Me: I found this rather fun and cute story about the link between the time of year a baby is born and the height they will eventually reach. They seem to be 0.5 cm taller than ones born in the winter which is sort of a large difference. I guess that means I better start making babies during the Fall the previous year.

From The DailyMail UK…

The sunshine babies: Children grow taller if their pregnant mothers enjoyed a summer in the sun

By JENNY HOPE
UPDATED: 20:46 GMT, 3 February 2009

It’s called the sunshine vitamin and it seems it smiles on mothers giving birth in late summer and early autumn.

Babies born after their pregnant mothers have enjoyed a big dose of summer sun are taller and stronger-boned than those born in winter and spring, according to a major study.

Researchers reckon the reason is the boost some sunshine gives to levels of vitamin D, which works with calcium to build bones.

Late summer and early autumn babies also have wider, denser bones setting them up for a healthier adulthood.

The body makes most vitamin D from sunlight, rather than diet, but sun exposure is controversial
because it can trigger skin cancer.

However, the Children of the 90s project – an 18-year study from Bristol University – provides evidence that the sunshine vitamin is important for bone-building in youngsters even while in the womb.

Its researchers recommend that women pregnant in the summer get plenty of sun by walking around outside or even sunbathing.

Those expecting between November and May – when sunlight levels are low – should consider vitamin supplements.

The Food Standards Agency advises ten micrograms (1,000mcg equal one milligram) a day of vitamin D in pregnancy.

Researchers looked at the likely sun exposure of the mothers of 7,000 children in the last three months of pregnancy.

At the age of ten the youngsters were measured and given x-rays scans to determine bone density.

Children born to mothers with the highest sun exposure were on average half a centimetre taller – a fifth of an inch – than those born in the darkest months.

Summer and autumn babies also had around five inches of extra bone area due to increases in bone width.

The results are the latest from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children which enrolled 14,000 mothers at pregnancy in 1991 and 1992 and has followed most of the children and parents since.

A study spokesman said: ‘Perhaps people shouldn’t be quite so terrified of the sun.

‘There’s been a lot of panic about skin cancer, but people don’t need to panic about the odd few minutes of exposure.

‘A little controlled English sun is better than none. Or go to the Bahamas!’

Me: So after the quick google search I thought the results and posting would end but they seem to only increase in number and the stories are vast in number. There is something going on here which I can’t explain. Tyler would try to say that the growth plates never fully disappeared because their senescence was slower from DNA methylation or something. I would say that the correlation is with whatever hormone increases were occurring during pregnancy.

My Theory: These women are now eating for two. Their appetite goes up, their food intake increases, and this is very similar to what happens during puberty where the young adolescent starts to eat at an extremely high rate. However it doesn’t explain why they would ever gain height. In terms of symptomes, their food intake resembles teenagers who are going though puberty eating everythiing. One women who is 41 gains 1 inch and another woman gains 3 inches through pregnancy.

From BabyCenter.Com… there is one post of a women who noticed her pants have gotten shorter and she doesn’t fit in them anymore.

From TheBump.Com community…

01-21-2011 at 10:57 PM

jennlynn53 Joined on 07-21-2010 Louisiana 25 Posts 378 Points Growing taller because of pregnancy? Is it possible for pregnancy to give you a growth spurt of some kind? I have been 5’3” since I was 12/13 and I had my FI measure me and I am now 5’5”. I tried searching on the web for an answer but I just kept coming to dead ends. So has this happened to anyone else? Or has anyone heard of such a thing? TIA

Me: This woman poster was measured 9-10 months ago and she was 5’3″. Now she is 5′ 5″ and she is 23. However a reply on the same board link is even crazier. Read below…

sfuqua1 Joined on 11-16-2010 1 Posts 15 Points

Even though my doctor said it’s impossible he can’t deny that I have grown.  I was 26 during my first pregnancy.  I started the pregnancy at 5’1 and ended it at 5’3.  I stayed at 5’3 for two years and then got pregnant again.  I am now 28 and started this pregnancy at 5’3 and already at 7 1/2 months pregnant I have grown to 5’4.  I seem to gain 1-2 inches with every pregnancy.  My doctor has no explanation for this and neither does the internet.  But it’s such a relief to know I’m not the only “freak” 🙂 out there who is doing this!

April 17th, 2012, 11:19 PM

TuckrLeesMommy  Mega Super Mommy Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Michigan Posts: 1,289

Hey ladies, so something interesting has just recently come to my attention. I am almost 22 weeks pregnant now, i am due the end of august. I am 22 years old and i have a younger sister who is 12. now i am on the shorter side, i have been 5 foot even since i was 17. Just before my 3 month mark i was weighed and measured for my first WIC appointment at my local Health Department, and once again i was about 5 foot even. Well my 12 year old younger sister has been about a 1/4 inch taller than me for several months now, well just a few days ago she was standing next to me and i realized that i was looking down to talk to her. my mom laughed (she frequently ribs me about my height) and stood us back to back and proclaimed that i was indeed taller than my sister, when just a few months before we had done the same and my little sis was taller. My mom immediately measured me and i’ll be ****** the tape measure read clearly… 5′ 2 1/2″ somehow i had gained over 2 inches of height!!! now i have scoured the internet and i cant find ANY medical findings on this, but a few other accounts of women asking something similar. has anyone else had this? has pregnancy caused anyone else to grow? is there a name for this kind of phenomenon?

Me: This girl who is 22 was first measured at 3 months of pregnancy (12 weeks) at 5 feet tall and in the 22 week she is measured at 5′ 2.5″ which means over a 2 inch increase over 10 weeks. I could say that she is unique at age 22 for having another growth spurt. Since she is rather short I could claim that catch up growth is what caused it.

From the website Mothering.Com…

Getting taller during pregnancy?

Ever since I found the stories of women who have claimed to have increased in height during pregnancy I decided to do a quick search on google for stories, anecdotal evidence, and posts by women who claim they had gotten taller.

Me: If you read through the comments left by other moms you realize that this phenomena seems to be far more common than I ever expected. Of the 17 replies this women got, a good 2 of them said that they saw an increase in height beyond what would obviously be measurement error. The crazy anedotal story is the man’s wife who grew a “couple” inches when she was 30 and on her 3rd child. Wow, what is going on? Of course it is important to realize that a few of the replies stated that they actually lost height from the pregnancy. I don’t know what to take from this post and the replies except be more confused now.

From this post on an Australian Huggies web board HERE the poster says that she grew 1.5 cm during her pregnancy.

Here is one from CafeMom (source link HERE)

Height growth during pregnancy

Posted by

• Summer222009

on Jul. 6, 2011 at 3:54 AM

• 17 Replies

• Vipergirl22

Jessica on Jul. 6, 2011 at 5:38 AM

haha I would like to know that answer too…be interesting if it is true.

by

• KaroGreenly

Karo on Jul. 6, 2011 at 8:30 AM

How old are you? Maybe you just weren’t finished growing to begin with.

Posted on CafeMom Mobile

by

• .Angelica.

Angie on Jul. 6, 2011 at 9:29 AM

I have heard of this happening. Consider yourself lucky if you wanted to be taller I guess. LOL.

by

• .Angelica.

Angie on Jul. 6, 2011 at 9:30 AM

A guy my DH works with, when his wife was pregnant with her 3rd child and I think right around 30 she grew a couple inches. So she should have for sure been done growing.

Quoting KaroGreenly:

How old are you? Maybe you just weren’t finished growing to begin with.

by

• Summer222009

on Jul. 6, 2011 at 2:40 PM

I’m 19 but my growth plates have stopped when I was 12.

Quoting KaroGreenly:

How old are you? Maybe you just weren’t finished growing to begin with.

by

• momoftwins_2

on Jul. 6, 2011 at 4:34 PM

My feet grew but I didn’t get taller

Posted on CafeMom Mobile

by

• ATG499

Wendy on Jul. 6, 2011 at 5:22 PM

I didn’t get any taller during my pregnancy.

Posted on CafeMom Mobile

by

• alyciajoseph

on Jul. 6, 2011 at 7:42 PM

Mine too 🙁

Quoting momoftwins_2:

My feet grew but I didn’t get taller

Posted on CafeMom Mobile

by

• remaining_me

Kay on Jul. 6, 2011 at 7:55 PM

 hmm i never heard of that, lol i didnt get any taller. wider? yes, lol.

by

• remaining_me

Kay on Jul. 6, 2011 at 7:57 PM

 yeah, i permanently went up a half size with my second. I never knew they actually GREW, odd enough. i thought they just swell up.

Quoting momoftwins_2:

My feet grew but I didn’t get taller

11-17 of 17 replies

first previous 12

Jump to page:GO

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• Maddies-Mommy

Member on Jul. 7, 2011 at 2:24 AM

I didn’t get taller, however I went up a shoe size. It was weird, they didn’t swell they just got longer and three years later they are still that size.

by

• lovealot0587

on Jul. 7, 2011 at 2:32 AM

I’m not too sure

Posted on CafeMom Mobile

by

• hayvensmommy07

Bronze Member on Jul. 7, 2011 at 9:03 AM

I was 5’2 before my son. Now I’m 5 foot. Yea I shrank. How I have no idea so if I can shrink then I would think women could get taller too.

Posted on CafeMom Mobile

by

• JayBearsmomma

Rachael on Jul. 7, 2011 at 9:47 AM

lol I shrunk and1/2 inch ! I was 5’2 for the longest then at my 6 week check up I was 5’1 1/2

Posted on CafeMom Mobile

by

• YouGotToLoveIt

on Sep. 9, 2011 at 8:11 PM

Hi,

This is my first attempt to investigate my growth during pregnancy on the web.  Although I have a friend who grew 1 1/2 inches during her 3rd pregnancy and only daughter.

I am now 60 and had my only child when I was 36.  I grew 3/4 of an inch during pregnancy.  I tried to document this growth with any of my doctors and they all made excuses saying that they wrote down my original height incorrectly.  It was very frustrating because my original height was 5 feet 4 3/4 inches and I always tried to stand super tall when measured so that I could say I was 5 feet 5 inches even.  My final height is 5 feet 5 1/2 inches.

Thanks for this forum.  It is nice to know that I am not alone.

by

• Girl_Charlie

on Sep. 9, 2011 at 9:39 PM

And you thought that a “young moms” group was the place to go? Even 24 years ago, 36 was on the upper side of having children, not the young side.

Quoting YouGotToLoveIt:

Hi,

This is my first attempt to investigate my growth during pregnancy on the web.  Although I have a friend who grew 1 1/2 inches during her 3rd pregnancy and only daughter.

I am now 60 and had my only child when I was 36.  I grew 3/4 of an inch during pregnancy.  I tried to document this growth with any of my doctors and they all made excuses saying that they wrote down my original height incorrectly.  It was very frustrating because my original height was 5 feet 4 3/4 inches and I always tried to stand super tall when measured so that I could say I was 5 feet 5 inches even.  My final height is 5 feet 5 1/2 inches.

Thanks for this forum.  It is nice to know that I am not alone.

 

by

• JayBearsmomma

Rachael on Sep. 9, 2011 at 10:28 PM

Lol I shrunk half an inch

Posted on CafeMom Mobile

There’s a study that says pregnancy can increase bone turnover. This may be partially the cause of the height gain as bone turnover equals more plastically deformable bones.

The effect of pregnancy on bone density and bone turnover

“We studied 16 women longitudinally, with baseline measurements before pregnancy; then at 16, 26, and 36 weeks of pregnancy; and postpartum. We measured total-body BMD and biochemical markers of bone resorption (urinary pyridinium crosslinks and telopeptides of type I collagen) and bone formation (serum bone alkaline phosphatase, propeptides of type I procollagen [PINP] and osteocalcin). We also measured parathyroid hormone (PTH), insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), and human placental lactogen. Postpartum, BMD increased in the arms (2.8%, P < 0.01) and legs (1.9%, P < 0.01) but decreased in the pelvis (-3.2%, P < 0.05) and spine (-4.6%, P < 0.01) compared with prepregnancy values. All biochemical markers, with the exception of osteocalcin concentration, increased during pregnancy. The change in IGF-I at 36 weeks was related to the change in biochemical markers (e.g., PINP, r = 0.72, P = 0.002). Pregnancy is a high-bone-turnover state. IGF-I levels may be an important determinant of bone turnover during pregnancy. Elevated bone turnover may explain trabecular bone loss during pregnancy.”

“The involuting uterus is also a possible source of collagen degradation products. The uterus is predominantly composed of type I collagen; pyridinoline (Pyd) is the principal cross-link, and deoxypyridinoline (Dpd) is present in only trace amounts. The collagen content of the uterus increases approximately sevenfold during pregnancy. An increase in the Pyd/Dpd ratio during the puerperium would indicate a contribution to maternal cross-link excretion from uterine collagen.”

“Previous studies have reported decreased serum intact osteocalcin during pregnancy.”

“there appears to be a loss of bone density at trabecular bone sites and an increase at cortical bone sites during pregnancy. Bone turnover is increased with the increase in bone resorption preceding that of formation.”

When I was doing research for my post on the possiblity of injecting GH or BMPs into the feet to increase it’s size, I seemed to have come across a very interesting phenomena which might help a little in our search. It turns out that during and after pregnancy, the women often has her hands, feet, extremities enlarge in size, and that size increase never goes away.

You can see from all the comments that this is a very common phenomena. The comments by other mothers on the link at Baby Center continues for 5 more pages all telling their stories. There seems to be this hormone relaxin which loosens the joints in their feet, causing the foot bone sto spread. However, that doesn’t seem to explain why it is that even after pregnancy, the feet stays in that enlarged size. I wonder whether it might also be that the very bones also thickened and lengthened in size.

The stories show that the fingers get thicker. The feet gets longer, which could indicate either the feet being squeezed and spread out, or maybe the bones are indeed getting longer.

The most crazy comment I saw from the post was on the second page (link HERE) where the mother said this!!

Update: It seems that a 2nd mother posted that she had grown taller during pregnancy as well on the 4th page of comments!! (HERE)

From BabyCenter.Com…

Expert Answers

I think my feet have grown. Is this possible?

I was sitting around writing up another post today when I realized that I currently have 1 technique to increase the length of the legs, another to increase the length of the torso, but what about the other areas? I thought about the head but there is not a lot I could think of at the time except wear taller hats like Abe Lincoln. I moved to the feet and I had a rather simple idea.

We know that from the condition of gigantism and acromegaly that the extremities and localized regions in a person can be enlarged and made bigger through a lot of growth hormones. Anthony Robbins and Shaq are known for having extremely large hands and feet. Obviously Robbins large hands and teeth are from his pituitary issue.

So why can’t we just buy some growth hormones, somatotropin, the real stuff and inject some into the blood vessels that reach out feet? given enough time, the irregular bones in the feet should expand in width. Since the layout of the long bones in the feet is flat on the ground, any increase in width of the long bones and irregular bones will only cause the distance between the bones and the ground to increase, which is effectively increasing height.

From this link HERE we find a male who states that his feet grew more than 1 shoe size when he is 28.

We know that the calcaneus is the heel bone at the back of the feet. Any increase of this bone will cause the entire body to be pushed up. I had in a previous post talked about feet heel implants to increase in height and that was implants at the calcaneus. I would say that a person who tries to inject growth hormones or BMPs into the blood stream that feed the mineralization and maintenance of the bones in the feet will lead to enlarged bones and cause some height increase, say 1-1.5 cm throughout a 1-5 year range time.

The height gain will be minimal and probably would lead to possible deformity and disfigurement but my point for this idea is a possible proof of concept.

Heel spurs may be another way to increase height:

The plantar calcaneal spur: a review of anatomy, histology, etiology and key associations

So it specifically needs to be the lateral process of tuberosity.

Here’s some bone spurs:

” projections of larger than 1 or 2 mm”<-bone spur size.

“The prevalence of PCS increases with weight”

“The prevalence of PCS increases in older age groups”

“PCS consists of a core of mature lamellar bone and demonstrates evidence of degeneration and fibro-cartilaginous proliferation, along with one or more of intramembranous, chondroidal and endochondral ossification occurring at the surface”

“There is a statistically significant correlation between foot pronation and the development of PCS, with 62% of patients with a spur and 81% with a painful spur having a pronated foot radiographically”<-flat feet

“general tendency toward ossification of ligaments”

“over half of PCS are not within the PF or the intrinsic muscles of the foot but rather are surrounded by loose connective tissue”

“the epiphysis of the calcaneus extends down to the plantar aspect and that repetitive trauma results in PCS formation”

“repetitive trauma with low forces can cause histological changes and as the impact force is increased, fewer repetitions are required”

This was an idea that I have been thinking about ever since I found and reviewed the study which showed that BMP-7 (aka OP-1) injections into a mice and sheep’s vertebrate lead to the regain of lost height and health of degenerating disks.

My idea is to create a type of padding or guase  which you would have BMP-7 and BMP-6 with TGF-Beta3 embedded in the padding. Dexamethasone might also help. Certain BMPs and growth factors have been shown to both lead to chondrogenesis and osteogenesis. BMP-6 is really good at osteogenesis. We are looking for those. The padding has these notches and bumps, with the bumps alligned with the location of the intervertebral disks. The padding is pressed agains tthe back skin, with small needles that can inject the growth factors  right next to the disks. Remember that the disks have an outer concentric layer (outer annulus fibrosus)  and the inner circular layer (nucleus pulposus (NP). The outer layer is what the growth factors have to both get around and into. There is still some cartilage in the vertebrate even after we have reached physical maturity.

The padding can be just even 1 cm thick and can be refilled like a syringe which the nurse replaces when she is collecting a lot of blood from you. The BMP will theoretically be soaked into the vertebral disks leading to first chondrogenesis, increased nucleus pulposus function (and maybe even size), and finally ossification leading to increased thickness in the disks causing torso and height lengthening. The sequence of body physiology can be controlled by manipulating the injected device to switch from one type of growth factor into another. The pads can be wrapped around the body with either velcro or an elastic strap.

The second part of the idea was to use PEMF technology on the sides of the disks and give short duration, low intensity sine wave electrically capacitive signals to stimulate the collagenous material… At this point I would like to test the PEMF idea on the collagenous fibers of the annulus fibrosus so see if they would get any larger.

Overall, this idea is rather simple to try out even at home. The hard part may be getting BMP-7 and the TGF-Beta 3 from a non-natural source.

From PubMed Study 1 HERE

Spine J. 2008 May-Jun;8(3):466-74. Epub 2007 Jun 26.

Bone morphogenetic protein-7 protects human intervertebral disc cells in vitro from apoptosis.