Children with stunted growth are partly due to genetics, but the main cause is still due to nutritional factors and lifestyle habits. Let’s find out the causes of stunted growth in children and how parents can solve this problem for their children
1. Causes of stunted growth:
Due to genetics:
Genetics accounts for 23% of the causes of stunted growth in children. The next generation will have the same height as their parents, or a little taller. However, there are still many cases where parents are not very tall but still give birth to tall children. Thus, genetic factors are not all that determine a child’s height. 
Premature babies, lack of supplemental breast milk in early life:
- Mother or baby has an illness during the fetal stage that causes the baby to develop slowly while still in the womb
- Premature babies
- In some cases, the mother has blocked milk ducts, lack of milk, the baby has to be weaned early
All of these lead to stunted malnutrition in children
Children with infectious diseases:
- The baby has respiratory diseases respiratory, asthma, digestive,.. especially in children who are not supplemented with enough breast milk, they are more susceptible to disease than other children. When sick, children also have poor appetite, picky eating, and slow growth.
- Antibiotics in medicine not only kill harmful bacteria in the body, but also kill beneficial bacteria in the intestines, leading to prolonged digestive disorders, which causes children to have poor appetite and food is not fully absorbed.
Inadequate nutrition:
- Children are not provided with adequate nutrients, especially micronutrients that help children grow well in height.
- Children often suffer from digestive disorders due to many reasons (diet, illness, …) that prevent them from absorbing nutrients, especially lacking vitamins necessary for height development such as calcium, iron, zinc, vitamin D, vitamin A …
We can all see that genetics is not the only factor affecting children’s height, but mainly in eating habits and diet. nutrition can help your baby absorb nutrients to grow.
> > > See more: Instructions on how to make 6 delicious dishes from peeled mantis shrimp for family meals.
2. Stunting in Vietnam
What are the consequences of stunted malnutrition in children?
- It affects physical and intellectual development, the quality of the breed, and children are also prone to obesity due to low height.
- In the long term, stunted children who are not intervened in time, when they grow up, are short and are more susceptible to diseases than normal children. This leads to a decrease in the ability to work and labor.
Alarming fact:
The average height after adulthood in Vietnam is much lower than other countries in the region. Many experts are concerned that stunting malnutrition has led to stunting in Vietnamese children when they grow up.
Don’t worry, stunted children can still reach their maximum height when they grow up if their parents detect it early and treat it properly. To be able to detect early signs of stunting in children, observe the child’s development process carefully:
About height:
- Fetal stage: if the child has fetal malnutrition or is born prematurely, the risk of stunting malnutrition is very high. Take good care of the health of mother and baby during pregnancy to avoid health effects on children later.
- The period from birth to 2 years old: Right from birth, parents need to measure the length of the child. This number reflects the child’s development. This is also the period when children “grow up very quickly”, so nutrition for children under 2 years old needs special attention.
- Pre-puberty and puberty: for girls from 8 to 14 years old, boys from 9 to 16 years old is the “growing leg” stage. Girls after their first menstrual period, boys after 18 years old will find it very difficult to grow taller.
About weight:
Similar to height, children’s weight develops very rapidly, especially in the last 3 months of pregnancy, in the first 3 years after birth and in adolescence from 12 to 20 years old. This is also a problem that worries parents: children do not eat well, do not gain weight, look skinny or even malnourished, not as big as their friends.
3. Solutions for stunting
Symptoms that parents should pay attention to to prevent stunting in children:
- Children are lazyeat or eat less.
- Frequent digestive disorders: diarrhea, constipation, irregular bowel movements, …
- Children often cry, are less active and are slow to walk.
- Slow weight gain, height within 2-3 months.
- Difficulty sleeping, startled sleep, often crying.
- “Rice grains” on fingernails: baby’s fingernails are not rosy but have white grains like rice grains.
- Thin hair, easy to fall out, dry skin.
- Weakened immune system, susceptible to infectious diseases.
Solutions to improve malnutrition in children:
Gradually increase protein and calorie intake:
For children with malnutrition, mothers need to increase calories and protein intake more than normal needs to quickly restore the child’s nutritional status. You should use foods of animal origin such as: eggs, meat, milk, fish, shrimp, crab… and you can use proteins of plant origin such as beans, peas, peanuts, sesame.
Supplement with fat, chop food, cook soft
Fats provide twice the energy of starch and protein. In addition, when preparing food for your baby, mothers also need to pay attention to chopping food, cooking it soft, and seasoning it to suit the child’s taste.
Divide into many small meals and improve anorexia
The key to stunting malnutrition is that children have anorexia, leading to nutritional deficiencies
Instead of feeding children 3 meals a day, mothers can divide it into 5-6 smaller meals and give children an extra dinner before going to bed. During the main meal, if the child eats less than half a bowl, mothers can give the child more solid food to suit the child’s strength and reduce the child’s loss of appetite.
>>>See now: 6 simple, easy-to-make porridge recipes for malnourished children
Supplementing micronutrients that affect height
- Calcium: Foods rich in calcium include milk, cheese, dairy products, dark green vegetables, soy products, fish, etc.
- Zinc: Zinc helps increase absorption, increase protein synthesis, cell division, and increase appetite. Zinc also interacts with important hormones involved in bone growth. Foods rich in zinc include red meat, some seafood, whole grains, and some zinc-fortified ready-to-eat cereals.
- Vitamin D: Very few foods naturally contain significant amounts of vitamin D, including some fish liver oils, liver, and animal fats. Foods rich in vitamin D help increase calcium absorption, strengthen bones, and promote growth. Children need to increase outdoor activities and use foods rich in vitamin D and calcium.
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- Small, smooth fibers, very easy for children to eat
- Can be easily processed into weaning dishes suitable for children’s tastes
- Selected from fresh oysters, a specialty of Van Don sea, packaged with high-tech production lines, ensuring food hygiene and safety
- Convenient canned form
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