Child height: to what age does it grow?
Child height is a very individual matter. Some grow faster and others slower, and there is no reason to be concerned about this. Parents often
Child height is a very individual matter. Some grow faster and others slower, and there is no reason to be concerned about this. Parents often wonder what age is it growing. Read or listen to what influences children's growth.
Hear what influences your child's growth development. This is material from the LISTENING GOOD cycle. Podcasts with tips
Why is there such concern among parents about the question of whether a child is the right child's height? The answer is simple: because you can tell from your height that your baby's body is developing properly. See what age it grows up to.
Table of Contents
- What does a child's height depend on?
- Growing pains - when your bones hurt
- Child's height: what is correct and what is not?
- How to assess a child's height?
- Too high or too low?
- Until when does the baby grow?
What does a child's height depend on?
A child's growth is the result of many factors. Inheritance plays the greatest role - the growth path is in the genes. But whether the baby will be tall or short is also influenced by:
- Diet - malnutrition or poor nutrition are among the causes of short stature. Your child's diet should be well-balanced and include the right amount of meat, vegetables, fruit and dairy products. When they are missing, bones do not develop properly, affecting growth. What is this mechanism about? The level of IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor) depends on the nutritional status of the body. It is he who directly stimulates the cartilage to grow.
- Amount of sleep - growth hormone is produced around the clock. However, nearly 80 percent. Its amounts are separated between 22.00 and midnight. Sleep disturbances at this time can affect the child's growth - so make sure you go to bed before 10 p.m.
- Physical activity - movement is an ally of growing. Running, jumping and playing stimulate the nervous system and indirectly influence the production of growth hormone. But too much exercise can - paradoxically - make a child shorter than their peers. Overloading the bones and cartilage, which can occur when a child is competing in a sport or is too young for it (e.g. preschoolers training karate or aikido 4 times a week), slows down the growth rate, especially in those children who genetically have a reduced growth potential (e.g. their parents are not very tall).
Growing pains - when your bones hurt
Children grow by leaps and bounds, a few centimeters each. Their bones may hurt during such a jump. This is because the periosteum cannot keep up with the rapidly growing bones that "tear" it apart from the inside. Growing pains most often occur at night, as this is when the greatest amount of growth hormone is released.
Painkillers will bring relief. However, it is worth making sure that the cause of the pain is actually growing (similar symptoms accompany some diseases). For this purpose, you need to see a doctor who will order the appropriate tests.
Child's height: what is correct and what is not?
One of the most important factors influencing the child's growth are various metabolic diseases, birth defects, endocrine disorders and genetically determined diseases. Children also grow too slowly with chronic kidney, respiratory or circulatory diseases, arthritis, and even severe skin allergy, as well as due to hormonal disorders, such as growth hormone deficiency.
Very tall stature can sometimes be caused by disease. This is the case, for example, in the case of hyper function of the pituitary gland, Marfan syndrome (children then have very long and slender limbs), and premature puberty (then children grow much faster than their peers).
How to assess a child's height?
How to assess if a child's height is normal and within the normal range for a given gender and age? You should remember about health balances (2-, 4-, 6-, 10-, 14- and 18-year-olds) and measure the child regularly and put the result on the so-called the percentile grid. This is a diagram with two axes (it's in your baby's health booklet, you can also find it on the internet). On the age axis you mark the child's age, on the height axis - height.
Then, from both of these points, you must draw lines that will intersect on one of the several percentiles that run through the diagram. We are talking about a very tall height when the child is in the group of 3%. The highest peers (above the 97th percentile).
About a significant shortage of growth, when it is in the group of 3 percent. The lowest peers of the same sex (on the percentile grid, his body height is below the 3rd percentile). In this case, the height is considered to be very low and research is needed to clarify the cause.
Too high or too low?
You should also go to a doctor - a pediatrician or a pediatric endocrinologist - when a child that is too short or too tall develops other symptoms that may be worrying, e.g. signs of premature puberty, or the child seems too tall or too short, although not so long ago his height was normal.
A visit is also necessary when the child's height differs significantly from other family members. However, it's worth knowing that some babies are very short even though they don't have any disorders. They are just like that, and in medicine such a condition has even been called "short normal".
Nevertheless, whether everything is okay must be assessed by a doctor who will decide whether to observe the child or refer him for endocrinological examinations immediately.
Until when does the baby grow?
The period of the fastest growth in them occurs one year before the first menstruation, then the pace of growth significantly slows down, and 2 years after the first menstruation it stops (it usually takes place around the age of 18). Boys grow up to the age of 21 - then they start to mature, so they stop growing later.
