As growing pains are a thing in adolescents, with bone, joint and muscle aches, why isn’t that pain also constantly present for infants and toddlers who are growing at a much faster rate with their bodies subject to greater developmental stresses?

Question

As growing pains are a thing in adolescents, with bone, joint and muscle aches, why isn’t that pain also constantly present for infants and toddlers who are growing at a much faster rate with their bodies subject to greater developmental stresses?

In: Biology

Answer 1

There’s a documentary on Netflix called “Babies” where someone explains this. She did a case study where she would measure babies every day and ask the parents for any notable behaviors or what they did that day.

She came to understand that babies grow one to two* centimeters in one day, not over time. The parents would report that the babies were particularly fussy or throwing tantrums on those days, so they actually do react. We just don’t always understand why since they can’t talk yet.

Edit: *previously said several centimeters but it’s not quite that extreme. [Here’s a link](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajhb.1310050607) to the study if anyone is interested.