January 7, 2009 on 4:12 am | In mybachcars.com |
My three year old is quite a big girl. Should I worry??
My three year old daughter is already 1.1 metres tall, (not too sure
in American feet but certainly that is a dood deal past three foot
tall).She weighs just over 21 kilograms which is around 47.5 pounds I
think, but again not 100% sure of old imperial measures. My wife
continues to tell me that she is still within normal range but a
couple of things worry me that I have come across lately. Firstly I
heard on an American TV show that at three years old a normal person
has just reached half their final height. I am hoping I heard wrong
and that the speaker actually said 2 years old as that would mean we
can expect to see a 2 metre+ daughter in 15 years time. Even so our
daughter was about 21 kilos just before she turned 3 and was only a
fraction shorter then than what she is now at 3.6 years old. The
other worrying aspect is that my sister has an eight year old boy who
currently weighs only 20 kilos!!
Am I worrying about nothing and is there not going to be a monster in
the family in the future. Please advise with the truth and available
evidence regardless of what that is. A couple of things that may help
are that both my wife and I are both small to normal. My wife is
about five feet three and I am 75 kilos and 5 foot eight. Also I am
caucasian(i.e Anglo-Saxon) and my wife is Asian being from
Malay/Chinese stock.Hi johnfrommelbourne,
First of all, I’d like to say that every child is different.
As a child, I was referred to a hospital by a school doctor, who
thought I was too small for my age - I was much smaller than other
girls in my class. There wasn’t anything wrong, it is just that I
didn’t fit into their projected growth targets for five year olds. The
hospital visits didn’t turn anything untoward, and I am now a healthy
22 year old (if a little on the short side at 5’). My younger sister
is taller and slimmer than me, and has been since I was 12 years of
age. A friend's ten year old son is almost the same height as me, and
my 15 year old cousin is a couple of inches taller than me.
What I'm trying to say is that everyone grows at different rates -
your sister's eight year old could suddenly have a growth spurt, while
your daughter remains growing at consistent rate.
A child’s adult height depends on many things; the most influential
of these is genetics. Take a look at your family history – remember
that some traits can skip a generation. Environment and health also
play a part.
If you want to take a look at average heights and weights for
children, perhaps these sites might prove useful.
The Centre for Disease Control in the US has drawn up new growth
charts for children. These are available in PDF format, but are based
on US children.
http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/
Regarding the American TV show you saw on predicting your child’s
adult height, any research I could find indicated that it is not
possible to predict a child’s height with 100% accuracy. An ‘educated
guess’ is how predictions of this kind are described, mainly due to
the many differing factors that can affect adult height.
The standard way to predict your child’s height is to use something
called “mid-parental height”, which is the average of the parents’
height. However, new research from the Department of Child Health at
the University of Newcastle has cast doubt on this.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_431000/431967.stm
This Website takes a look at the different methods used to predict
your child’s height. The paediatrician states that the methods are, at
best, a ‘reasonable’ guess.
“Unfortunately, physicians can really do no better. We do know that
genetic factors are of the greatest importance and influence the final
adult height the most.”
http://www.parentsplace.com/babies/physical/qas/0,10338,240231_101021,00.html
“Remember that your child is an individual and will develop at her own
pace. These measurements are only a general guide to help you and your
doctor assess your child's developmental progress. The most important
thing to watch for is consistency — is your toddler growing steadily?”
This site will also give you a formula to check your child’s
development, plus instructions on what the results mean. This formula
is used by doctors in the US – you will need her height, weight and
circumference of her head.
http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/toddler/toddlerwellness/10870.html
These sites also include height calulators:
“There is no such thing as the normal weight for a child. At any
given age, there is a range of weights which most children fall in
between. Most pediatricians use the range of weights that covers 9 out
of 10 children (90 percent) as their definition of "normal." The same
thing goes for height and head size, the other two main things we
measure.”
http://www.drspock.com/article/0,1510,4480,00.html
“A child's adult height is influenced by a number of factors,
including genetics, sex, and overall health and nutrition. Genetics
and the child's gender account for 70% of what goes into deciding how
tall a child will be. The other 30% comes from environmental factors,
such as nutrition, exercise, and any underlying health problems.”
http://www.kidsgrowth.com/hc/height.cfm
See also:
http://www.allaboutmoms.com/heightpredictor.htm
http://www.allaboutmoms.com/heightpredictor.htm
Please remember that many children fall outside so called average
height and weight charts. And I’m sure you’ll agree that as long as
your little girl is healthy, that is all that matters.
If you have an serious worries about your child’s development, the
best option is to check with your GP.
Enjoy your daughter's childhood - I'm reliably informed they are the
quickest to pass, and impossible to get back.
Search terms used:
“Toddler physical development”
“Toddler growth charts”
“predicting adult height”
I hope this reassures you. If you have any further queries regarding
this question, please post a clarification and I will do my best to
address it.
cobrien-gaSorry, I posted that allaboutmoms.com link twice. Please ignore the second entry!
cobrien-ga#If you have any other info about this subject , Please add it free.# |
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