Feeding Picky Eater for Maximal Growth

I'm confused...you need a meal plan because she's smaller? My kids are all big - I am 6'1 and my husband is 6'3. They don't have a chance in being small. But...they have plenty of friends who are small. One of my daughter's best friends is almost 15 and just broke 5'0. She's taller than her mom...and she won't be any taller than that. If she's healthy, I'd call it good - food isn't going to make her taller.

Maybe she'll just be small. I ate pretty good as a kid and I was always very small. I'm now 38, 5' 2", and 100lbs (and I've had 3 kids). In high school I was only about 85lbs.

I guess if she's otherwise healthy I don't see why it matters? Can't you accept your daughter for who she is? So she's small, sheesh, there are many worse things to be. My kids are all small because their dad is Filipino, for sure less than tenth percentile their whole lives but they are healthy, strong and have plenty of friends.

You can't feed a child to maximize growth, it just doesn't work that way. You can make them wider but not taller. Even saying that I really don't understand what the big deal is that your daughter is small. My grandma was 4'8 and I assure you she received nothing but respect from everyone who knew her. My younger daughter is 8 inches shorter than me and her older sister, so what? She is a spitfire.

I say this because if she is getting flack for her height from her peers it probably has more to do with the vibes you are giving off than her actual height. She feels it is an issue because you feel it is an issue and her friends are picking up on that. So please chill, some of the toughest young women I know are short!
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Per your what happened: no I think you made your question quite clear. What do we feed our kids to make them tall. Most people answered this though I disagree with those that say what you eat has much to do with how tall you get.

You talk about how she was in the 5th percentile since birth. I really don't understand why you don't see that means genetically your daughter was going to be small. Even at 50 percentile our pediatrician said we would be lucky if our youngest hit 5'2. We knew she would be much shorter than the rest that ran between 90 and 95 percentile. So what? I would have never thought to obsess about her smallness to the point where i was taking her to specialists trying to figure out how to get her to grow more. To me that would have damaged her self esteem so far as it relates to her height, why would I do this.

So your question is my daughter is shorter than I would like. Can I feed her something to make her taller? That does beg the question that was answered time and time again, what is wrong with being short?

By the way my sons are 5'11 and 6'2 they were 90 and 95 percentile respectively. Mr 6'2 is my son with autism. He has had since I weened him from breastfeeding, bar none, the worst eater on earth!! He would eat nothing but chicken nuggets for months on end! Then it was fries. Now it is more balanced because we never made food a fight. Never gave him supplements. He is the tallest of all my kids, towers, sort of since he is skinny as a rail, over his father who is only 5'10. Maybe it was me growing up looking up to a very short woman as my idea of maternal perfection, grandma was amazing, I just don't see what needs to be corrected about being short!

"So, what did you give your kids to maximize growth" - presupposes that it is common to "give your kids" something "to maximize growth".

A burning desire to make a daughter taller, is not something that I would describe as particularly common.

Good things come in small packages. Some VERY smart and strong women are short (patting self on back with tiny arms). And really, for women, short is often considered a positive quality, as other posts have noted (small = cute = the slang phrase "shorty", modern slang equivalent of "chick"). Don't worry about it!!!!

I have a kid who's on the super small side for his age. He's completely healthy and growing, he's just small. His doctor has run some testing and everything comes up just fine. Those growth charts cause so many issues that don't need to happen. Your daughter is in the 5th percentile which means that in the group of kids 5% were that size. That doesn't mean there is a problem with her. Not all kids fall at the 50th percentile, that's why there is so much range. I have another child who's height is so far off the chart that she's be something like 110% if the chart went that high. Her weight is of course matching the higher end of the chart, in proportion with her height.
Unless she's not healthy which it doesn't sound like that's a problem, let her be and let her grow at her own pace. She may always be petite and that's perfectly normal.

Is she proportional?
If she's not tall, but has a good BMI for her height, then I suggest that packing more calories into her food is likely to make her gain weight and throw her into an overweight BMI rangem which is not healthy. Changing her food choices is not going to make her taller.

It's not that I'm unsympathetic. I have a kid who is not happy that he is the shortest kid in his grade every year. But his BMI is perfect and he's healthy, and height will come with time, not food choices.

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if she's eating reasonably healthy food, finding ways of packing more calories in isn't going to make her taller. might make her wider.
does she actually suffer from malnutrition? or is she just small?
the foods you mention are pretty calorie dense, so i don't think you can or should actually push more calories into her.
the only thing i'd add would be fruit smoothies with raw milk (not everyone's thing, i know), peanut butter and protein powder.
you've had her well checked out, so good for you. why not just go with the doctors' analysis that she's a late bloomer?
i've never heard of anything that will make kids grow taller than they would otherwise.
khairete
S.

I would use plenty of whole, pure foods to start. So, if she eats mac & cheese, are you making your own and cramming as much nutrition into it as possible? That's far superior to the boxed stuff. I have a couple of great recipes for mac & cheese, and you can also hide some good proteins/nutrients in it with a little tofu and butternut squash pureed right into the cheese sauce. You can add pureed veggies to the red sauce you use on pizza too - I did that for years with 3 picky kids (2 step kids, 1 kid with my husband), and they never knew the difference. Interestingly enough my son has turned into a really adventurous eater, I think perhaps because he had exposure to a lot of foods early on without even realizing it. He also was the smallest in his class even though he was the oldest.

I would also use a supplement - but I absolutely would not use Boost or Ensure. They are full of emulsifiers which can be hard to digest, and which fill people up without necessarily doing so with actual nutrition or calories. So it's wasted fill, frankly. I have colleagues who had a highly allergic child (eggs, peanuts, dairy, soy) who used a great supplement that they were able to add to a lot of foods; the absorption into the cells is what's important, not just what she swallows. Their child made amazing strides with her allergies in the first year; one of the leading children's allergists in Boston was astounded at her numbers. She can now eat everything but peanuts, and her numbers on that are actually zero now. They aren't risking it by giving her peanuts, but at least people don't have to wash their hands, the child can be in a restaurant or a classroom where nuts are served, and so on. I've seen this happen with tons of kids who are picky (either through attitude or sensory issues or both). I would think that maximizing your daughter's effectiveness in utilizing the few calories she takes in would be at the top of your list.

Children grow taller when their bones grow. When and how a child grows is dependent on growth hormones. There isn't a food that will speed up her growth. The endocrinologist should have told you this. I suggest you call the doctor to talk about this.

Diet affects height when the person has not had good nutrition, nor have their parents, grandparents had good nutrition. Unless you live in poverty, your daughter is short because of genetics.

Sometimes we just have to accept our kids are small. I costume one girl who is 14 and can still wear a girl's size 8 clothing. It's too short of course but when I sew her a costume I use a girl's size 8 sewing pattern and make it longer. She is healthy and in cheer and dance and so many other activities. She is who and what she is. Her mom is a little taller than she is and slightly heavy. Her dad isn't tall and he's normal size for his height. Her brother is overweight. Not more than 30-40 pounds but still a little chunky.

So saying a kid is supposed to be this size or that size is really a matter for the doc. If they're not concerned and forcing the issue then perhaps you need to trust them.

I suppose less junk food and the more healthy food you can get into her won't hurt her any.
If her eating habits aren't so great them maybe a multivitamin will fill in some nutritional gaps.
But an ideal diet will only go so far to maximize her genetic potancial.
If she doesn't have it in her to be 5ft 5in tall, then the best nutrition in the world isn't going to make any difference with that.
Just enjoy her as she is - and make eating an enjoyable experience.
Have a pizza every once in a great while.

Since you say she has a small appetite and fills up quickly, make all her food count. I agree that you really can't tailor food to encourage height, but regardless of one's height, pure whole foods in their most recognizable forms are extremely important. Aim for good health, not height.

If your daughter likes beans and cheese and Mexican foods, make sure that she's eating as healthy as possible. Try cooking beans in a rice cooker and packaging them out for the week. You can control the salt and there won't be any additives. This works great with all beans except for red kidney beans. Black beans and pinto beans work great. Get her real cheese, not the plastic squares, and shred it yourself. Serve beans and cheese on whole grain tortilla chips with real salsa.

Lunches can be sliced ham and fresh fruits, or poached chicken and fresh vegetables. Or whole grain or sprouted grain wraps filled with all kinds of vegetables, greek yogurt, chicken, etc, sliced into pinwheels.

Just make sure that whatever she's eating is as pure and whole and unprocessed as possible. Don't bother trying to make zucchini cookies or other disguised foods. Get a small lunch container with compartments, like a Japanese bento box, and don't overwhelm her with a lot of food.

I am assuming your daughter is not malnourished therefore I don't think there is much you can do. Sounds like it is in her genes to be short.

Having said that, my friends brother was very tiny. The doctor thought he would be about 5'5". He is over 6'. Just a late bloomer.

She cannot really grow much until she hits puberty. I had the same fight with my daughter's pediatrician. I wasn't worried about her because I didn't get my first period until later than all my sisters and friends. Starting your period is partly genetic and partly body fat percentage. How about milk shakes? My son is now underweight and the pediatrician told us today that shakes with protein powder would be ideal for him. I would also suggest a nutritionist will all her food restrictions.

You mention not giving her milk with her meals. Make VERY sure you are giving her something high in calcium. It's the teen years that are critical in building strong bones so that when she's in her 50's, she won't start having really bad osteoporosis.

I have to agree and disagree with Julie S. I agree that height in a girl usually has no impact on their social standing. Actually, unusually tall can be negative. But I have had and my daughters have friends who are unusually tiny and have no issues. Tons of friends. Petite girls are usually considered cute. In terms of not being able to feed for growth though, studies have shown nutrition plays a big role in height. Not as big as genetics but substantial. Try googling it. Protein I believe as Jenny said is very important. When groups come to the US from poor countries, they tend to be small. A generation or two later, their average height has increased significantly. Studies attribute it to nutrition. Another factor our doctor told us is sleep. More sleep usually leads to more growth.

My advice is to make her anything that she thinks looks yummy and wants to try. You just have to google up a recipe for it that does not contain eggs. For example google "vegan pasta" or "eggless pasta" and pick a highly rated recipe. Then you can make a chicken, pesto, pasta dish or a delicious pasta with cream sauce or homemade macaroni and cheese. I have a picky eater and he has to eat a little of whatever it is he does not like. He's 12 and in the last 2 years he suddenly has found he likes green beans and asparagus. It's never too late to learn to like a new food if you keep on trying it over and over. It sounds like you make sure she is eating frequently...and you are making sure she gets enough calories. You can try googling eggless pancake recipe and serve it with strawberries. You can make her delicious smoothies that have greek yogurt to add protein. My picky eater loves plain meals such as roast chicken, rice, and steamed broccoli. Will she eat meals like this? If she is eating enough calories every day then I'm sure she just naturally is petite and is perfectly healthy!

I have a situation very similar to yours and I definitely think that there is some correlation between nutrition and growth. I think the protein smoothie is a good idea and not letting her fill up on junk since she has a small capacity. Give her a multivitamin with iron since she isn't a meat eater and shoot for at least 9 hours of sleep if possible. Kids grow in their sleep. She has enough things she eats based on your list of what's okay that I think you could just do a rotation so she's not eating the same thing every meal. I would love to get your recipe for protein bars, that's a great idea. Really, it sounds like she has enough in her "will eat" list to get by.

My girls are both "high metabolism" girls. The 17 yr old is 5 ft 4 inches and 103 lbs, the just turned 14 yr old is almost 5 feet tall and 84 lbs if she just ate. Every year since they were about 7 the doctors have literally told them to have ice cream daily. Seriously they eat great otherwise, lots of fruits, veggies, lean meats, whole grains... and they also eat some junk now that they are teens, but the ice cream has helped. The few times that I get mean and say no you don't really need it they seem to lose weight. So now I don't fight it, ice cream every night is ok if it means they don't lose weight.
My 14 yr old was just told by her doctor though that if she doesn't start her period in a year than we have to have some tests done. She really just started getting some hair on her underarms and doesn't really need a bra at all. That is the part that is hardest for her. But hey, she's so small and light she makes a great flyer on the cheerleading squad!

I forgot to add -- my daughters both carry snacks with them to eat throughout the day, they are starving after about 2 hours even if they had a super big meal, they just burn the calories so fast. We are super happy that they are both on the growth charts finally. The older one was under the 1%tile range for most of her life. And no, she wasn't a premie, up until she was 8 months old she was average in weight and height.

I went through a spurt where I had to drink Ensure (energy/calorie/nutrient type drink). It was a supplement to my otherwise balanced diet. This was recommended to me and I did it for a while. The chocolate variety was ok.

From what I know, protein does help with growth because in undernourished parts of the world, people are smaller. I would try some whey smoothies that pack a punch in terms of protein and you can throw in some fruit and milk too. Lots of recipes online.