My 2 years old daughter is not getting taller as she used to?how can i help her?
Mar 7, 2013
Do not stress about your child's growth. Monitoring of your child's growth is the job of your pediatrician. Your doctor plots upon each visit on the growth chart the height (length), weight and head circumference of your child.
To asses if a child is growing normally, it is essential to look at the trajectory of the child's growth curve. Children who are growing normally should follow their growth curve fairly closely, so even if they are at the 5th or 3rd percentile, if that is where they have always been, then they are probably growing normally. Size at age 2 years correlates with mean parental height, reflecting the influence of genes. Therefore, children will shift toward their parents' mean percentile. A formula can be used to calculate the estimated adult height by taking the mid-parental height (mother's height + father's height, divided by 2), and adding 6.5 cm for boys, and subtracting 6.5 cm for girls, with a range of 2 standard deviations (one standard deviation is about 5 cm).
If your child is crossing percentiles or lines on the growth curve, then there may be a medical problem causing him to be short. Red flags that may indicate a growth problem include having a chronic medical condition or other symptoms, such as vomiting, diarrhea, fever, weight loss, poor appetite, poor nutrition, headaches etc. Testing is sometimes requested by your pediatrician when he notices your child is not growing normally to rule out a medical condition causing short stature. One of the most important tests is a bone age, which is the chronological age of your child's bones and is determined by taking an xray of his left wrist and hand .Also, some growth hormones stimulation tests may be done to rule out a growth hormone deficiency.
To asses if a child is growing normally, it is essential to look at the trajectory of the child's growth curve. Children who are growing normally should follow their growth curve fairly closely, so even if they are at the 5th or 3rd percentile, if that is where they have always been, then they are probably growing normally. Size at age 2 years correlates with mean parental height, reflecting the influence of genes. Therefore, children will shift toward their parents' mean percentile. A formula can be used to calculate the estimated adult height by taking the mid-parental height (mother's height + father's height, divided by 2), and adding 6.5 cm for boys, and subtracting 6.5 cm for girls, with a range of 2 standard deviations (one standard deviation is about 5 cm).
If your child is crossing percentiles or lines on the growth curve, then there may be a medical problem causing him to be short. Red flags that may indicate a growth problem include having a chronic medical condition or other symptoms, such as vomiting, diarrhea, fever, weight loss, poor appetite, poor nutrition, headaches etc. Testing is sometimes requested by your pediatrician when he notices your child is not growing normally to rule out a medical condition causing short stature. One of the most important tests is a bone age, which is the chronological age of your child's bones and is determined by taking an xray of his left wrist and hand .Also, some growth hormones stimulation tests may be done to rule out a growth hormone deficiency.
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