Healthy ways to help children achieve ideal weight and height

Some parents may still not realize how important it is to support the growth of the ideal height and weight of their children from an early age. It should be noted, assessing the physical growth by measuring height and weight can be an indicator to find out whether your child is going through optimal growth and development or not.

Therefore, learn how to allow children to have optimal growth and development but in ways that are definitely healthy.

How do you know the normal growth of children?

Quoted from the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI), there is an easy way to determine the growth of a one year old baby. The trick is to measure:

Body weight up to three times birth weight
Body length is up to 50 percent of birth length
Head circumference increased by about 10 cm

However, it is also said that each child's growth has a different rate so that periodic measurements are needed to ensure that there are no abnormalities in the child's weight and height.

The recommended measurement frequency is monthly until one year of age, every 3 months until age 3 years, every 6 months until age 6 years, and once a year in subsequent years.

Child growth standards

IDAI states that the standard of growth and development of Indonesian children refers to the proprietary growth curve World Health Organization (WHO, 2006) and Center for Disease Control Prevention (CDC, 2000) which measures the child's weight and height and head circumference.

Broadly speaking, the indicators used for children in Indonesia are:

Weight for height (BW / TB)
Height for age (TB / U)
Weight for age (BW / U)

The BW / TB indicator determines the nutritional status of the child by comparing the weight with the ideal weight according to the child's height and is interpreted as obesity, over nutrition, good nutrition, under nutrition, and even malnutrition.

The TB / U indicator compares the height of a child with children of the same sex their age. The interpretation is tall, normal, short stature, and very short stature.

The BW / U indicator divides the child into normal weight, underweight and overweight. This indicator compares the weight of a child with children his age.

Supporting the ideal height and weight of the child to be optimal

By using weight and height as indicators of a child's growth, of course you need to know what are the signs when the child is under or overweight.

One way to find out a child who is experiencing deficiency (underweight) or are overweight (overweight) can be seen by checking body mass index or BMI (Body Mass Index).

According to research from the Cleveland Clinic, a child is underweight if he or she is in the bottom 5 percentile for body weight compared to their height (referring to the WHO and CDC growth indicators). Underweight is also classified not only compared to other children his age, but also his height.

To deal with children who are underweight or overweight, parents need to take several steps to improve nutrition, including the following as reported by the CDC:

Adopt a healthy diet

To help your child have the appropriate weight and height for their age, you will need:

Provide various types of vegetables, fruit, and products or processed wheat
Provide milk with complete ingredients such as whey protein, healthy (vegetable) fats, omega 3 and 6, DHA, to good prebiotics or probiotics to support growth, digestive tract, and endurance
Choose lean red meat, white meat (poultry), fish, seeds and nuts as protein sources
Get used to drinking lots of water
Limit high-sugar drinks, such as sodas
Limit the use of added sugars and unsaturated fats

For children who are underweight, parents may be able to increase their calorie (energy) intake from but still choose healthy food sources. Feeding high-sugar foods such as chocolate, candy, or soft drinks is not a good solution.

It's a good idea to gradually add sources of calories such as potatoes and milk to your child's diet along with other important nutrients. Formula milk can also be a healthy alternative to help children who are underweight and tall in order to pursue optimal growth and development.

Encourage children to stay active

Basically your little one will love to move. It's just that habits such as playing too long on devices, cellphones or computers can make children choose a passive lifestyle.

Therefore, it is highly recommended to set a usage schedule gadget so that the child does not spend his time in silence for a long time. Physical activity will make your little one get benefits that have an impact on height and weight, such as:

Strengthens bones
Lower blood pressure
Reduces stress and anxiety
Increase self-confidence
Helps control weight

Make sure your child gets enough sleep

Little or less sleep can lead to obesity. Why so? This is because when they are sleep deprived, children tend to eat more and are less physically active, which has an impact on weight and height.

Research conducted by the Sleep Foundation shows that sleep deprivation also impacts alertness and attention; cognitive performance; mood; endurance; vocabulary mastery; and learning and memory.

In toddlers, sleep has an important effect on growth. Naps turn out to be important for memory consolidation, concentration, and the development of motor skills that are useful for keeping children active.

In addition, sleep quality is equally important. One sign of poor sleep quality is a child who feels tired even though he has had enough sleep. You can schedule regular bedtime and create a comfortable atmosphere, such as turning off the lights to improve the quality of your child's sleep.

The sleep time needed by your little one tends to be longer than that of adults, with a different duration at each age stage. According to the CDC, here are the sleep needs of children ages 1 to 10:

Age 1-2 years = 11 to 14 hours per day (including naps)
Age 3-5 years = 10 to 13 hours per day (including naps)
Age 6-12 years = 9 to 12 hours per day

One way to support the ideal height and weight of children is that parents need to play the role of an example as well as a guide so that it is easier for them to apply it in everyday life. With the ideal weight and height, the child's growth and development will be more optimal.