You might find it hard not to compare your toddler or pre-school child with another. For some reason, yours may not be as tall, as big or as strong. Well, stop worrying. As long as your child is properly nourished, generally active, mentally alert and in good health, he’s growing fine. It would be a different story if your child is losing weight, lethargic, apathetic and sickly. In this case, a doctor should be consulted.
Slow gains in height and weight in children aged between 1 and 10 are quite normal. There’s no remarkable surge as you saw in infancy or that you will witness when adolescence comes along. Growing at a steady pace,toddlers and pre-school children become heavier by an average of 2 to 3 kg and taller by 6 to 8 cm per year. Some may even grow in an erratic manner – they may keep a ‘holding pattern’ for several months or longer, and suddenly have a spurt in height and weight. This is nothing to get alarmed about.
But growth isn’t just about weight and height. Bones, teeth, muscles and blood are also important to consider.
Growing bones, for example, affect not just your child’s height but also his body proportions. From age 1, his limbs will visibly start to lengthen. His legs will also straighten as his abdominal and back muscles tighten to give him more support. All these will give him an increasingly more mature appearance.
As for growing teeth, they start making an appearance at 6 months of age. By 3 years old, your child should have his entire set of baby teeth (ten on the upper jaw and ten on the lower). Enabling him to eat solid foods, these teeth also serve to stimulate his jaw to grow and act as guides for the permanent set of teeth which will eventually replace them.
Muscles, which are lean tissues, must develop to keep up with your child’s increasing mobility. Meanwhile, your child’s body fat tends to decrease, reaching a minimum when he is approximately 6 years old. This explains why many children this age appear ‘skinny’ but they aren’t necessarily weak or unwell!
Blood plays an important role by transporting nutrients and oxygen to his cells so that he can grow, play and learn well. Conditions that impair the quality of your child’s blood (such as anemias) can be prevented by eating a well-balanced diet.
ENERGY & NUTRIENTS FOR GROWTH
Right nutrition is the foundation for healthy growth. But with their decreasing growth rates, toddlers and pre-school children tend to have a relatively small capacity for eating. Some also develop irregular eating patterns and eccentric food choices (for example, they may easily get bored with their usual foods or want the same food for weeks on end).
You need not get worried over such eating quirks as they are normal. However, you need to ensure that your child receives the right nutrition he needs.
He must have sufficient energy. It is the fuel that enables him to play and learn, his cells to grow, and his internal organs to perform basic bodily functions (including digesting and breaking down food!). Energy is so vital that your child must consume sufficient energy-giving foods (like cereals, grains, tubers and milk) so that his body will not convert protein into energy – a situation which could lead to ‘protein-energy malnutrition’.
The protein your child receives is better off being used for building tissues. Protein is found in milk, dairy products, meat, poultry, fish and legumes (like peas, long beans and soybeans).
Vitamins and minerals perform hundreds of functions. This is why you should give your child fruits and vegetables, along with other foods that contain these micronutrients. B-vitamins (which help the body better produce and utilise energy) can be obtained from meat. Calcium is found in milk, leafy green vegetables and canned fish with bones (eg sardines). Of all these sources, milk provides the highest quality calcium that the body can absorb. Furthermore, milk also contains vitamins A and D which work with calcium to build strong bones and teeth.
Iron is needed for producing red blood cells and transporting oxygen through the blood. Lack of this trace mineral can lead to fatigue, irritability, headaches, lack of energy and even iron-deficiency anemia (which manifests itself from paleness on the face and underneath the lower eyelids). Ensure that your child is getting enough iron by offering meat, poultry, milk, iron-fortified breakfast cereals, dried beans, nuts and dried fruits. Avoid giving iron supplements unless prescribed by a doctor; iron overdose can cause serious problems.
Another trace mineral that is essential for growth is zinc. Deficiency can result in growth failure, poor appetite, decreased taste sensitivity and poor wound healing. Meats and seafoods are good sources for zinc.
The best way to ensure the right nutrition for your child is by offering a well-balanced diet comprising a variety of wholesome foods. This may also include foods – like milk, breakfast cereals and snacks – that have been specially enriched or fortified for optimal growth. In these foods, nutrients have either been replaced (due to loss during processing) or introduced (when they did not exist originally) to meet accepted standards, like the US Recommended Dietary Allowances (US RDA).
KEEPING AN EYE ON GROWTH
Take your child to the doctor at regular intervals for a complete assessment of his growth and development. Using measurements taken during each visit, the doctor will be able to chart your child’s growth patterns and alert you if any problems are detected. Signs of trouble include lack of weight gain or loss of weight over a period of months. They could be warning signs of under-nutrition, an undiagnosed chronic disease, or significant emotional or family problems.
On the other hand, excessive weight gain also poses a significant health problem. Some parents over nourish their children while failing to encourage regular and sufficient physical activity. As a result, their children become overweight and, in some cases, obese. This may increase the children’s likelihood of becoming overweight adults with a higher tendency to develop chronic illnesses (like diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease)in their later years.
If severe illness has temporarily slowed down or halted your child’s growth, the doctor can provide advice on how to help your child’s ‘catch-up growth’ when he recovers.
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