It is typical for teens and adolescents to be heavily influenced by their peers, especially as they spend more and more time away from home. During these years, their bodies are changing quickly, and growth spurts are common.
If it seems like your child is growing at a fast rate and eating their body weight in sandwiches, you aren’t losing your mind. Although it can vary, most girls start to have their fastest growth spurts between the ages of 10 and 14, while boys experience it between 12 and 16 years. While the signs of a growth spurt can vary from male to female, the focus on good nutrition is equally important.
What are some signs of a growth spurt?
- Your child is always hungry. As your child grows, their nutritional needs increase, causing a surge of hunger, especially if they are very active. An increase in hunger typically lasts an average of 24 to 36 months. Sticking with nutritionally dense foods rather than snacks like chips, and sweets like skittles will offer the most value.
- Your child recently started puberty. Children experience the fastest growth, most often with puberty. Well-balanced meals with plenty of protein will help to support their rapid growth.
- Your child is sleeping more than usual. Human growth hormone secretions peak throughout the night, which means that your child is growing while they sleep. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that children ages 6 to 13 should sleep approximately nine to eleven hours each night to support healthy growth. Teenagers need just a little less but should be getting eight to ten hours for ages 14 to 17 years.
- Your child’s clothes don’t fit. Have you noticed that you can see more and more of your child’s ankles? It’s common for children’s legs to grow first, and their torsos catch up later. So if you find yourself buying them pants frequently, they are most likely experiencing a growth spurt.
- Your child is suddenly clumsy. It’s normal during a growth spurt for a child to become more accident-prone, while height and limb length cause shifts in their center of gravity.
Nutrition is Key During Growth Spurts.
- Make sure your child is eating three meals a day with healthy snacks in between.
- Hydrate. Hydrate. Have your child drink water throughout the day while avoiding soda and drinks high in sugar. If they don’t have a reusable water bottle, this Motivational Water Bottle offers a challenge and comes in a variety of fun colors.
- Reduce your child’s sugar and salt intake. Switch up their cereal choices and sugary snacks, replacing them with better options that will support their nutritional needs.
- Increase fiber in their diet. Choose high fiber snacks like apples, raspberries, pistachios, and avocados.
- Limit fast food. Avoid bringing foods you don’t want your teen to eat into the house. Instead, suggest one night a week to have take-out.
Keep those annual physicals and speak to your child’s doctor about any concerns. During these years, kids may have “growing pains” that are typically a sign that they lack a certain vitamin. Try tracking a week’s worth of food intake and bring it to your doctor’s appointment and follow up with any bloodwork the doctor suggests. Some parents are concerned if their child isn’t as tall as other children their age; however, genetics greatly impacts height. Your child’s physician will measure and weigh your child and record them over time to monitor any abnormal delays.
Proper nutrition during these vital years will set the foundation for their muscle and skeletal health. Educate your child on the importance of good nutrition.
Your teen’s mental health is equally important. You can help your child develop by strengthening their social abilities. Let’s explore a few ways to do that.
- Offer loving discipline, restrictions as well as reward, and most importantly, be consistent.
- Encourage your teen to talk with an adult they trust about the concerns they have and make time to listen to them when they share things that make them upset. Give them undivided attention, so they feel seen and heard.
- Find ways to spend quality time together. Ask them to go for a quick walk around the block, or take a ride to see the sunset. Car rides are commonly when our teens share the most. They think eye contact is overrated.
- Discuss ways to manage stress and encourage them to be active.
If you are in need of health care, members of Impact Health Sharing can see any doctor they choose, so you never have to switch physicians, which can cause unnecessary anxiety when a child has seen one pediatrician their entire life.
Check out our pricing options here.
It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are. ~ E. E. Cummings
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