# foods to make kids grow taller?



## summerleaf

I was curious if there are foods that could make kids grow taller? My 3 year old is below the 25% percentile for height but when she was a baby she was 75% or more. She still nurses, and eats lots of different foods, but I wondered if there are any foods know to increase height (or stunt growth?)


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## tanyalynn

Have you asked around in the family to see what the typical growth pattern is like? Some families grow tall early and then stop growing relatively early in adolescence, and some grow later (so they're shorter through most of childhood) but then keep growing until they're later in their teens. It's different than how tall they eventually end up. There's an article on www.drgreene.com about it. There's a lot less social/self pressure when the family grows tall early, like my husband's family and mine, so I can see if it were opposite, it would be troublesome.


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## Samjm

To my knowledge, height is genetically determined and not influenced by diet - other than in extreme circumstances.

I found this at http://www.kidsgrowth.com/hc/height.cfm

Quote:

A child's adult height is influenced by a number of factors, including genetics, sex, and overall health and nutrition. Genetics and the child's gender account for 70% of what goes into deciding how tall a child will be. The other 30% comes from environmental factors, such as nutrition, exercise, and any underlying health problems
.

You can get a reasonably accurate prediction of their adult height by adding the bio parents heights together, dividing by 2, then adding 3 inches for a boy and subtracting 3 inches for a girl.


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## summerleaf

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Samjm* 
You can get a reasonably accurate prediction of their adult height by adding the bio parents heights together, dividing by 2, then adding 3 inches for a boy and subtracting 3 inches for a girl.

Well since I am 5' 6" and my husband is 5' 10" I guess that would make my daughter come out to 5' 5". My husband was adopted so we don't know about growth patterns in his family, but I'll have to ask about mine.

There are some interesting growth height predictors here:
http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/growt...t_predictr.htm
The "Yet Another Height Predictor" predicts my daughter will be 5' 2 1/2" (that's based on her being 36" at 3 yrs)

The Two Years Times Two method predicts she will 5' 3.6" (that's based on her being 33" at 2 yrs.

What concerns me is that her growth rate seems to have slowed in the past year. But the Dr. didn't seem concerned, so I guess we'll wait and see.


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## tanyalynn

Quote:

What concerns me is that her growth rate seems to have slowed in the past year. But the Dr. didn't seem concerned, so I guess we'll wait and see.
So I totally didn't answer your question at first, and I apologize for that. And if you see other signs that things just don't seem right, you should keep digging and asking questions. But I wanted to throw out the idea of different growth trajectories (for lack of a better term, not sure how to say it) in case that could be what's going on. If other stuff seems fine, then I think it's okay to just keep feeding her regular healthy foods. Maybe ask your husband when he stopped growing (assuming he wasn't in an odd situation where he didn't get enough to eat, of course). For my husband and me, it was pretty early--I think my husband was full height (6'1'') at about 14 or 15, and I was full height (5'5'') around 13 or 14, so I'm assuming our kids will be somewhere on the medium to tall range, but they'll get there earlier than most others. HTH.


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## tinuviel_k

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Samjm* 
You can get a reasonably accurate prediction of their adult height by adding the bio parents heights together, dividing by 2, then adding 3 inches for a boy and subtracting 3 inches for a girl.

That's an interesting calculatorm but I'm not sure how accurate that really is. It didn't really work for my family, anyway. My mom is 5' 4" and my dad is 6' 1".
The girls in the family according to the calculation would be 5 ft 5.5 inches, and the boys would be 5 feet' 11.5 inches.

Me: 5'4
Sis One: 5'8
Sis Two: 5'4
Brother: 5'7

Still, you can at least get an idea based on parental height. Obviously in my family we had a shorter mom and a taller dad. But in my mom's family some of her siblings are quite tall and some are mom's height. Likewise, my dad's sister is my same height, 5'4, while he is tall. So we ended up with a couple short girls, a really tall girl, and a short son. A big range of heights, but none of it was surprising as it was all within our genetic range. Had one of us girls been 5' or 5'2 it would have been unusual, or if my brother had been 6'5 or something like that.
So how tall are you, and how tall is your husband? How about your parents and his? Siblings? Unless everyone in your family is tall I wouldn't worry about the drop off necessarily.

Beyond providing good nutrition for your child I don't believe there are any foods that can make them taller.

Giving them a very poor, nutrient-devoid diet could reasonably stunt a child's growth and development, though. That is not much of a problem for most of us, thankfully. (though it is for far too many people in the world).

Also, if a child had a strong allergy or intolerance, or an autoimmune disease like Chrons or Celiac it could prevent them from absorbing the nutrients they need, and therefor inhibit growth.


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## Mirzam

A nutrient dense diet is likely to assist a child to grow to its full potential, so feed her well! I have nothing to base this on, but I wonder if raw milk is good for height, given that the Maasai tribe grew very tall on a diet largely based of raw milk, blood and meat. If you want to try something "off the wall" but completely safe, then Redwood flower essence can promote height growth in children.


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## BusyBeeMom

Protein is critical for height, so a protein-deficient, or low-protein diet may limit growth. As an example, people who grew up in countries with generally lower-protein diets (like rice & beans based diets) tend to be on the short side, by U.S. norms. However, their children, if born & raised here on a protein-rich U.S. diet, are substantially taller than them, on average. Not to say the American diet is great.

Of course, adding loads of additional protein won't make a child grow infinitely tall.

Another thing - growth hormone is at its highest levels during periods of fasting, like overnight when a child is not eating. If your DC never goes more than a few hours w/o eating or drinking something caloric (nursing or snacking through the night, for instance), it could be subtly inhibiting growth hormone, though I'm not sure how much of an effect this would actually have on growth in practice.


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## MacroMama

Does your daughter suffer from a lot of ear infections? My husband did around that age and didn't grow for 2-3 years.

Although I wouldn't worry about it either, I do know that growth is related to kidney energy (macrobiotically). Foods that deplete kidney energy, such as sugar, fruit, tropical fruits and veggies (bananas, tomatoes, eggplant, etc), chocolate, fruit juices, and more, could effect growth somewhat. So, you could try decreasing all those foods and see how if that helps.

But once again, if she's doing well otherwise, I wouldn't worry about it.









Good luck!


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## mikewjliu

How to make your children grow tall? When my was 13 years old last September, my son was about 6 feet tall (181 centimeters), as tall as Yao Ming at the age of 13. I designed a program called SEED to grow my son this tall. I called this program SEED because I wish my son will become a NBA seed. Any parent who wants to grow his or her children can be inspired by my SEED program. The components of SEED are as follows: S: Sleep adequately. E: Eat properly. E: Exercise in the sun. D: Drink milk. S: Sleep At each age, children sleep different number of hours, Wikipedia listed the hours required by age as follows (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep): Age and condition Sleep Needs Newborns(0-2 months): 12 to 18 hours Infants(3-11 months): 14 to 15 hours Toddlers(1-3 years): 12 to 14 hours Preschoolers(3-5 years): 11 to 13 hours School-age children(5-10 years): 10 to 11 hours Adolescents(10-17 years): 8.5 to 9.25 hours Adults, including elderly: 7 to 9 hours. Eat and Exercise must be balanced, otherwise children will become overweighted or underweighted. Scientifically speaking, calcium and vitamin D provided by Milk and Exercise in the sun is the reason why children grow tall. The SEED program did work. Try it out! As parents we're not as tall as Yao Ming's parents, but my son tie Yao Ming in Height at the age of 13. Any better formula to grow your children tall? Please let me know by dropping a comment or sending me an email at [email protected]


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## Katy2555

I am pretty sure that there is no food to increase your childs height!


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## blessedwithboys

No you cannot increase your child's height potential, but an excellent diet will help the child reach the potential already there in the genes.

Research traditional foods. Make homemade bone broth to keep the growing bones healthy and strong. Lots of protein and veggies, some fruit, very little grain. Properly prepare grain to make it more digestible.

Lots and lots of sunshine. 

My dad was not quite 6ft but his father was just over. Ds1's dad is 5'7" and his parentage is unknown. My son seems to be topping out at 5'9". Ds2's dad is tall-ish and has very tall brothers but ds2 is one of the shortest boys in his grade, always has been. I'm curious to see if he has a spurt at some point.

I'm 5'4.5". I have a whole sister who is 2.5 inches taller and a half-sister who is 3 inches shorter. None of this make sense to me! LOL


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## hanfuge

Tomato, vegetables. Exercise more.:smile::grin:


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## Christi Thrussell

There are vitamins that can make your kids taller.


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## Asiago

Human touch increases growth hormone.
Growth hormone is also released during sleep.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/508221-the-influence-of-touch-on-child-development/#page=1


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## HOMER

Kids between the ages of five and eight years old need at least 25 grams of fiber per day, and kids nine to ten years old need 31 grams. In the grocery store, look for packages that contain ingredient panels stating “whole grain,” not just multi-grain, to ensure that the grain is being consumed in its whole form.The best way to get your kids to eat their vegetables is to start early, make them a habit, and make them fun. Whenever possible, look for seasonal fruits and veggies.Essential for healthy bone development for life. Dairy is always a great source of calcium—organic yogurt, cottage cheese, and milk have it in abundance. Supplemented foods like orange juice or nut milk are fine, too. Another option is dark, leafy green vegetables.


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## Ankur

My dad is 5'5 and I am 5'11 and my brother is 5'8 .. I don't know if there is a sure way to help kids grow taller but a healthy diet will definitely help kids to stay fit ! less TV/video games and more good old spending time on the playground outside.


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## Dominic123

summerleaf said:


> I was curious if there are foods that could make kids grow taller? My 3 year old is below the 25% percentile for height but when she was a baby she was 75% or more. She still nurses, and eats lots of different foods, but I wondered if there are any foods know to increase height (or stunt growth?)


Hey,

I strongly request you to please don't ever give them artificial foods to increase his height and weight. Lets always go for organic and natural food says nuts and beans. One best food to increase them naturally.


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## SandyLittle

There are foods which help to increase height. These food includes: kale, avocado, chia seeds, coconut milk, carrots, broccoli.


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## Ambrossimo

I dont think that food can help as the problems with height ( if it is not normal as it can be his norm if the parents are not tall) maybe he lacks the hormone responsible for this. But I think it is nothing to worry at such age.


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## tiller

Mirzam said:


> A nutrient dense diet is likely to assist a child to grow to its full potential, so feed her well! I have nothing to base this on, but I wonder if raw milk is good for height, given that the Maasai tribe grew very tall on a diet largely based of raw milk, blood and meat. If you want to try something "off the wall" but completely safe, then Redwood flower essence can promote height growth in children.


Hey,

I was searching for what is the link between milk and height only to realize that it is nothing more than a myth. Milk does consist of a nutrient which helps with growth but as such it doesn't guarantee any exceptional rise in height. You need to consume nutrients other than these. Please read the article here


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## Mirzam

@tiller, this is a very old thread and so is my post, of course, people should eat a clean varied diet and more than just raw milk and blood and meat. The Maasai obviously have a genetic predisposition to being tall and have evolved epigenetically to thrive on this diet. FWIW, my son is now 17 years old and 6'2" tall (I am 5'3"), so I guess I did something right if above average height is your goal.

ETA: my daughters are also slightly above average height at 5'8" and 5'9".


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## blessedwithboys

blessedwithboys said:


> No you cannot increase your child's height potential, but an excellent diet will help the child reach the potential already there in the genes.
> 
> Research traditional foods. Make homemade bone broth to keep the growing bones healthy and strong. Lots of protein and veggies, some fruit, very little grain. Properly prepare grain to make it more digestible.
> 
> Lots and lots of sunshine.
> 
> My dad was not quite 6ft but his father was just over. Ds1's dad is 5'7" and his parentage is unknown. My son seems to be topping out at 5'9". Ds2's dad is tall-ish and has very tall brothers but ds2 is one of the shortest boys in his grade, always has been. I'm curious to see if he has a spurt at some point.
> 
> I'm 5'4.5". I have a whole sister who is 2.5 inches taller and a half-sister who is 3 inches shorter. None of this make sense to me! LOL


How funny this should come up. My DS2 (15yo) is now a full inch taller than his older brother (22yo)! He certainly did have a growth spurt! LOL


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## WendyLong

Proteins are nutrients that play the biggest role in increasing your kids’ height, so make sure that they eat an egg every day. 
Milk is filled with calcium which is great for the growth of bones as well as for strength. Proteins are also well-assimilated by milk. 
Get your kids to eat more soybeans as they are a vegetarian food that is rich in proteins. They improve the growth of bones and muscles.


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## quinoamino

Quinoa!!! In order for our kids and even ourselves to grow strong, tall and healthy IT IS A MUST that we are nourished with the best source of complete nutrition from the inside out. Now Quinoa comes as close than any other food in the plant or animal kingdom to have the most essential nutrients so it's definitely something you want to feed your children daily. QuinoAmino is a whole food with only 3 ingredients (quinoa with maca & lucuma) and together these 3 ingredients have a complete essential nutrient profile. That means they have all the essential amino acids, complete protein, essential vitamins and minerals, and omegas. The best part about it is that QuinoAmino is a food and not a supplement or an extract so your child will be able to get all of their complete nutrients in a natural way! Meaning its the perfect choice for everyone even the tiniest child. It comes in an instant ready-to-use powder so you can mix it for smoothies, in oats or even bake with it and the best part is that children absolutely love it. It's perfect for both parent and child. you can visit quinoamino online to learn more. I hope this helps.


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