When was the last time you tracked your child’s growth? Do you check it monthly or only do so when there’s a visit to the doctors? You may have noticed that your child is shorter than other children his age, but simply brush it under the rug, only to blame your genetics.

But did you know that in the first 5 years, your child’s diet is a much bigger factor than genetics? In fact, during the first 5 years of our child’s life, the gene factor only contributes up to 20% of a child’s growth, whereas nutrition plays up to 80% ¹!

So, although having short parents is one of the most common beliefs for a child’s short stature, it certainly isn’t the main or only reason. And if you notice that your child is not growing as fast and as tall as other children their age, there could be a chance where stunted growth may be the culprit of their short stature.

The World Health Organization (WHO) categorises children who are stunted as those whose height are shorter than 97% of other children of the same age and gender². Stunting is often misunderstood as simply being short when in fact, poor nutrition or a medical condition is impairing a child’s growth and development.

Children’s Growth in Malaysia

Over the past decade, stunted growth has become more common among children in Malaysia. Malaysia’s national prevalence of stunting in children under five years old was 21.8% in 2019, rising from 17.2% in 2006³ – that’s 1 in 5 children that are stunted.

Stunting is not an exclusively B40 thing either. In fact, it happens across all income levels, education levels, occupations, and ethnicities. Even in families with a monthly household income of above RM5,000, stunting prevalence is about 17%⁴.

It’s a serious issue as stunted growth has a lot of long term impacts⁵. It’s not just about being shorter than their peers, which can affect their confidence. It can also have a long term impact to a child’s health, school performance and learning ability⁶.

Did you know?
60% of your child’s height is achieved in the first 5 years of your child’s life⁷?

So how can we help our children?

Since more than half of your child’s height is achieved in their first 5 years of life, take this opportunity to support and encourage their growth during their early years.

Since nutrition plays a fundamental role in optimising physical growth in children, our job as parents is to provide a balanced and healthy diet for our children in their most important developmental years.

You can complement this with the right child nutritional supplement that addresses these issues and help your children experience a healthy growth rate that you can truly see. PediaSure® for example, offers measurable and demonstrable results of children’s physical growth, backed by scientific studies. It is a complete and balanced nutritional supplement that is enriched with Arginine and Natural Vitamin K2 to help children achieve 50% faster growth⁸.

• • Arginine triggers the release of Growth Factors, together with Triple Protein Complex and 38 key nutrients to support longer bone growth⁹.
  • Natural Vitamin K2 promotes calcium transfer into bones, together with 38 key nutrients to support strong bone growth¹⁰.

As parents, we are the key players in our child’s healthy growth by being aware and involved in their child’s growth trajectory. It can be as easy as measuring their height against a wall with a growth chart or with new innovative tools such as smartphone applications or AR filters.

Check your child’s growth in seconds with PediaSure’s GrowthCam

Measuring your child’s growth is easier to do in seconds with the PediaSure GrowthCam!

All you need to do is:

1. Scan the QR code to activate the AR filter or
2. Prepare a piece of A4 paper and place it on the floor.
3. Select the gender and age of your child and click confirm.
4. Match and tap the A4 paper from the screen to the floor.
5. Swipe the ruler to the scale of your child’s height and tap confirm to see results!

Get started on tracking your child’s height by using the PediaSure GrowthCam so you can track your child’s growth pattern and feel more confident about what you observe. Through regular height measurement, you’ll be able to identify the signs of abnormal growth and get your child examined by a paediatrician in time.

1. Jelenkovic, A. et al. Genetic and environmental influences on height from infancy to early adulthood: An individual-based pooled analysis of 45 twin cohorts. Sci. Rep. 6, 28496; doi: 10.1038/srep28496 (2016).
2. Craig Barstow and Caitlyn Rerucha. 2015. Evaluation of short and tall stature in children. American Family Physician 92(1): 43-50.
3. Institute for Public Health. 2020. The National Health and Morbidity Survey 2019: Key Findings. Institute for Public Health, Ministry of Health, Malaysia.
4. Derek Kok. 2019. Stunting in Malaysia: Cost, Causes and Courses for Action. Jeffrey Cheah Institute of Southeast Asia. https://jci.edu.my/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/JCI-JSC-WP-2019-01-Stunting-in-Malaysia.pdf.
5. Black RE, Victora CG, Walker SP, et al. 2013. Maternal and child undernutrition and overweight in low-income and middle-Income countries. Lancet 382(9890): 427-451.
6. WHO Childhood Stunting Framework 2007
7. WHO Growth Standard, 2007
8. Alarcon PA, et al. E ect of oral supplementation on catch-up growth in picky eaters. Clin Pediatr (Philia). 2003;42(3):209-17. 50% is based on calculated value.
9. Van Vught AJ et al. Br J Nutr (2013), 109, 1031-1039. Dietary arginine and linear growth: the Copenhagen school children intervention study.
10. Van Summeren MJ et al. Br J Nutr (2008), 100, 852-858. Vitamin K status is associated with childhood bone mineral content.

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