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Growth and Your 13- to 18-year-old
As children near adulthood, they
continue to mature and grow. Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet,
exercising at least three times weekly, and getting adequate rest
will help ensure that they will grow and develop properly. Teens
who have entered puberty will notice many changes in their developing
bodies as fat deposits and muscles change shape. Often these changes
are quite dramatic.
Growth charts are used to plot
your teen's individual pattern of growth on a curve over a period
of time. The curves are generated from weight and height information
taken from data on thousands of children and are useful in comparing
the growth of normal children and teens.
Using these standards, your teen's
doctor can determine whether your teen may be too thin or fat
in relation to her height. For example, if your child's weight
for her height corresponds to the 85th percentile, then she is
heavier than 85% of the other children of the same height. Generally,
a teen may need special attention when her height is below the
5th percentile or if the teen's rate of growth is too slow for
her age.
How Can I Help My Teen Grow
Normally?
Normal growth - supported by good nutrition, adequate sleep, and
regular exercise - is one of the best overall indicators of your
child's good health. You should also be aware that various eating
disorders - including anorexia and bulimia - could interfere with
the growing process. A significantly malnourished child may be
pushed off her "natural" genetically determined growth curve.
Although she won't stop growing completely, there may be a slowing
down or flattening of her growth on the doctor's chart and delay
in appearance or progression of the other features of puberty.
Malnutrition severe enough to affect a child's growth rate is
uncommon today in the United States and other developed countries
unless the child has an associated chronic illness or disorder.
Your child's growth pattern is largely determined by genetics.
Pushing a child with "short genes" to eat extra food or greater
than recommended amounts of vitamins, minerals, or other nutrients
will not increase her height.
Puberty
Puberty - or sexual maturation - is a time of dramatic change
for both boys and girls. For both sexes, these hormone-driven
changes are accompanied by growth spurts that transform children
into physically mature teens as their bodies develop.
There is wide variation in the
age at which the physical changes of puberty normally begin. Breast
development is usually the first noticeable sign of puberty in
girls. This may begin anytime between the ages of 7 and 13 years
(as early as 6 in African-American girls). About 15% of girls
will develop pubic hair before breast development starts.
The following characteristics describe
the sequence of events in girls as they progress through puberty:
- Breasts begin to develop and
hips become rounded.
- The increase in the rate of growth
in height begins.
- Pubic hair begins to appear,
usually within 6 to 12 months after the start of breast development.
- The uterus and vagina, as well
as labia and clitoris, increase in size.
- Pubic hair is well established
and breasts grow further.
- The rate of growth in height
reaches its peak by about 2 years after puberty began (average
age is 12 years).
- Menstruation begins, almost always
after the peak growth rate in height has been reached (average
age is 12.5 years).
Once girls start to menstruate,
usually they grow about 1 or 2 more inches, reaching their final
adult height by about age 14 or 15 years (younger or older depending
on when puberty began).
Reference
Source 50
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