My kids want to grow. How can I help them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are they willing to do the work? Ok, here goes.

Basketball, running, lots of stretching exercises (pull ups on bars), yoga, swimming - every day.

Lots of good nutritious food. Don't give them junk or fried food. Severely limit added sugar and processed foods. Give them good quality organic protein, and lots of green and colorful veggies. Whole grain plant based foods. Organic dairy.

Multivitamin every day.

Good personal hygiene and home hygiene.

Good quality sleep.

Does this really do it??

No, of course not, but by the time you realize it didn't make you taller, you'll realize that it made you a lot healthier and stronger.

[Anonymous]

My son is neurotically picky about food, eats almost nothing, and is 4'8"- he just turned 9

I am over 6 feet tall and his dad is average. He seems to take after my side of the family. We did nothing to encourage his growth. I hope for him that he settles at around 6'0-6'3, not taller than that like most of the men in my family, because they have so many heart, circulation, and joint issues related to their size.

Being above average in height/weight doesn't seem to have good long-term outcomes.

[Anonymous]

Once they hit puberty -- weight lifting

no supplements, nothing scary ... just learning to do it, safely

[Anonymous]

Yoga and pilates promote stretching and good posture. Maybe you'll get .5"?

[Anonymous]

Barring malnourishment or a genuine medical issue- it‘s all in the genes. All.

You won’t know a thing about their eventual sizes until after puberty- which very often brings major surprises. Plenty of kids end up unexpectedly short or unexpectedly tall (as compared to their parents)- taking after other relatives. Some kids are tall when young but stop growing early and end up short-average. Others are tiny when young but end up very tall. No way to predict (absent medical testing).

All of this stuff about milk, vitamins, sleep etc is nonsense- in the context of a healthy American kid whose pediatrician has no concerns. Which I’m sure is the case here.

[Anonymous]

Milk has the biggest effect. I saw a study about how second generation Asians are so much taller than their immigrant forebears and it is almost all attributable to the difference in the amount of dairy consumed here versus asia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are they willing to do the work? Ok, here goes.

Basketball, running, lots of stretching exercises (pull ups on bars), yoga, swimming - every day.

Lots of good nutritious food. Don't give them junk or fried food. Severely limit added sugar and processed foods. Give them good quality organic protein, and lots of green and colorful veggies. Whole grain plant based foods. Organic dairy.

Multivitamin every day.

Good personal hygiene and home hygiene.

Good quality sleep.

Does this really do it??

DP. Not at all. PP knows nothing. You can lay and eat all day and grow taller. Being healthy is good too. However, you must feed the child if that child is to hit their height potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Barring malnourishment or a genuine medical issue- it‘s all in the genes. All.

You won’t know a thing about their eventual sizes until after puberty- which very often brings major surprises. Plenty of kids end up unexpectedly short or unexpectedly tall (as compared to their parents)- taking after other relatives. Some kids are tall when young but stop growing early and end up short-average. Others are tiny when young but end up very tall. No way to predict (absent medical testing).

All of this stuff about milk, vitamins, sleep etc is nonsense- in the context of a healthy American kid whose pediatrician has no concerns. Which I’m sure is the case here.

These are Asians giving these recommendations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Milk has the biggest effect. I saw a study about how second generation Asians are so much taller than their immigrant forebears and it is almost all attributable to the difference in the amount of dairy consumed here versus asia.

I have seen this with my own eyes. Son at 6 feet tall at 16 years old, parents are shorter than me at 5'4'".I saw this in South Asian, Chinese, and Indian kids here in the U.S. In my own classroom, over and over again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Milk has the biggest effect. I saw a study about how second generation Asians are so much taller than their immigrant forebears and it is almost all attributable to the difference in the amount of dairy consumed here versus asia.

I have seen this with my own eyes. Son at 6 feet tall at 16 years old, parents are shorter than me at 5'4'".I saw this in South Asian, Chinese, and Indian kids here in the U.S. In my own classroom, over and over again.

You have seen what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Barring malnourishment or a genuine medical issue- it‘s all in the genes. All.

You won’t know a thing about their eventual sizes until after puberty- which very often brings major surprises. Plenty of kids end up unexpectedly short or unexpectedly tall (as compared to their parents)- taking after other relatives. Some kids are tall when young but stop growing early and end up short-average. Others are tiny when young but end up very tall. No way to predict (absent medical testing).

All of this stuff about milk, vitamins, sleep etc is nonsense- in the context of a healthy American kid whose pediatrician has no concerns. Which I’m sure is the case here.

These are Asians giving these recommendations

It is true that the Asian mindset might be that a healthy mind makes a healthy body and physical activity is also emphasized. Honestly, I am so jealous of older Asian folk exercising at the gym and being lean and into physical activity, and then there is my mom and FIL, just sitting and moaning that they are not called and how they are miserable. You tell them to go do something, and they are asking what, there is nothing for me to do. They have sciatica, diabetes, hurting leg, headache, high blood pressure... so all those exercising are just in great health?
I am not saying that many white people don't exercise and have activities and that many Asian people are never exercising, I am just saying that it has been my perception that the ethnic Asian population in the U.S. in my gym and in my neighborhood appears to be more active than the older white population.
However, if a growing kid is not eating enough, signing up for a sport will only burn more calories and prevent the maximum height potential.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hormone therapy FULL STOP

Looks like this costs at least $10k /year for daily shots over the course of a few years, and should result in 1–3” in growth. Doesn’t sound worth it.

I’d imagine plenty of upper middle class/wealthy men would absolutely pay 50-100k for a decent chance to end up 5’9-5’10 for example rather than 5’6-5’7

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Loads of dairy and meat, like loads and loads.
DS had the potential to be 6'2", we know because of the x-ray, but his eating was non-existent until 13 years old. He never touched milk, had ice cream a bit, we do not know if he has an allergy, but I do, DH is lactose intolerant and after Forumla he refused. The pediatrician said, eh, let him be.
All his friend who chugged milk and ate food and protein like there is a cow farm behind their houses made it past 6 feet.
Even if their parents were barely 5'3 or 5'4 both.

I don’t know if there is any truth in this but my son loves food and has always eaten a lot. He’s 15 and 5’11, which doesn’t sound terribly tall except that he’s likely not done growing and towers over both of us already. Im not even 5’1 and DH is not close to that.

Still, I wouldn’t give extra calories unless your doctor suggests this. Don’t force feed your kids. If they are hungry, try healthy protein.

Please reread my post that stated "had the potential to be 6'2" based on the x-ray. This is what the endocrinologist told us and sent us to a nutritionist to learn how to best fuel our kid and give him food so he can reach his height potential.
I never said that he was going to grow more than his genetic potential. But, you can always stunt your height growth if you do not eat enough calories that your body needs to grow. We had an extreme case of below 1 percentile in height and weight. His cousin whose parents are shorter than DH and I grew to 6'2". The difference was as a kid he had an appetite that made him obese, but also tall. I suppose the middle ground here is the best.
If OP's child eats like a horse, then I have no advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Loads of dairy and meat, like loads and loads.
DS had the potential to be 6'2", we know because of the x-ray, but his eating was non-existent until 13 years old. He never touched milk, had ice cream a bit, we do not know if he has an allergy, but I do, DH is lactose intolerant and after Forumla he refused. The pediatrician said, eh, let him be.
All his friend who chugged milk and ate food and protein like there is a cow farm behind their houses made it past 6 feet.
Even if their parents were barely 5'3 or 5'4 both.

How did an x-ray predict height? Was it the hand X-ray?

According to the NIH “ Height is a polygenic trait with a high degree of heritability.”
It’s also related to ethnicity. It’s easier to tell who is from Guatemala because they are among the shortest ethnic group in Central and South America. When they move out of that culture though and move into a place like America they tend to gain inches and weight. Same with certain Asian countries.

But it’s still overwhelmingly genetic. And some children can get their height from grandparents or great grandparents while their siblings get their parents height.

Yes, hand x-ray at 13. Showed constitutional growth delay. We were given a harsh lecture by both Georgetown's pediatric endocrinologist and nutritionist about providing food to our child. You see he did not want to eat and was in a high calorie-burning sports daily.

My grandpas on both sides were very tall, grandmas not so much. DH is tall, I am not too tall, 5'5".
DS' paternal grandma was almost 6 feet tall. As was DS' paternal great-grandpa and paternal grandpa was of average male height. I am of Balkan ethnicity. DH tends to have Genetics. Though my parents were short, that was due to my dad being born in 1938 and my mom(premie who survived in a shoe box next to the wooden stove) in 1947 and having basically no nourishment during and in the aftermath of WWII in devastated Yugoslavia. It was not the case of, hey parents are short, so there is that. It was a case of DS being FTT completely. He did not eat. You can google the height of Balkan Yugoslavs, freakishly tall people. I am considered a hobbit there.

Hence, if OP's kids are eating sufficient calories, I do not have advice for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I should say, they’re not picky. They try lots of new stuff.

Issues are:
-finding meals all 3 to like at the same time
-they like it enough, but don’t love it enough to go back for seconds
-occasional meals they don’t like. While they try it, they only take the one bite of each ingredient.
-already challenging as it is, don’t even know that I could do better

Perhaps they are full. Do not push overeating, it is a terrible habit.