±8,00 |
14 years | 51,32±7,30 | 160,86±6,36 | 51,18±7,34 | 162,62±7,34 |
Why does a child grow above normal? Causes
Let us highlight the main reasons for high growth:
- Ethnicity (affects the race of relatives)
- Obesity (the child is about 1-2 years ahead of his peers in terms of growth development)
- Early puberty (sex hormones stimulate bone growth)
- Pituitary tumor (excessive release of growth hormone leading to gigantism)
- Klinefelter syndrome (three chromosomes instead of two)
- Marfan syndrome (connective tissue disease)
If the cause of high growth is genetic factors, such as heredity, for example, then it is impossible to influence the situation. However, you can try to prevent subsequent problems with proper diet and exercise.
IMPORTANT: There is no need to panic during early puberty; over time, growth in most cases stops due to the closure of growth zones. In this case, the height of a child who is tall in childhood hardly reaches average height when growing up.
Pathological cases of excessive growth of a child
If high growth is due to pathological factors, then the situation can be influenced with timely and correct diagnosis. For example, when treating a pituitary tumor that secretes growth hormone, the problem of tallness goes away along with the elimination of the problem.
Marfan syndrome and Klinefelter syndrome are practically untreatable.
Parents should be wary immediately if the child is growing larger than normal, because timely identification of the cause is very important at this stage.
IMPORTANT: The doctor, based on the child’s medical history, his growth pattern, laboratory tests, and measurement of the limbs, can determine the cause of the growth disorder and prescribe the necessary treatment.
If you miss the moment of manifestation of diseases, then the problem can become permanent, and it will be extremely difficult to change anything.
IMPORTANT: I would like to draw the attention of parents to the fact that if increased height is not a sign of medical pathology, then you should not interfere with the physiological development of your child’s body.
Tallest child in the world
For example, the mother of the tallest child in the world is proud of her son, who is included in the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest child in the world. His name is Karan Singh. At the age of two, his height was 124 centimeters, and by the age of five he had grown to 170, which is the average height of a man. At the same time, the boy’s growth is not even going to stop.
The study did not find any medical pathologies; doctors explain such a significant growth by genetic inheritance, because the boy’s mother is 220 centimeters tall, which allows her to be the tallest woman in Asia. Karan does not feel any inconvenience because of his height, actively communicates with his peers and dreams of becoming a professional basketball player.
Regardless of the reasons for the increase in child growth, it is worth remembering the need for psychological support for children. Even if growth is a medical problem, the child faces increased attention from strangers, and such children also look older, so more is often demanded of them.
IMPORTANT: In kindergarten, at school, in addition to attention from adults, a child may encounter hostility from peers and experience constant stress.
It is worth explaining to your child that being tall has a number of advantages. For example, it is not without reason that many tall people are described as prominent and stately. As a last resort, you should contact a child psychologist, because
IMPORTANT: the formation of a child’s psyche is the key to his harmonious life in the future.
How does a baby gain weight after a year?
I joined the Moscow clinic, which is finally the closest to us. Today, without any problems and an appointment for a month in advance, immediately after the pediatrician we went to a neurologist. We went to the healthy child’s room.
The pediatrician measured height 67 cm, weight 7285 g. Despite the fact that we are already almost seven months old, we compared them with the norms of 6 months. The doctor said that the baby is normal and average. And then I kept worrying that my sweetie wasn’t gaining much weight. In order to receive milk, we need to go to the other end of Moscow to get a certificate from the clinic at the place of registration, that they don’t give us there....uh...as always. I wrote a refusal to receive vaccinations up to a year, to which the doctor laughed sarcastically, like, what about measles, whooping cough, kindergarten with all that it entails, etc. etc. etc. Lots of horror stories, in general. I weakly fought back with the fact that we live in the forest)))) and diseases won’t get to us there, for sure, until we’re a year old. She complained about regurgitation, which still haunts us. They prescribed us Motilium, do not overfeed and do not turn the child off after eating. Well, they gave me a referral for tests. We'll go and take it in a week if we don't go to grandma's. You still have to go and pick up the card at the local clinic, and bring it along with other documents.
From the neurologist: everything is fine here. The fontanelle is almost overgrown. We have enough skills for our age. The doctor said that we probably won’t crawl. Like it could be hereditary, so to speak. I didn’t crawl in the classic version, but did it sitting on my butt with my leg bent and raking the other one. And our dad crawled for quite a long time. The neurologist also noted that there is a slight residual tone in the legs and feet. You need to do gymnastics. She sent us to the room of a healthy child, where we were shown several exercises so that the child could learn to crawl and learn to stand up in the crib. They told me to sit the baby down, put her in a high chair and let her pull herself up to the table to sit down. Well, we’ve been doing this for a long time already, both in a swing (we use a chair instead) and in a stroller (we’ve been walking while lying down/reclining since we were 3 months old, recently we started raising the back higher). They say how to learn to sit well without falling over, put him on the potty several times a day, so that a year the child does not run away from this potty. They talked about complementary feeding. For myself, I would like to note that pumpkin, carrots, and potatoes should not be given in full portions, 30 grams each, mixed with other vegetables. The yolk can be introduced at 7 months, a pinch at a time, mixed into the porridge. Then increase accordingly. Although my little one doesn’t really eat porridge... I’ll have to try rice porridge.
Well, that's it, basically. We are growing, developing!!
Tall children: tips
To summarize the above, we can give parents some advice. Firstly , if there are deviations in the child’s height or weight, it is imperative to take action: take him to the doctor or, in the case of overweight, pay attention to nutrition and physical activity. Secondly , it is important not to forget about the instability of the psychological state at an early age and about the problems that your child may encounter due to the characteristics of his development and to provide him with all possible support.
Baby fat
Obesity has been compared to a non-infectious epidemic. It covered all civilized countries. Both adults and children suffer from excess weight. In Russia, this disease is diagnosed in every twentieth child, and overweight is observed in every fifth. Only 2% of children are overweight due to health problems. The remaining 98% (just think about these numbers!) eat poorly and exercise little.
For this, I believe, parents should be primarily responsible.
Article on the topic
Chupa Chups instead of a pacifier. The doctor talks about why children get sick and overweight. It is important to understand that it is not enough to give birth to a child and then monitor his diet and weight. In fact, you need to think about the weight of a child in adulthood even during pregnancy. I know for sure that the children most susceptible to obesity are those of women who themselves are overweight or suffer from diabetes.
To prevent a child from developing metabolic disorders and a tendency to gain weight in the womb, a pregnant woman must monitor blood sugar levels, be selective in food, not overeat and thus “not overfeed” the fetus. There is no need to set as your goal the birth of a hero. Birth weight greater than 4 kg is already one of the factors predisposing to obesity.
The first year of a child’s life is no less important, when the gastrointestinal tract develops and eating habits are established. To reduce the risk of obesity in the future, it is important to consider several rules during this age period:
- It is not advisable to switch a baby to formula before 3 months. You need to breastfeed. In maternity hospitals that strive to meet WHO requirements, they will help you establish breastfeeding;
- It is not recommended to introduce complementary foods until six months;
- Do not overfeed your child;
- There is no need to feed your baby while watching cartoons (this not only becomes a bad habit, but also leads to improper production of gastric juice).
At 4-5 years, another critical period begins. A child may begin to gain excess weight due to the fact that parents, having passed the three-year mark, begin to have a more relaxed attitude towards their child’s nutrition and leisure time. Children are overly pampered with sweets, fast food, and gadgets that discourage them from going for walks and being active.
The next stage that requires parental attention is puberty. During puberty, it happens that an overweight teenager loses weight, and sometimes a teenager with normal body weight gains extra pounds.
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