Blog & Columns
Useful information about health and Korean medicine.
Total 15 posts
Not All Small Children Are the Same
The biggest factor in a child's final height is genetics, and no treatment has evidence that it can push a child beyond that range. Growth care means removing what eats into that potential so a child grows as much as they naturally can. Small children fall into three groups with completely different paths: late growers, children held back by an illness, and children growing too fast. The last two are hard to reverse if you miss the timing. The first step isn't a prescription but sorting out which group your child is in.
Herbal Medicine for Children's Growth: What Is It Aimed At?
Herbal medicine for growth isn't a medicine that makes children taller directly. It's a medicine that clears away what is keeping a child from growing as much as they naturally could. A child who eats poorly, a child who doesn't sleep deeply and a child who is often sick are each held back in a different place. Here we explain, with the numbers confirmed in clinical trials, what we look at and what we aim at when we prescribe.
When your child wakes up at night to pee
Parents tell us their child often wakes up at night to pee, goes often during the day too, or suddenly finds it hard to hold it. Other things often come up along with it: hard stools, a long and painful time on the toilet, frequent gas, and often saying their tummy hurts. Sleep isn't restful either. The child has scary dreams and suddenly wakes up crying, talks a lot in their sleep, or wakes up in the morning with their head and the back of the neck soaked in sweat.
When your child's walk catches your eye
Parents tell us their child's toes point outward or turn inward when walking. Many come in after watching their child walk from behind and feeling uneasy about it. Other things often come up along with it: the child doesn't like walking for long, slouches, and doesn't eat well. Often these aren't separate issues but part of one thread.
When your child eats well but it doesn't seem to go into height
Parents say their child doesn't eat little, but only their weight goes up while their height stays the same. They come with the question, "They eat well, so why isn't it going into height?" When we ask, they say the child often gets indigestion while eating, gets gassy easily, and takes a long time on the toilet. They also mention the child can't walk for long and often asks to be carried.
When you feel you've done everything and nothing has changed
Parents come in after getting tests and paying attention to what their child eats, but things haven't gone as hoped. Having already tried many things, they are often exhausted. When we ask, they say the child often has a stiff neck and shoulders, gets headaches, and tosses and turns at night. These things come up even though they came in to talk about height.
When you ask, "Can't we wait and see a little longer?"
Sometimes it's fine to wait and see, and sometimes it isn't. What decides it is not age but how far the bones have matured. A child's calendar age and bone age are different. If the bones are already ahead, the time left for growing may be shorter than you think. An X-ray of the hand shows this. Along with bone age, we look at both parents' heights.
When your child eats little and tosses and turns at night
Parents tell us their child is a picky, small eater who can't finish a meal and puts the spoon down after a few bites, saying they're full. They also mention the child has trouble falling asleep and tosses and turns for a long time. Many mornings, the child doesn't wake up refreshed. Parents are often worn out from trying to get their child to eat, so in the exam room we listen to that story first.
When your child goes to bed late and can't get up in the morning
They fall asleep at 1 or 2 a.m. and get up at 7, day after day, and are always tired during the day. During exam periods, they even get stomachaches. Parents come in thinking it's a stamina problem. But when we look closely, lack of sleep often comes first.
Is it true that there's a "golden time" for height?
It's true that the room to grow differs by stage. But saying "it's now or never" is an exaggeration, and using it to rush parents is not right. The phrase "golden time" is often used when talking about growth. Because it's easily used to make parents anxious and rush them, we'll separate what's true from what's exaggerated. When puberty
Why can't my child concentrate?
Concentration comes not from willpower but from the body's condition. Sleep, breathing, sitting posture, and comfortable eyes need to be in place first before a child can sit for a long time. This means there are things to look at before writing it off as "no willpower" or "can't sit still." Blaming the child changes nothing. When sleep is short, the first thing to go is attention. At night
Are growing pains really caused by growing?
Despite the name, the evidence that they're directly linked to growth itself is unclear. It also hasn't been confirmed that they hurt more during periods of fast growth. The name causes misunderstandings. Some parents assume pain means their child is growing and leave it alone, but children can grow well without pain and may not grow even with pain. The two should be looked at separately. Mainly in the