After the rapid growth in the first three years of life, children typically experience an average growth rate of 6.2cm per year before entering puberty. To ensure that a 3-year-old maintains this standard growth rate, parents should apply proper healthcare methods. Here are 13 important tips to help parents foster their child’s growth effectively and achieve the desired results.
Ensuring Adequate Nutrient Intake
Dietary intake remains the most crucial factor influencing a child’s height potential, accounting for approximately 32% of the outcome. To promote optimal physical development, children need to receive sufficient amounts of various nutrients, including protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals. The quantities of these nutrients should be calculated to meet recommended requirements and maintain a balanced nutrition within the body.
Additionally, it is essential to supplement the diet with nutrients that are beneficial for bone health and support better height growth. Specifically:
Calcium: This mineral is a primary component of bone structure, with approximately 99% of calcium stored in bones, nails, and teeth. Calcium-rich foods include milk, yogurt, almonds, cheese, curly kale, bok choy, broccoli, lima beans, soybeans, salmon, tuna, and mackerel.
Collagen: Particularly collagen type 2, it contributes to the formation of cartilage and plays a vital role in nourishing joints, enabling flexible joint movement for optimal bone development. Collagen type 2 can be found in chicken meat (especially the cartilage portion), bone broth from pork/beef, sardines, organ meats (liver, heart), curly kale, egg whites, citrus fruits, bok choy, and broccoli.
Protein: Protein helps maintain mineral density in bones and reduces the risk of fractures. Supplementing protein supports muscle strength, joint recovery, and high-performance exercise. Sources of protein for children include eggs, chicken breast, almonds, cheese, yogurt, lean beef, fish, lentils, and bread.
Vitamin D: The body requires vitamin D to enhance calcium absorption and prevent calcium excess in the body. Vitamin D sources include salmon, tuna, oranges, beef liver, milk, yogurt, egg yolks, mushrooms, and soybeans.
Vitamin K: Alongside vitamin D, vitamin K facilitates the absorption and metabolism of calcium into bones to fulfill its nourishing role. Foods rich in vitamin K include fish, cheese, egg yolks, chicken meat, yogurt, green leafy vegetables, kiwi, and avocado.
Other minerals: Magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, potassium, and iron are important minerals that participate in various bodily functions, promoting better overall health and growth in children. These minerals can be supplemented through foods such as fish, whole grains, seaweed, lima beans, green leafy vegetables, soybeans, various seeds, and fruits.
It is important to note that consulting a healthcare professional or pediatrician regarding a child’s specific dietary needs is highly recommended to ensure their nutritional requirements are met.
Encourage Regular Physical Activity
A 3-year-old child is already capable of walking proficiently and participating in specific physical activities. Parents should encourage their child to engage in daily physical activity and maintain a familiar routine. Physical movement is the best way to activate bone growth, release tension in muscles, and stretch the bones. Exercise also stimulates the body to produce growth hormones, supporting the height development process.
Appropriate forms of physical activity for a 3-year-old include walking, basic yoga poses, standing push-ups, stretching exercises, learning to ride a bike, and swimming. The intensity of exercise should be suitable for the child’s abilities and current strength level to ensure optimal effectiveness and avoid causing any bone or joint injuries.
Arrange Meals Scientifically
In addition to ensuring meals are nutritionally balanced, the arrangement of meals is also important. You can divide the daily meals into three main meals and two snacks to meet the continuous nutritional needs and reduce the amount of calories consumed in a single sitting. In addition to main meals, you can supplement snacks with whole grains, milk, yogurt, fruits, etc., to enhance the healthy nutrition for your child.
Encourage Outdoor Activities
Engaging in outdoor activities not only promotes the development of bones and joints but also helps the child synthesize an adequate amount of vitamin D. Mild sunlight exposure before 9 am and after 3 pm allows the body to produce vitamin D under the skin through the mechanism of ultraviolet radiation. Parents should guide their child to participate in enjoyable activities, picnics, or outdoor exercises during these time frames. Ensure the outdoor space is well-ventilated, clean, and the weather conditions are not overly harsh.
Establishing a Bedtime Routine
During sleep, the body undergoes metabolic processes, energy conversion, relaxation of bones and joints, and detoxification. This is why parents need to prioritize quality sleep for their child to allow them to reach their full potential and promote better overall health. A 3-year-old child needs 11-13 hours of sleep per day, divided into approximately 2 daytime naps and 1 nighttime sleep.
From 11 pm to 1 am, the body releases the highest amount of growth hormones during the day, which contributes to more favorable height development. It is recommended for a 3-year-old child to go to bed before 9 pm to ensure deep sleep occurs within the growth hours. Here are some tips to improve sleep quality and optimize height potential:
Avoid tight-fitting clothes that may hinder bone development.
Avoid allowing the child to use mobile phones, watch TV, or use computers before bedtime.
Avoid overfeeding the child in the evening, particularly close to bedtime.
Ensure the bedroom has proper ventilation, a comfortable temperature, and minimize noise.
Massage for the Child
Massaging the hands, feet, back, neck, etc., stimulates blood circulation, relaxes bones and joints, and stretches the bones. Parents can spend 10-15 minutes each day massaging their child to promote bone development. Massage also aids in restoring the function of bones and joints, reducing the impact of daily physical activities. Proper massage techniques also enhance metabolic processes, allowing the child to absorb nutrients more effectively.
Adjusting Posture
3-year-old children are learning how to walk, stand, sit, and lie down. Parents should guide their child in maintaining proper posture and develop habits that protect bone and joint health. Strong and healthy bones are crucial for the efficient and favorable elongation of bones. Standard posture habits for a child include:
Maintaining a straight back while walking, standing, or sitting.
Avoiding prolonged weight-bearing on one leg while standing.
Avoiding prolonged cross-legged sitting.
Sleeping on the back or in a sideways position, avoiding prone positions to reduce pressure on the spine.
Ensure Sufficient Water Intake
Filtered water plays a crucial role in transporting nutrients within the body and acts as a lubricant for joint cartilage, enabling flexible movement. Additionally, water offers several health benefits for children, such as toxin elimination, body temperature regulation, lung cleansing, and muscle strength enhancement. Water requirements generally depend on the child’s weight, and you can calculate it as follows: Recommended water intake = Body weight (kg) x 0.03 (liters).
Avoid Hindering Factors
Fast food, processed foods, carbonated beverages, often contain additives, high levels of sodium, or excessive fats. These types of foods are detrimental to a child’s health, despite being popular among children due to their appealing taste. Parents should minimize the consumption of these foods to avoid metabolic disturbances, harm to bones, and hindered growth potential.
Furthermore, cigarette smoke is harmful, weakens a child’s immune system, and adversely affects many vital organs. It is important to prevent frequent exposure to secondhand smoke as it can lead to various illnesses and negatively impact height development.
Engage in Healthy Activities
Healthy lifestyle habits contribute to better physical and cognitive development in children. Here are some guidelines for promoting your child’s daily well-being:
Limit prolonged sedentary behavior and encourage your child to participate in simple household tasks within their capabilities.
Avoid late nights and ensure adequate sleep for your child.
Do not skip meals, especially breakfast, as it is crucial for providing energy for a productive day.
Thoroughly wash hands and feet before eating to prevent the entry of bacteria and viruses into the body.
Maintain a Healthy Weight
For a 3-year-old child, maintaining a healthy weight helps ensure balanced development and avoids the risk of malnutrition or obesity, which often occurs in the following 1-2 years. Overweight children may struggle with height development as excess fat can impede bone growth. Underweight children may experience weakness, frequent illnesses, poor immune function, and delayed growth.
The best way to stabilize a child’s weight is to ensure they consume the appropriate amount of calories according to recommended guidelines. A 3-year-old child needs to consume around 1000-1400 calories per day, although nutritional needs may vary depending on weight, height, gender, and daily activity level. By establishing fixed main meals and snacks throughout the day, you can calculate the calorie content of each meal and monitor your child’s energy intake.
Improve the Living Environment
The living environment is one of the factors that influence a child’s physical development, including height growth. The living environment for a 3-year-old should meet criteria such as cleanliness, low noise levels, good ventilation, absence of pollution, and the presence of greenery. A child living in a favorable environment will develop rapidly and achieve standards in both height and weight. Engaging in physical activity within a healthy environment also helps the child enhance exercise performance.
Use Nutritional Supplements
Busy lifestyles may prevent many parents from investing sufficient time in providing daily meals with proper nutrition for their children. Additionally, children’s ability to absorb nutrients can vary depending on their individual circumstances. Improper thermal processing or storage of food can also result in nutrient loss. In such cases, nutritional supplements can help ensure children receive adequate nourishment to support their optimal development.
The market offers a variety of nutritional supplements specifically designed for children in this age range. When choosing nutritional support products for a 3-year-old child, parents should ensure the following criteria are met:
Easy-to-absorb form, such as chewable tablets, to allow the child to comfortably use them on a daily basis.
Reputable brand with clear product origins.
Safety and quality verified by reliable evaluation organizations.
Ingredients that are beneficial to health, with a preference for natural sources.
A 3-year-old child still has a long time ahead for height development. At each stage, children have specific weight and height standards. Parents need to ensure their child achieves the height standards for each age to ensure they have the right growth potential. The 13 tips mentioned above will help parents care for their child’s health scientifically, enabling them to grow tall and strong.
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