Prepare Your Child For A Healthy Growth Spurt

Growth spurts can be tricky. Your child will experience growth spurts from infancy to their mid-to-late teens. Still, not every child will have growth spurts at the same pace.

Knowing how to help your child maintain healthy growth spurts is crucial. Chantal Walker, MD, pediatrician with the Franciscan Physician Network Coolspring Health Center, explains what to expect during growth spurts and how to develop routines to help your child through a growth spurt.

When Can I Expect My Child To Have A Growth Spurt?

You can expect your growing child to have a few significant growth spurts from early childhood to their mid or late teens. Knowing what influences growth spurts is just as important as knowing when they're likely to occur. Growth spurts tend to occur at three stages of their childhood, including:

• The first two years after birth
• Progressively between preschool and puberty
• Teenager years around puberty

Growth Spurts In Babies

"Baby growth spurts occur from zero until 11 months old," Dr. Walker said. "Every few months, you have to buy new clothes because they went from the newborn to the six month to the toddler size clothes. And I mention that because around 18 months, 20 months, their growth slows down tremendously."

Dr. Walker explained that parents can expect their baby's appetite to drop tremendously alongside the slowing growth spurt.

"They're not eating anymore because they're not growing as fast," Dr. Walker said. "That's called the toddler appetite slump. So parents can expect a growth spurt in their child early on and later."

Because of the rapid changes in the first years of life, pediatricians will see your child more frequently.

Dr. Walker explained that new parents can expect several doctor's visits in their child's first year, including the newborn visit and visits after one month, two months, four months, six months, nine months and 12 months.

Growth Spurts In Older Children And Teens

Typically children will have a final growth spurt during puberty.

It's crucial for older children and teens to have an annual doctor visit so they can see the whole picture regarding your health, including growth.

"We don't only check up on your physical health," Dr. Walker said. "We're also looking at developmental health, mental health and school performance for the kids along with what's next. These can include what you're doing now, goals and what it takes to reach those goals."

How Are Growth Spurts Different In Boys And Girls?

"It's a big difference between boys and girls when it comes to growth spurts," Dr. Walker said. "Boys have their growth spurt later while girls have theirs earlier, for example."

Dr. Walker explained that growth spurts between boys and girls have to do with puberty, their Tanner staging. Tanner staging measures the development and sequence of secondary sex characteristics, including growth, of children during puberty.

"With boys, the growth spurt is in like Tanner stage four or five, and they continue to grow sometimes in their early twenties," Dr. Walker said. "Girls, pretty much once they've started their menstrual cycle, they've reached the height that they're going to be. So their growth spurt is earlier."

Is There A Routine That Can Help A Healthy Growth Spurt?

Forming a routine that your child can follow throughout their childhood can put them on the right path towards a healthy growth spurt.

Dr. Walker explained that it's essential for families to have a routine for feeding and sleeping even before they become toddlers.

"Once you establish a routine, it's easier to maintain it later on," Dr. Walker said. "It's hard to try to convince a three-year-old that never been on a schedule to adjust to a new schedule. So if you can start a routine while they're still a baby with every three to four hour feeding schedule, it becomes easier to maintain that."

Additionally, a better feeding routine positively impacts the sleeping routine since the baby won't have to wake up every hour to eat.

"I used to play a Beethoven CD for my daughter as her nighttime music," Dr. Walker said. "She listened to her nighttime music until she was like eight or nine years old. That was the cue that the evening is coming down and we're calming down and we're going to sleep. So the same thing with as they become toddlers."

Having set mealtimes can influence a better diet while the child is growing up and nutrition plays a significant role in a healthy growth spurt.

"While snacks are okay, it's not the best for kids to snack and graze all day," Dr. Walker said. "Kids that eat all the time may start having problems with being overweight or obese in their teens because they're not used to having a set mealtime. Sometimes they just eat even when they're not hungry, so a schedule and routines are really important factors to growth spurts."