Height
The same thing can be said about height as about weight of children. There is no standard, since there are so many variations to consider, but there is a general average. The average length of the infant at birth is about twenty and one-half inches. The average normal growth the first year is about nine inches. Growth in height of the child does not indicate much in the way of nutrition, since a child may grow in height and at the same time lose in weight. The greatest growth in height is made at the time of puberty. Girls begin this rapid growth about twelve years of age and will mature more rapidly than boys, since boys do not begin this rapid growth until the thirteenth or fourteenth year; but, in the fifteenth year the boys will be taller than the girls.
Growth in height is not retarded by malnutrition to the same degree as is weight. The average growth of the normal child during the second year is about four inches; for the third year a little less; for the fourth year still a little less, about three inches. Bowditch tells us that after the fifth year the average growth is about two inches a year up to the time of puberty.