5 Things That Helped Get My child Through a Growth Delay #MomCrushMonday


This post is brought to you by PediaSure. All opinions are my own.

What do you do when you find out your child has a growth delay? Check out our tips for coping, plus find out how PediaSure can help!

 

No parent wants to find out that their child has a growth delay, but if it happens to your child, you will find the strength to make sure they get everything they need to grow and thrive. That’s exactly what I had to do when my son fell behind on his growth development. My son was born with a severe case of strabismus. He had three eye surgeries. The first one as early as one year old and the other two at 18 months and 6 years.

Seeing your child taken away from you and put to sleep for a surgery is one of the scariest moments ever. Watching your child having nightmares after the surgeries and being helpless is also one of the toughest things a parent can go through. Noticing that your child does not walk like his peers, cannot shoot a ball or just hold a pen appropriately is another hard thing entirely. Top that off with the stares from people and snarky remarks: why does he walk unbalanced, get his eyes checked, why this and that!

 

What do you do when you find out your child has a growth delay? Check out our tips for coping, plus find out how PediaSure can help!

Some days, my husband and I felt alone, felt that nobody understood what our little boy went through. We felt helpless but we had to continue, we had to make sure he grew like any other child! So we gave it all we had and tried to handle those daily struggles as best as we could!

While the strabismus was corrected very early, we also discovered that our son was behind the growth chart. He could not see very well until the age of 18 months, which, according to his doctor, helped contribute to his growth delay. Imagine your child not being able to start walking, speaking, shooting a ball, even eating on his own because of vision impairment!

Going through that growth delay taught us a lot about parenting through challenges, though. I’m sharing my tips for coping with a growth delay with you, as well as how PediaSure helped with it!

5 Things That Will Help You Get Through a Growth Delay

 

What do you do when you find out your child has a growth delay? Check out our tips for coping, plus find out how PediaSure can help! Admit it and face it

When doctors said that our child had a growth delay due to his eye problems, I could not believe it. As a parent, you don’t want to believe that your child has a problem, do you? But you have to face it. Admitting that my child had challenges and accepting them, helped me find the best resources for him. I accepted that he needed lots of therapies: fine and gross motor, eye therapy, etc.

A good night’s sleep for your little one (and you).

I made sure my son went to bed early and had a good night sleep. This isn’t just important to your child’s growth, but his emotional well-being too. Kids who are dealing with a growth delay go through so much from their peers. While a good night’s sleep isn’t going to stop bullying, it will help your child be more level-headed and able to cope with it. If you’ve ever been over-tired yourself, you know that it makes your emotions fly all over the place.

Balanced nutrition

This is one of the most important things you can do to help your little one catch up. We made sure our whole family ate healthy, not just my son. It’s become a passion of mine, making delicious healthy meals. Sometimes, though, even the most balanced diet needs a little boost. We also used PediaSure to give my son an extra boost. It has 7 grams of protein and 25 vitamins and minerals that kids need to help them grow and thrive.

Kids grow and develop so much during the first 3-5 years of their lives! I think they go through more growth during this time than any other point. Think about it: your baby goes from an itty bitty newborn who fits in one arm all the way up to a child who is suddenly tall enough to ride the “big” rides at the amusement park. All in the span of just a few years. It’s also during this time that kids tend to be the pickiest eaters! When your child is already behind on the growth chart, you have to work even harder to make sure he’s getting the right nutrition. PediaSure is a tasty, easy way to do that.

Lots of physical activity!

All kids need plenty of exercise and opportunities to get active. When your child has a growth delay, physical activity becomes even more important. It helps develop stronger bones and muscles! One thing I recommend: find something that your child really enjoys doing, then make it a family thing. We love riding bikes as a family.

Celebrate successes!

Take a moment to recognize your child’s successes and triumphs, both big and small. This helps them build confidence. You don’t have to go overboard with praise and rewards, but even just a “you did a great job today!” after a therapy session can go a long way to boosting your child’s self-esteem. Make sure you celebrate your own victories too!

Celebrate Your Victories with PediaSure’s Mom Crush Monday!

PediaSure loves celebrating your victories over the struggles of being a mom. They have this fabulous program called Mom Crush Monday where you can nominate fellow moms who really need a boost of their own or who really inspire you to overcome your own struggles.

Just head to the PediaSure Facebook page and check out their #MomCrushMonday post, then tag your favorite moms! While you’re there, make sure you check out all the great tips and recipes from PediaSure!

Visit the PediaSure website to learn more about their different products and how they can help your child!

Did your child fall behind on the growth chart? How did you handle it? What did you do to help him (or her) catch up?

38 thoughts on “5 Things That Helped Get My child Through a Growth Delay #MomCrushMonday”

  1. Christina Aliperti

    I love that you touched on how important a good night’s sleep is. Also eating good and healthy foods can really make a difference.

  2. These are great tips to help get through any issue with your child(ren). Your guy looks extremely happy in all these photos which makes my heart happy

  3. Having preemies, I can certain relate to this post, especially when other parents say things to you. They used to say things to us and it made me feel so bad. You are an amazing mom and your son is awesome. I’m happy to hear that he’s fine now. `

  4. It seems like you guys did a great job accepting his delay and working through it the best you could as a family. It had to have been hard to get through all of that, but glad to see hes doing well!

  5. Your son is such a trooper and a little cutie pie! My daughter didn’t have a growth delay, but a speech delay that we are still struggling with. You are so right in all of these tips which work well for any kind of delay in our children. We just gotta do the best we can and give them unconditional love and support.

  6. I think that’s great advice for parents going through a multitude of issues. It’s tough but you have got to face your situation with honesty. Can’t make a plan without admitting your needs.

  7. Parenting a child with any type of special needs is difficult to say the least. You are certainly a strong mama and I am so happy you were able to help your son get through such a tough time.

  8. This is such an informative post! I can’t imagine how hard it must be for a kid to realize that they aren’t growing quite as fast as their classmates.

  9. I can so relate to this story. My son had a speech delay, and although painful and shocking to hear at first, we worked through it, and celebrated the little jumps. I’m happy to say now that seems like it is so far away and he’s doing so much better.

  10. We all have different challenges with our kids. There are times wherein you will really feel alone, especially since most parents aren’t vocal with what their kids are dealing with.

  11. As a parent it is so hard to see your child in any kind of distress and not want to just make everything all better. These are such wonderful tips for any parents who are facing challenges with their children’s health. Thank you for sharing your personal struggles and so glad to see your son is doing well!

  12. This is such an interesting post. I knew Kids need to get a lot of sleep so they can grow. I did not know that it was when the growth hormone is released.

  13. Great tips! I will have to share as I do know a few people that could truly benefit from this information. Keeping up with nutrition and lots of physical activity is so important!

  14. Our girls have always been small and thankfully our doctor focused on them as a whole and not the charts. it’s tough to get comments but healthy is more important than size. Your son looks great!

  15. This was a really interesting post to read. I can’t imagine how hard it would be for your kids to realize that they aren’t growing as fast as their peers.

  16. I enjoy reading posts like this, which offer insight and help to others on important subjects. So far we haven’t had this issue but it’s still early. The most important thing is for the child to feel accepted and loved by his/hers parents. It’s great to have parents who are involved enough to find out what’s going on and the proper way to handle it.

  17. Pam Wattenbarger

    My daughter was behind the growth chart for a long time. She finally caught up but it was stressful for a long time!

    1. Pam Wattenbarger

      I agree, these are great tips for any parent whose child is facing a growth delay. Whether it is developmental delays or they’re behind the growth chart, a good night’s sleep and proper nutrition is always important.

  18. When our twins moved in with us, they were almost 7, but were way behind the growth chart and way behind developmentally. They couldn’t count to 10, didn’t know the alphabet, and had the vocabulary of a 2-3 year old. They didn’t even know the days of the week. I had to learn that every step of progress is a step in the right direction and that comparison is the thief of joy! The twins are now 10 and although they’re still not on target with other kids their age, they have made huge strides and we’re soooo proud of them!

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