Recently, there have been many parents who bring their children to do height management in the growth and development clinic, but they always ask, "How much has your child grown in the past six months?" Many parents can't answer, indicating that although parents have a certain awareness of height management, there is still a lot to know about how to evaluate the height of their children and how to guide and monitor.
One. Children grow taller not by age, but by bone age
You may have noticed a very strange phenomenon, some children are obviously taller than their classmates in primary school, but they are not longer in junior high school, why is this?
In fact, it is because the child develops early, and such children usually have a large bone age, resulting in the early closure of the epiphyseal line. In terms of age in life, the time for each child to stop growing taller is different, but the time for the epiphyseal line to close is the same.
Combined with the national standards for bone age assessment, as well as a large number of clinical experiences, the bone age ceases to grow at about 16 years in boys and 14 years in girls.
It can be said to be very precise that the prediction of how tall the child can grow is the direct judgment of the bone age, if the epiphyseal line is closed, it will definitely not be long.
Two. Which children should have their bone age measured as early as possible?
1.Obese and overweight children
Excessive adipose tissue will increase the level of estrogen in the body, accelerate the early development of the child's gonads, and lead to the accelerated closure of the epiphyseal line, which will affect lifelong high. Parents who have overweight babies should be careful, don't be happy because their children are taller than their peers, be careful to end growing early, and be sure to measure their bone age as soon as possible.
2.Early development of children
Girls before the age of 9 and boys before the age of 11 have secondary sexual characteristics, often with large bone age, impaired growth potential, and are more likely to grow taller, parents should pay attention to the physical changes of their children.
3.Small-for-gestational-age infants
For example, children born at 37-42 weeks, with a birth weight of less than 5 pounds, or a length of less than 48cm, and have been shorter than children of the same age, have not achieved catch-up, such children tend to have too slow bone age, resulting in delayed growth and development, and adult height will not be ideal.
4.Children with special height requirements
For example, sports students, art students, ideal colleges and universities usually make special requirements for height, and children who do not meet the height standards are rejected, if parents do not want to let height become a stumbling block, then they should regularly monitor bone age, and find that the bone age corresponds to the adult height is not ideal, so it is necessary to find out and deal with it early.
Three. What is bone age used for?
1.Judge development
Bone age reflects a child's level of development and physical maturity.
2.Identify problems in a timely manner
A child's short stature, precocious puberty, abnormal sexual development, and so on can be found by bone age.
3.Future height
Through the child's current bone age, how much space is there for the child's future growth, if the child keeps up with the growth rate through intervention, the future height will also be increased accordingly.
Four. What should I do if I find that my bone age is too high?
It is found that the bone age is on the high side, and there are many ways to delay the growth of bone age.
1.Control your weight
Adjust your diet and exercise moderately, try not to eat fried foods and nutritional products, and exercise moderately to control your weight.
2.Don't watch romance dramas and romances**
If you often watch the pictures and plots of male and female emotions, it will lead to an increase in estrogen secretion, which can easily lead to the accelerated development of bone age.
3.Do not eat supplements such as bird's nest and royal jelly
The spleen and stomach function of children is weak, and it is easy to "lack supplement" when they often eat tonic foods. Supplements contain a lot of estrogen-like substances, which not only fail to promote physical development, but also induce precocious puberty, resulting in older bone age.
Five. How to get your child to the ideal height?
If you want your child to reach the ideal height, you must learn the trilogy of height management.
1.Be clear about your child's expected height
That is, how much do you want your child to grow, clarify a value, and then all the management measures you do are based on achieving this goal.
2.Personalized height evaluation based on goals
At this time, parents need to take their children to measure their bone age, understand the child's growth and development level, and know it well.
3.Scientific management of height
Identify the diet that affects height, especially the five environmental factors of diet, nutrient supplementation, exercise, sleep, and mood, and integrate these five factors into children's daily life.
If you find that your child is slow to grow taller or is significantly lower than that of children of the same age, you must go to a professional medical institution as soon as possible, and the sooner you intervene, the better the effect.
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Guangzhou Angel Children's Hospital.
A healthy child, a happy family!