Growth of the child and lag in weight

With the birth of a new person, in the first place, determine its physical parameters. The growth of a child at birth is one of the indicators of its full development. A person, like any other living creature on our planet, has a genetic program that contains information about the individual characteristics of the individual: sex, height, weight, eye color, etc.

Not only at birth, but also during early childhood and adolescence, growth rates will closely monitor all kinds of medical commissions. Whether it's watching a child for up to a year, going to a kindergarten or school, calling on the army service - everywhere they will pay attention, first of all, to the parameters of growth. The ability to grow and develop is the most important in childhood. If a child's growth is delayed, this can mean the development of any pathology.

At any opportunity, the child's height and body weight should be measured and a suitable schedule should be constructed. At the same time, it becomes obvious that the growth of the child is delayed, if any.

[1], [2], [3],

What is growth?

Growth is an increase in the length and volume of the body. Both length and volume should develop proportionally. It is acceptable only a small lag of one indicator from another. If there is a significant advantage of any one indicator, then this is a clear sign that the pathology has begun to develop. The growth of the child is calculated according to certain tables, which provide summary data on height and body weight, depending on the age. It is generally accepted that growth completes its development by the age of 18, although many scientists claim that the human body continues to grow throughout life, but the process is so slow that it is almost not noticeable.

The main driving factor that causes the growth of a child are hormones. Genetic features received by a child from parents, in combination with proper physical development and balanced nutrition against a background of normal hormonal background, give rise to growth parameters corresponding to each stage of development to a growing organism.

Why do we grow?

As mentioned above, hormones are the engine of growth, and the engine without fuel does not work. Fuel, for the development of growth, are the fats, proteins and carbohydrates that enter the body with food, in sufficient quantities. The main building material is proteins, fats are needed to isolate the right amount of energy that children consume in large quantities. The growth of a child can not do without vitamins and trace elements, which, like small bricks, form the foundation for the full development of the body. Internal "construction work" should be adequately supported by external indicators of the child's physical activity. For a normal development of growth and body weight, a full combination of all the above factors is needed.

The monitoring body, carefully monitoring the growth process, is the hypothalamus - a special department in the brain. This controller is able to give commands to permit or prohibit a particular process. If the hypothalamus malfunctions, the child's uncontrolled rapid growth begins, with a significant lag in body weight, leading to a disease called " gigantism." People with pathologically small stature are often called dwarfs. In both cases, not only the growth index suffers, the formation of all vital organs passes with strong defects, which to a considerable extent hinders the further vital activity of the organism.

Coping with the turbulent process of growth of one brain is beyond the power, he is helped by the endocrine system. In a complex combination with each other, they qualitatively cope with work, balancing or prolonging development in a balanced manner. For example, the pancreas and thyroid gland, through the release of their hormonal substances, are able to strengthen the growth of the child and its development, and the adrenal glands - inhibit these same processes.

Factors determining the growth of a child

They can be conditionally divided into genetic, environmental and difficult to classify.

[4], [5], [6]

Genetic factors determining the growth of children

It is believed that the genes that regulate the rate and limit of human growth are more than 100, but it is rather difficult to obtain direct evidence of their role. The influence of heredity in general affects the growth of a child after 2 years of life. There are two periods when the correlation between the growth of parents and children is most significant. This is the age from 2 to 9 years, when the effect of one group of genes (the first family factor) affects, and the age from 13 to 18 years, when the growth regulation depends on other genes (the second family factor). Hereditary factors determine mainly the rate, the possible limit of the growth of the child and certain final features of the physique under the optimal conditions of life and upbringing. With the non-optimal conditions of life and upbringing, the maximum possible growth limit is not realized. The objects of genetic and environmental regulation, with varying tempos and growth limits, are mainly endocrine-humoral growth stimulants, their carrier proteins and receptors for stimulants or inhibitory growth factors. First of all, it is a system of growth hormone.

The main factors regulating and determining fetal growth are uterine blood flow and placental perfusion. The hypothalamic-pituitary system, apparently, does not affect these processes, since in anencephaly the growth of the fetus is not impaired. It is possible that the placenta among the many low-molecular peptides it produces also produces growth factors. It can be considered growth hormone and chorionic somatomamotropin. Thyroid fetal hormones also can hardly be growth factors, but it is proved that their influence is necessary for the formation of neurons and glial cells of the brain. The most convincing growth effect of insulin. In postnatal growth, endocrine regulation and stimulation become very important. Growth hormones are the growth hormone of the pituitary (STH), thyroid hormones and insulin. Growth hormone stimulates chondrogenesis, while thyroid hormones affect osteogenesis more. STG acts on the growth cartilage indirectly. Actual agents for the realization of many effects of growth hormone is a group of factors formerly known as somatomedin and now attributable to a complex of insulin-like growth factors 1, 2 and 3. In turn, the effect of the latter can be determined by the activity of production of specific binding proteins for each of these factors. We also describe the activation of the products of all these intermediary factors under the influence of the development of the growth hormone itself. Some of the growth factors are synthesized in the liver and, possibly, in the kidneys under the influence of STH. The role of STH has relatively little impact on the growth of a child to 2-3 years and is especially important in the period from 3 to 11 years. Possessing protein-anabolic action, STG promotes the growth of not only tissues, but also muscles and internal organs. In addition, it increases the water content of the tissues.

The greatest growth effect of thyroxine is determined in the first 5 years of life, and then in the prepubertal and puberty periods. Thyroxin stimulates osteogenic activity and increased maturation of bones. Androgens, acting mainly in the prepubertal and pubertal periods, enhance the development of muscle tissue, endochondral ossification and chondroplastic bone growth. The action of androgens as growth stimulants is short-lived. After the debut of this effect, one can observe, observing the onset of prepubertal growth growth. The essence of this growth jump is the summation of two endocrine, growth-stimulating effects-the pre-existing growth hormone and thyroxine system and the new stimulant-androgens of the adrenals and gonads. Following pubertal growth acceleration, androgens affect the closure of epiphyseal growth zones and thus contribute to its cessation.

Mediocre factors determining the growth of a child

The influence of environmental factors on the growth rate of children has been studied for almost 200 years. The most important is the influence of nutrition. A significant nutritional imbalance that leads to deficiency of essential amino acids, vitamins and mineral components, as well as relatively moderate energy insufficiency, can lead to growth retardation in children. Moderate degrees of nutritional deficiency only affect the rate of growth. This increases the time of growth and maturation, later sexual development occurs, but the final growth of the child may not decrease. Large degrees of food insufficiency are not compensated by the lengthening of the development period and lead to the stunting and preservation of the child's body proportions. Fasting the child of the first weeks and months of life inhibits, in parallel with the growth, the normal proliferative activity of brain cells and can lead to a decrease in the cellularity and mass of the brain with a decrease in its functionality in subsequent periods of life. Similarly, starving a teenager can affect the formation of the sexual sphere and manifest as a violation of her functions in adulthood.

Deficiency of some food components selectively disrupts the growth processes of children. These components include vitamin A, zinc, iodine.

Very important are the current ideas that the activation of the whole chain of hormonal growth stimulants is very significantly determined by the intensification of nutrition. The most sensitive to food supply is IRF-1 (insulin-resistant factor) and IRF-3-SB (binding protein). The energy value of nutrition can be an intensifying factor even with a small part of the growth hormone itself. This explains the possibility of the phenomenon of alimentary acceleration and, on the other hand, significant changes in the rate of growth in children, even with a moderate restriction of appetite and real nutrition. Food is the most important factor in the environment, determining both the speed and the growth potential, and its final results.

The question of the relation of nutrition to biological age and the forthcoming life expectancy of mammals and humans has been put relatively long ago. The possibility of alimentary stimulation of growth is proved. This problem has already attracted the attention of specialists of the World Health Organization.

Intensification of nutrition significantly increases the rate of biological maturation, accelerating the course of "biological clocks" of animals. The significance of these universal and fundamental general biological laws is very great. Someday, on their basis, generations will be formed with a slow, optimal development in harmony and maximum terms of the life to come. Today, these problems should not be raised and, even more so, implemented in practical technologies of baby food. At present, the risk of malnutrition and starvation of children, the risk of qualitatively inadequate nutrition are many times more significant for full development, and for the longevity of children.

The most important growth stimulator essential for the full-scale formation of the skeleton structures, the achievement of their final dimensional parameters and histological differentiation, is the motor activity, which provides sufficient mechanical stress on the bone. Such loads directly determine the activation of osteoblast function and the mineralization of the osteoid. It is proved that in the presence of mechanical load, the growth in length and thickening of the bone can be adequate even at a slightly lower level of supply with calcium, phosphorus and vitamin D. Particularly significant stimulation of growth processes is provided by such physical activities as volleyball and basketball.

On the contrary, the excessive vertical load, which occurs, for example, when carrying weights, has the property of inhibition of growth. Therefore, the doctor must constantly monitor the child's mode of life, avoiding neither hypokinesia, nor doing sports or work that can adversely affect development.

An important aspect of the regime is the sufficiency of sleep. It is in a dream that all the major changes in metabolism and cells that determine the growth processes of the skeleton and the processes of differentiation in the tissues of children are carried out.

The emotional state of the child, his joy and failure also affect the implementation of the growth program. Mental tension, depression, trauma always lead to inhibition of growth. Such psychologically difficult situations for the child, as the first entry into a kindergarten, day nursery or school, can slow down the growth for several weeks. A series of failures in school or conflicts in the family can lead to a significant lag in growth. This is due to the fact that neuroendocrine mechanisms, activated in the presence of anxiety and depression, primarily activation of the sympathetic-adrenal system, lead to the blocking of the processes of growth and development of children.

Acute and chronic diseases of the child also affect the growth processes. Repeated acute respiratory diseases, childhood infections, repeated intestinal diseases and dysfunctions can in their totality for a long time break the anabolic processes in the child's body. In chronic diseases, microcirculatory disorders in tissues, chronic hypoxemia, and the presence of various toxins in circulating blood can also act in this direction.

The influence of different climatic and geographical conditions can also be attributed to the category of environmental factors. It is proved that the hot climate and high altitude conditions have a retarding effect on the growth processes, but can simultaneously accelerate the maturation of children significantly. Widely known fluctuations in the growth rate due to the seasons of the year, its acceleration in spring and braking in the autumn-winter months. Seasonality of growth obliges doctors to make estimates of the growth rate of preschool and school-age children primarily on the basis of annual dynamics. An estimate of growth over a shorter period may be erroneous.

The influence on the growth of a child of the group of factors that was designated as an unclassified group was least studied. These include such as the ordinal number of pregnancy and childbirth, the term of onset of labor, the mass of the fetus (newborn) at the time of its birth, the age of the mother and, to a lesser extent, the father, the child's birth season. The degree of influence of all these factors is relatively small, but highly reliable.

In general, the child's growth tendency under normal conditions is relatively stable and obeys the law of channeling (i.e., conservation of speed). Some adverse effects that disrupt the normal growth rate of the child can be subsequently neutralized by the phenomenon of catching up, or compensating, growth, i.e., accelerated growth that occurs after the elimination of adverse effects. However, compensating growth is not observed in all cases of growth retardation, and its mechanisms differ significantly from normal, which determines the temporary nature and incompleteness of restoring growth in children who have undergone its arrest. This causes pediatricians to be more active and cautious about the prevention of growth disorders.

From what the child grows poorly?

From the examples given, one can clearly see the reasons why the child's growth slows down or stops completely. Internal disturbances in the mechanism of hormone production or failure in the regulation of metabolic processes is only one of the possible variants of the development of pathology. It has long been observed and scientifically proven that children surrounded by an unfavorable atmosphere of life, with poor nutrition, frequent stressful situations, with weak physical and mental activity are poorly developed, weak and lagging behind in growth from normal indicators.

Good life, excellent nutrition can also cause disorders in the growth and development of the child's body. The surplus of intake of one of the building materials in the body is capable of giving unnecessary results. A vivid example is the infatuation of children with sweet and flour products, carbonated drinks. The intake of large amounts of fats and carbohydrates leads to the formation of obesity, the body can not cope with processing the incoming lot of "building materials" and arranges "deposits" of fat around the internal organs, increases subcutaneous fat. This leads to a rapid set of body weight, and the child's growth slows down.

That is why it is important to eat the right, balanced nutrition of children, exercise and create a positive emotional background. A healthy, fun, enthusiastic child will not be obese, even if he uses a large cake for one sitting. Eaten cake is quickly processed into energy and splashed out in an active motor form.

Weight lag

This is a delay in increasing body weight in comparison with the norms already in infancy. In 95% of cases, the reason for this is simply a lack of food, or the amount of food given to a child is normal, but the child does not eat it. Rarely the reason that the child's body weight is too low is some concomitant chronic disease (kidney failure, heart pathology, tuberculosis, malabsorption syndrome or frequent vomiting). In underdeveloped countries, the reason for this seems to be the poverty of the population. In the UK, this is often caused by various domestic difficulties, a bad relationship between mother and child, depriving the child of his "emotional rights" and unreasonable feeding habits.

Test feeding is the best way to detect breastfeeding defects in infants. The baby is weighed before and after feeding (the weight of any excreta is included), and this is done during several feeding (feeding at 6 am is the most abundant), and at 1 pm the most meager. When breastfeeding, be sure to check the size of the opening in the nipple (it should be large enough and when the bottle is turned upside down, milk from it should leak large drops).

Basic laboratory and instrumental examination

Sowing from the middle portion of urine, chest X-ray, determination of urea and electrolytes, calcium, protein, thyroxine, thyroid stimulating hormone, leukocyte formula of peripheral blood in the serum.

[7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13]

How to become high?

Many people suffer from the fact that, in their opinion, they do not have a sufficiently high growth. The reason is hereditary predisposition. If the child's parents are not tall, then most likely, the growth of his own will either be like that of parents, or not much higher. But there are methods by which you can increase the growth of a child by 10-15 or more centimeters. There are special schemes by which you can calculate the final growth of the child, upon reaching the age of majority. If parents want their baby to be tall, slender, then from early childhood you need to take care of it. Many sports contribute to a change in body length in a larger direction.

Volleyball or basketball sections, jumps in height and length, pull-up - that's not a complete list of physical exercises that can positively affect the rapid and correct growth of the child's body for all parameters of length and body weight. Even as an adult, giving preference to one of the sports, you can increase your already formed growth by several centimeters. There would be a desire on your part, and the body will always gratefully accept any physical exertions aimed at its recovery.

True, do not forget about the kinds of sports that "slow down" the growth of a child. These include all kinds of wrestling, sambo, judo and weightlifting. Disproportionate physical loads have a bad effect on the bone-ligament apparatus, which, among other things, contributes to the formation of chronic diseases and injuries in the joints of the limbs and intervertebral discs.

Good nutrition - good growth of the child

Full nutrition is necessary for normal life to any organism. The growth of the child in some periods begins to develop spasmodically. Periods of rapid growth are replaced by a temporary fade-out. At such moments, the body particularly needs support and the receipt of an additional amount of basic macro and microelements.

Food not saturated with products containing calcium can lead, at moments of rapid growth, to an acute shortage of this trace element in the body, which in turn will affect the skeleton of the skeleton. Bones become fragile, teeth begin to deteriorate. If you do not make an adjustment to the diet in time, do not connect additional calcium intake, with the help of vitamin complexes, you can miss the moment and cause irreparable damage to further development, so that a child's growth may slow down or stop altogether.

Constant monitoring of the development of the body, will allow during the time to avoid many troubles. So, the presence of diseases of the intestine, too, can lead to a halt in development. Constant problems with the digestive system lead to a decrease in the iron content in the blood, the so-called "iron deficiency anemia" develops. Anemic children have a pale color of the skin, a bad mood because of the constant discomfort in the abdomen. The child's growth slows down, until it stops completely. The solution to the problem of iron deficiency is simple - additional intake of special drugs. As a rule, they are appointed courses, to a month twice a year. It is possible to include the intake of iron preparations in the main course of vitamin support.