The fact that the
ratio of height and weight in an infant is an important parameter for determining the correctness of its development is known to almost everyone. Not only the baby’s health depends on this parameter, but also the correspondence of the reflexes to their monthly age. Not a single pediatrician will let go of a mother with a nursing infant from a monthly consultation without measuring its height and weight. If something seems suspicious to him, the child will be prescribed additional nutrition or, conversely, transferred to
less high-calorie foods.But as soon as the baby grows up, many parents think that this parameter is no longer important. If the child is overweight, they think that he will outgrow. Not enough weight, they think that it’s wonderful, in the future it will not get fat.
This is an erroneous opinion! The correct ratio of weight and height of the child in subsequent years, including adolescence, is no less important than the proportion of height and weight in infants.
What is dangerous deviation in weight in children?
The child himself may not notice his excessive weight, be mobile, quickly join the children's team. However, overweight is an additional burden, primarily on the cardiovascular system. This is fraught with thinning of blood vessels, can cause a dystrophic change in the heart muscle.
If the ratio of height and weight in the child is violated with proper nutrition in the direction of increasing weight, then it is extremely dangerous to put the baby on a diet on his own. It is possible that this indicator is associated with a violation of metabolic processes in the body, improper functioning of the endocrine system.
Lack of weight is also an occasion to consult a doctor. With proper nutrition, weight deficiency occurs:
- with helminthic invasion;
- if the nutrients that enter the body are not absorbed for some reason;
- with insufficient production of bile;
- with violations of the endocrine system.
Often, lack of weight in older children is caused by the fact that adolescents are addicted to bad habits, one of which is smoking.
Lack of weight in childhood and adolescence leads to problems in adulthood. With such disharmony in young men, sperm production decreases and their quality deteriorates. Excessive thinness threatens infertility for girls.
How to find out if height corresponds to weight?
There is a special table of the ratio of height / weight of the child. It contains averaged data, depending on age. But you can yourself determine the body mass index (BMI) and on its basis to find out the most accurate values of the parameters.
To do this, weigh the child and measure his height. Then calculate BMI in the same way as in the case of adults, that is, divide the mass by the height squared. And then substitute the values in the table. When compiling a table in which the ratio of height and weight of the child is indicated, membership in a particular gender is taken into account.
An example is the table of approximately the correct ratio of weight and height for teenage boys.
| age | Height Weight |
| very low | low | below the average | average | above the average | tall | very tall |
eleven | 131/26 | 134/28 | 138/31 | 143/35 | 148/40 | 153/50 | 156/51 |
12 | 136/28 | 140 / 30.7 | 143.6 / 34.4 | 149/39 | 154.5 / 45 | 159/51 | 163/59 |
thirteen | 142/40 | 146 / 33.8 | 150/38 | 155 / 43.5 | 167/50 | 166/57 | 171/66 |
14 | 152/34 | 152/38 | 156/43 | 161/50 | 171 / 56.5 | 172/63 | 177/73 |
15 | 154.5 / 38 | 158/43 | 162/48 | 170/55 | 173/63 | 177/70 | 181/80 |
Small deviations from these indicators do not affect adolescent health.
Teens and weight
Teenagers are reverent in their appearance. Girls compare themselves with famous fashion models, boys - with famous athletes. Own reflection in the mirror of adolescents is rarely satisfied. To get the desired figure, girls go on a diet that is extremely harmful to the growing body, and boys sometimes start to take proteins.
It is very important that parents timely detect age-related discrepancies in indicators, if any, and explain to the teenager how important it is to eat properly during the period of active growth of the body. Health is laid in childhood, and a violation of metabolic processes in the future will lead to serious problems that will affect appearance.
If the ratio of height and weight in a child begins to change dramatically, then it is very important to determine what reasons this is caused by: natural, when a teenager develops and becomes an adult, or is he specifically trying to correct external data?
In the case when the child is dissatisfied with his appearance, he may experience psychological problems. If parents are attentive enough to their "adult" children, monitor their condition, then teenage depression due to lack of weight or excess can be avoided.