We
have two children, and they are both very short for their age. What
can I feed them to make them grow taller? When
talking about a child's height, you have to keep in mind that
pesky gene pool. At least once a week, I have a parent in my office
who wants me to do sophisticated testing because their child is
shorter than his playmates. When I ask the five-foot-one mother
about the rest of the family, I find out that the father is five-foot-five
and both sets of grandparents are under five-foot-three. With
that kind of genetic background, the chances of giving birth to
a future Shaquille O'Neal are pretty slim.
Just like adults,
children exhibit different growth patterns. In our culture, it's
not that unusual to find men six-foot-six or five-foot-five. At
either height they're considered healthy and normal. We can accept
the same variation in children.
The rule of thumb
is that after the first year of life, youngsters grow about two
inches a year throughout childhood. Between ages three and six,
they grow an average of two to three inches a year. If your child
is following these guidelines, very few pediatricians will recommend
blood tests.
If your child has
short parents, he will probably be a short adult. If your child
has tall parents, he will probably by a tall adult. And if he
has one tall and one short parent, he will probably fall somewhere
in the middle. The formula we use to estimate the height of a
full grown child is to take the parents' height in inches and
apply the Rule of Five. For easy explanation, let's look at a
situation where a child has a five-foot-three mother (63 inches)
and a six foot father (72 inches). Here's how the formula works.
Assuming the child
is a son, we'll take the father's height (72 inches) and add the
mother's height plus five inches (68 inches). Then we add them
together (140 inches), and divide by two (70 inches). The boy
will be about five-foot-ten as an adult male.
The average female
is shorter than the male. So for a daughter, take the father's
height (72 inches) minus five inches (67 inches). Add the mother's
height (63 inches). The result is 130 inches, divided by two (65
inches). The girl will probably be five-foot-five when she's fully
grown.
Unless there's
a serious pituitary imbalance or other rare condition causing
highly abnormal growth spurts or delays, there's nothing to do
but watch your children grow at their own pace. Let me reassure
you that height or lack of it isn't that important if the child
is happy and brimming with good health. |