Doctors use growth charts during a baby's checkup to measure height, weight and head circumference and compare these statistics to other babies the same age. These charts, which are released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also help doctors track whether your child's height and weight is in proportion and to ensure he is growing at a steady rate from month to month, then year to year. If you want to keep your own records, you can track your baby's height at home and keep an eye on his statistics in between doctor's visits.
You can supplement your child's growth with dietary supplements like protein drinks, protein biscuits etc. though nutrition from natural foods is the best.
-Activities: The more your child is active physically the more he builds muscles and promotes growth. Activities like cycling, skipping and swimming are known to increase height.
-Exercise: There are certain stretching exercises that will help your child grow tall. The common ones are hanging from a raised bar and sitting on the ground with legs stretched and touching your toes.
Others include:
Suryanamaskar: A set of twelve poses that will really give the spine the stretch that is needed. Not only stretching, there are plenty of other benefits of doing suryanamaskars like it stimulates the secretion of hormones, improves respiration, improves flexibility and makes you fell active and invigorated. Also doing this one exercise a number of times will give you all the stretching you need.
The cobra stretch: Lie on your stomach down with the palms under you. Start arching the back starting with the chin. Arch as far as possible and stay for 5-10 seconds.
-Posture: Posture plays an important role in how tall you look. If you slouch, the whole weight of the body is thrown on the spinal column and the cartilaginous substance between the vertebrae is pressed down. Those kids who tend to slouch and hunch do not seem to be tall even if they have a good height, it also leads to many back problems later in life.
-Sleep: Good sleep promotes growth of the body because it is during that time that the body repairs itself and growth hormones are at their work. Kids need around 8 hours of sleep every night, make sure your kid gets it and keep the distractions away –music, internet and TV at night.
Why isn't my child growing?
Growth delay: When you find that your kid is the shortest among his friends and are worrying that something may be wrong. But the fact is that many children who appear small for their ages are actually growing at a normal rate. This is due to 'Constitutional growth delay' in which the child's bone age remains younger than his actual age.
Don't worry as this will not keep your child from growing, he will grow at a slow pace and may reach puberty later but will catch up with their peers when they reach adulthood. Children with growth delay generally have parents who suffered from it too.
Hormonal causes: Growth hormone that is responsible for stimulating growth is secreted by the pituitary gland that is present at the base of the brain. In some cases the pituitary gland fails to produce enough hormones and the child does not grow as per as his age. Generally an endocrinologist, a doctor that specializes in hormonal abnormalities, can treat this disorder through growth hormone treatment.
Another reason for growth deficiency is hypothyroidism when the thyroid gland fails to produce enough thyroid hormone.
Genetic abnormalities: Certain genetic disorders like Down's syndrome and Turner's syndrome can affect normal growth and development.
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