
When it comes to the growth of your child, there are a couple factors to keep in mind to achieve his/her optimal adult growth potential.
Here are a few risk factors that affects growth:
Anthropometric Deficit 1
Nutritional Inadequacy 3
Feeding Issues 2
Health Conditions 3
Common types of feeding difficulties:
Limited Appetite
Selective Intake
General Feeding Rules:
Avoid distractions
Avoid using food to reward child
End meal times after 20-30 minutes
Provide age appropriate portions
Provide 3 meals & 2 snacks to encourage appetite
Encourage independent feeding & tolerate mess
Introduce new foods every week
Encourage good behaviour and practice time-out if child misbehaves
Impact of Nutrition on Child Height
Genes play a role in determining height. But your child has the potential to grow to a mid-parental height (somewhere between how tall you and your spouse measure), and one of the factors that determines that, is nutrition1.
In the first 5 years of life, nutrition has 80% influence of growth while genetics contributes only 20%2. Thus, it is important to ensure a complete and balanced diet to prevent stunting or under-development.
A few studies in the past have made some compelling arguments for achieving optimal height:
Social Prominence
Success in Academics and Career
Sports Performance
Optimal height can be achieved with the right nutrition. Ensure that your child grows up with complete and balanced nutrition, especially during the first five years of life.
Reference:
1 Jelenkovic, A.et.al. Genetic and environmental influences on height from infancy to early adulthood: An individual-based pooled analysis of 45 twin cohorts. Dci. Rep. 6,28496; dol: 10.1038/srep28496 (2016).
2 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-much-of-human-height/
3 https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/caveman-politics/201210/it-s-weird-candidate-height-matters-in-elections
4 https://www.livescience.com/16590-height-choosing-political-leader.html
5 http://digitalcommons.spu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1051&context=honorsprojects
6 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10519-014-9644-z