“My son is 3 years old. By the look at him, he seems fine. But why does he look smaller than his friends of the same age?”
Mum, this could be a question that keeps running in your mind lately. Making sure that our children grow normally with his age is a difficult task.
Human beings can indeed be at various heights. But for children, it is not always like so.
Your son is smaller than his friends may not be due to your family genetics. It may be because he is a “BOSS”! A little boss that you may not realise you had that could be the reason for your wonder.
Check on the checklist below if any of these are true.
“Little boss” check:
-
He is a picky eater
Your son rules on what to eat and what to throw. You find yourself struggling to feed him food such as fish, chicken or rice.
He may only choose to eat plain pasta and that’s it. Or he may only want to eat plain rice with only soy sauce. Oh boy.
A picky eater has more tendency to have a lack of important nutrients for healthy growth. Being picky is very common to toddlers which can be a great reason for why he is smaller.
Perhaps you can try these low-stress strategies to get your picky eating children to eat.
-
His mealtime can be anytime
His breakfast is sometimes at 9 am or 10 am, or his lunch is at 3 pm or 5 pm, depending on your availability to prepare his meal?
Unset mealtime can make the child eat less. It is recommended to serve your child at least 3 meals per day, and alternate with healthy snacks in between mealtime.
Setting a proper mealtime for children is crucial not only so they can learn to be disciplined with time but to make sure that they get enough nutrients in a day.
-
He takes more junks than real food
Junk food tastes better than real food, so this will make them feel more attracted to eat chips, cookies or chocolate than having a proper lunch.
Plus, junk food can be high in calories, hence they will feel full and refuse to eat their meal.
-
He didn’t really take a nap
Nap at least one time during the day can be very helpful in his development. By taking a nap, he allows his body to rest while releasing certain hormones that are very useful in their physical growth and mental development.
Besides, studies also suggest that by taking a nap, a child’s mood can be elevated and help them to learn better.
So mum, did you tick at least one from the boxes above? Congratulations, you are officially having a “little boss”!
The acts mentioned above may interfere with their nutrients intake and body metabolism. No wonder his height and weight have been static since 6 months ago, right?
Important Nutrients For a Taller Kid
Nutrients deficiency may make our children smaller than his friends.
Bring a storm or the rain, a supermum always knows what to do. Try your best to increase the intake of these key nutrients for his better growth and development.
-
Protein
Protein is essential to a human body. For example, protein is vital in the development of healthy bones and muscles.
Overall, an increased intake of protein will support your child development in terms of healthy height and weight. There are varieties of high protein food such as tofu, soybean, tempeh, fish, chicken, or milk and yoghurt.
-
Calcium and vitamin D
Calcium is crucial in the development of strong bones. And you need vitamin D to help better absorption of calcium so our body can make bones efficiently.
You can try to increase the intake of both nutrients by feeding them cheese, milk, yoghurt, spinach, broccoli, mushrooms and by letting them play in the morning sunshine.
-
Other vitamins & minerals
Vitamins and minerals such as vitamin C, iron, zinc, magnesium, vitamin B are important in keeping the hormones in balance to support a child’s physical and mental development.
Feed your children with a variety of healthy foods such as fish, mushrooms, fruits and vegetables to make sure that they meet the recommended daily intake.
Children hit the growth and development chart at a different pace from one another.
What matters is to make sure they receive enough nutrients, plus with healthy physical activities so they can grow well.
A child at a toddler year may be a “boss”, but mum is a “queen”. She always has more power.