Growth spurts

A baby’s first year of life sees tremendous growth and development.

After the first year a child’s eating habits change a little as they head into the toddler years.

Growth slows during the toddler stage and they may go a month or more without gaining any weight or growing any in height. This is normal.

A growth spurt will affect a child’s appetite.

What a child ate today may not be what they eat next week.

There may be periods of a hike in their appetite or a slump. Most children from toddlers onward are able to balance their food and activity intake themselves.

Growth is not always steady or slow. A growth spurt generally lasts a few days.

It’s OK if your child doesn’t eat the same as other children. Each child is slightly different. There will even be a difference between siblings.

It’s even OK, generally, if your child doesn’t eat the same as yesterday.

It is a good idea to monitor what and how much your child eats. This can be informally in your heading making a note of what they ate.

Sometimes if a child’s appetite changes radically or substantially it can be a sign of something underlying that may need to be seen by a doctor but generally children are relatively good at gauging just how much food they require in a day depending on their energy level requirements.

If a child is putting on weight,  they aren’t tired and lethargic all the time and seem content and happy then one would guess that they are eating enough.

If they are ravenous all the time and still eat at mealtimes then they are most probably going through a growth spurt.

If however, they are happily snacking throughout the day and do not eat at mealtimes it may be necessary to look at the snacks to ensure they are receiving all the nutrients they require through providing healthy snacks and perhaps alter their meal plan to incorporate smaller meals more often.

• Children may nap longer or sleep longer at night. 80% of the growth hormone is secreted during sleep.
• Your child may seem hungrier than usual. A sudden increase in appetite can be a sure sign your child is going through a growth spurt.
• Your child may seem more unsettled or crankier than usual without being ill.

• Children don’t necessarily eat more just because they are older.
• Childhood consists of numerous growth spurts and these spurts affect the amount of food a child eats. It may well surge one minute and then seem non-existent the next.
• In the first year of a baby’s life they triple their birth body weight and have grown 25 centimeters in height.
• In the second year of a child’s life this slows to around 2 kgs.
• It is because of this drastic change that we sometimes panic and it is worth remembering that in the second year they are still eating around the same as when they were 9 months old and that’s ok… it’s just that they are more active now.
• The average toddler girl at 15 months old weighs about 11 kilograms and is 80 centimeters tall. An average toddler boy weighs about 13 kilograms and stands 85 centimeters tall.
• Attributing a growth spurt to long term changes in behaviour and food intake is not a good idea.
• Don’t overfeed a child because they are in a ‘growth spurt’.

If you have any concerns it is best to discuss them with your child’s doctor just to make sure it is just a growth spurt.

A good suggestion if you are planning to consult your doctor start a food diary as this will show the food intake for your child. The food diary should not only have the foods and drinks they eat but the quantity and the times they eat as well. This gives a broader picture and may be able to establish if there is trend, for example they are really hungry in the morning but taper out after lunch.

It is also important to monitor growth spurts as sometimes we put aches and pains down to growth spurts but they may in fact be something more serious.

Growing muscles can produce aches and pains. If the aches and pains last more than 24 hours then it is recommended to see a doctor to be able to rule out other causes such as juvenile arthritis, infections, etc.