Can protein powder help increase a child’s height?

Question

Hi doctor,

I have a son and a daughter. My height is 5 feet 7 inches and my wife is 5 feet 1 inch. I am extremely worried about my children's height as we are short.

My daughter is now 3 years 10 months old 31.9 pounds in weight and 38 inches tall. She had a seizure thrice and taking some sodium liquid medicine for the past three years. My son is 1 year old and weighs 22.4 pounds and is 28 inches tall.

I want to know what would be the appropriate height of my children as per current status. Is there anything I can do to increase their height? I want my daughter to be 5 feet 6 inches tall and my son to be 6 feet tall. Will giving protein powder make any difference?

Kindly help.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I understand your concern.

As you told me, the father's height is 5 feet 7 inches, which is 170 cm, and the mother's height is 5 feet 1 inch, which is 155 cm. According to both of your heights, which is an average height for most people, the target range for your kids' height would be:

Son - 5.3 to 5.8 feet.

Daughter - 4.9 to 5.3 feet.

See, this is the genetic potential of your children. It is not that they can not always be taller than this. Several other factors work. That is why we say that height has multifactorial inheritance, like environment and nutrition.

Now, let us see how they are currently growing. Your son's weight is perfectly fine for his age, and his height is on the lower side of normal (71 to 75 is average).

Your daughter's height is average for her age, and her weight is fine. That means, they are currently growing according to their potential, which is not pathological. So, I do not say you should worry much about this.

What you should do is take care of their nutrition. Give them adequate calories and proteins, which means a balanced diet. Also, follow their height and weight over a period of two to three months. There is no need for protein powder if the diet is good.

I would also like to ask about seizures. When was the last time she had seizures? Why was Sodium valproate started? Are they taking any supplements, like calcium or anything else?

Please let me know if you need any help.

Thank you.

Answer 2

Hello,

Welcome back to icliniq.com.

I checked it again for you. According to WHO (World Health Organization) charts for child growth for less than 5 years of children, both are growing normally as per their age.

The final height potential, according to the parent's height I have already told you. Now, what height they will actually attain finally cannot be predicted right now. The maximum height gain will be during the pubertal years at the age of around 9 to 15 years.

I will again suggest you not worry about height right now. Just make sure they get the right nutrition. They will definitely grow to their fullest. Just keep track of their growth. And for seizures, I doubt if she needs this or not. Usually, such medicines are stopped after two years of seizure-free intervals and you told me that the last seizure was three years back.

What was the cause of seizures at that time? Were any images or any other investigations done?

If seizures are not there for the last three years, then should think of withdrawing the drug and see the response. Whether the seizure will recur or not will depend upon the cause of the seizure.

I hope that you get your answer.

Please let me know if you need any help.

Thank you