I have always loved kids with chubby cheeks and I wanted my kids to have soft, plump and squishy cheeks too and then motherhood happened. While all of us love those squishy cheeks, we all know that it is not a criterion for a healthy baby. When you are a parent, all you want is for your child to be healthy and active. You always look out for information and help on figuring out if your child’s height and weight are ideal for their age.
How to figure out if your child’s height and weight is ideal in India?
In India, for new parents this can become extremely confusing. With so much information around, one should trust their child’s pediatrician and the growth chart to figure out if your child’s growth is on track. Confused about growth chart? Read on.
Growth concerns and milestones
When I became a mother for the first time, it was difficult for me to understand what growth is. However, our daughter’s pediatrician explained to us that growth is measured in terms of increase in size of the body over a period of time. The size of the body includes the height and the weight of the child.
I feel it is my responsibility to make sure that my children are achieving their health goals and milestones, on time. Growth milestones are those behaviours or skills that we see in children as they reach a certain age. These are of course different for different age groups and very often when children don’t reach a certain milestone at the expected age, we have questions. We are concerned if their height and weight is appropriate for their age, but this need not be a cause of worry when we learn how to monitor their growth.
What is growth monitoring?
Measuring the child’s height and weight regularly is also referred to as growth monitoring. The weight and height must be plotted on a chart.[1] Frequency of the measurement varies with age. While for newborns, it’s every few weeks, for an infant it can be charted every month. When my kids became toddlers, I began measuring their height and weight every alternate month.
Growth Chart
With PediaSure’s Grow Right tracker , I can track my child’s growth in an extremely easy and manageable way. Depending on whether the growth is too fast or is off track, growth monitoring helps indicate nutritional deficiencies and any health issues. You will begin to understand growth milestones and if everything is in check. Hence, monitoring the growth of my children is an essential part of parenting for me. Once you get the hang of this you will be able to structure your child’s nutritional plan and other important aspects as follows:
Right Nutrition
It is important that the child eats a complete and balanced meal with essential nutrients to grow well and healthy. You can also include PediaSure in your child’s diet. It has 37 nutrients needed for them to grow right.
Read 3 ways to ensure your child is getting adequate nutrition
Physical activity
“All work and no play make jack a dull boy.”
Physical activity is extremely important for a child’s growth. Playtime and nutrition go hand in hand when it comes to growth.
I believe that if a child gets proper physical activity, he/she will feel hungry at the right time.
Proper rest
One cannot deny the importance of sleep for proper growth and repair. Proper sleep routine helps the body’s natural metabolic processes to recover and restore.
So, this the #FirstStepToGrowRight that I have taken for my kids. What else do you think is important? Do mention in the comments below.
The opinions expressed in this post are the personal views of the author. They do not reflect the views of any brand. Any omissions or errors at the author’s end does not assume any liability or responsibility on any party mentioned in the blog.
[1] https://pediasure.com/child-development-nutrition/average-height-weight-kids
I am so glad I got to know about the growth Tracker too. It’s important to keep a track of a child’s growth so one can ensure that the child is getting the right kind of nutrition.
Growth tracker gives you. the understanding of the nutritional requirement of your child and gives you the comfort of designing the diet of your child accordingly. Great Post
Physical activity is definitely a quintessential element of a child’s growth not just good nutrition.
Great article. I can’t agree more that playtime and nutrition go hand in hand when it comes to growth. Thanks for sharing your experience. It’ll definitely help a lot of parents.