Herbal Medicine for Children's Growth: What Is It Aimed At?

We find what's holding growth back and aim at it

Key points in 30 seconds

1. Herbal medicine for growth doesn't make children taller directly. It's a medicine that clears away what's keeping a child from growing as much as they naturally could.
2. What holds growth back differs from child to child. A child who eats poorly, a child who doesn't sleep deeply and a child who's often sick each need a different prescription.
3. Even in a trial where one fixed formula was given the same way to every short child for 6 months, the children grew more than with a placebo, with no serious side effects.
4. We find the cause first, then aim at it. We check what's holding growth back with body composition and blood tests and bone age before we prescribe.
5. The window for growing is limited. Once the growth plates close, there's nothing left to work with.

What we often hear

• "My child is always near the front when kids line up by height."
• "Last year's clothes still fit."
• "My child eats well, but it doesn't seem to go into height."
• "I've searched online, but some say it works and some say it's useless. I'm confused."
• "I don't know whether we should start now or can wait a bit longer."

Many parents come to us after seeing their child standing next to other kids the same age and feeling their heart sink.

Here's what happens on your first day

• Where your child is right now. We plot height and weight on a growth chart and use past health checkup records to trace how your child has grown so far. We also calculate an expected height range from the parents' heights.
• How much growing time is left. We take a hand X-ray in partnership with the radiology clinic on the 2nd floor of the same building to check bone age.
• Whether it's fine to wait, or time to act. We won't rush you. If the tests show a worrying sign, we recommend seeing a pediatric endocrinologist first.

Worried your child seems smaller than other kids?

Parents tell us their child is always near the front when kids line up by height. They say last year's clothes still fit. Some say their heart sank when they saw their child standing next to a cousin.

So they search online. And they end up more confused. Some places say feeding a certain thing will make children grow, and others say none of it works.

The question parents ask most carefully in a growth consultation is this: "Does herbal medicine for growth really work?"

Our answer is: "It depends on what it's aimed at."

There's a reason a child isn't growing

The biggest factor in height is genetics. The expected range calculated from the parents' heights is the starting point.

But what we often see in the clinic is a child who isn't even growing as much as they naturally could. The potential is there, but something is holding it back.

What holds it back is usually one of these four.

Some children eat, but it doesn't turn into growth. They're picky eaters, feel full after a few bites and often have stomachaches. The problem isn't how much they eat but their ability to take it in. Feeding them well doesn't help if the food isn't used for growing.

Some children don't sleep deeply. They can't fall asleep until late, wake up several times a night or snore heavily. Growth hormone is released mostly during deep sleep, so when that breaks down, a little loss builds up every day.

Some children are always getting sick. They have constant runny noses and colds. Their body uses its energy for recovering instead of growing, and a blocked nose makes their sleep shallower too.

Some children are low on energy. They tire easily and aren't very active. When they move less, their appetite drops and their sleep quality falls too.

Herbal medicine for growth is aimed at these spots. It strengthens digestion and absorption, deepens sleep, helps a child who's often sick get sick less, and builds up energy. When what was holding them back is cleared, children get back to their own pace.

How far has the evidence for growth herbal medicine been confirmed?

There's one trial that serves as the benchmark. Several Korean hospitals ran it together, and neither the doctors nor the parents knew whether a child was getting the real medicine or a placebo. Children aged 6 to 8 whose height was in the bottom 25% for their age took a formula combining astragalus, Dipsacus root and Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus) for 6 months.

Among the 129 children studied, those who took the real medicine grew an average of 0.29 cm more than those on the placebo. The difference was hard to put down to chance, and there were no serious side effects.

There's something you need to notice when reading this trial. It gave one fixed formula, the same way, to every short child. It didn't look at why each child wasn't growing. Children whose problem was digestion, children whose problem was sleep and children whose problem was frequent illness all took the same thing.

Even under those conditions, they grew more than with the placebo. The trial also confirmed it was safe.

Our prescriptions work under different conditions. We check what's holding growth back with tests, then make up the prescription to aim at that spot. We don't give the same medicine to a child with a digestion problem and a child with a sleep problem. That's how herbal medicine is meant to be used in Korean medicine, and it's why we put herbal medicine at the center of our growth care.

Sleep and diet go hand in hand with herbal medicine

While herbal medicine changes the body's conditions, daily habits need to be set right at the same time for it to work properly.

Sleep especially. In a study that drew blood continuously during sleep, the big surge of growth hormone came right after falling asleep. Later studies showed this release is tied to deep sleep. About 70% of the nighttime pulses overlapped with deep-sleep periods, and the more deep sleep, the more hormone was released.

But this isn't about one or two days. In a study that kept adults awake for one night, much of what wasn't released at night was made up the next day. So "My child went to bed late last night, so they didn't grow today" isn't how it works.

What matters is sleep loss that has become a habit and things like snoring that break up deep sleep itself. That's not a one-day loss but a loss that lasts years. That's why we make deeper sleep one of the goals of the herbal prescription.

Eating is the same. While we strengthen digestion with herbal medicine, we also work out what to feed and how.

But there's something to rule out first

Before using herbal medicine, there's something we always check: telling apart a child who is simply a late grower from a child who isn't growing because of an illness.

If any of the following apply, tests come first:

• The child's ranking on the growth chart keeps dropping
• How much they grow in a year is clearly below the standard for their age
• They're unusually small compared with their parents' heights

Low thyroid function, a chronic illness or a growth hormone deficiency may be hiding behind it.

It can go the other way, too. Some children grow much faster than their peers and show signs of puberty early: breast buds, pubic hair or a sudden growth spurt. It's easy to feel relieved because they look tall now, but if bone age runs ahead, the growth plates can close early and cut into their final height.

Prescribing after ruling these out and prescribing without checking are completely different kinds of care.

What we want to be clear about

The trial used a fixed formula. There still aren't enough trials directly comparing herbal medicine tailored to each child with a placebo.

So we don't just give herbal medicine for 6 months and then measure height. We find what's holding growth back, aim at that spot, and measure every week under the same conditions to check we're heading in the right direction.

How we work

One. We find what's holding growth back.
A body composition test shows body makeup and muscle mass, and a blood test checks for anemia and nutritional status. We ask whether your child snores or wakes during the night, what and how they eat and whether they digest well, and we examine the abdomen. This is where we see whether it's digestion, sleep, frequent illness or low energy.

Two. We use bone age to see how much growing time is left.
We take a hand X-ray in partnership with the radiology clinic on the 2nd floor of the same building to check bone age. The gap between bone age and actual age tells us how much time is left to grow. If puberty has started early or the growth rate looks unusual, we recommend seeing a pediatric endocrinologist first.

Three. We make up herbal medicine aimed at what we found.
For a child with poor digestion, we aim at building the ability to take in food. For a child who sleeps lightly, at deeper sleep. For a child who's often sick, at getting sick less. Even under the same name, "growth herbal medicine," the contents differ for each child. We show you the test results and explain why we're prescribing it this way.

Four. We work on daily habits together.
We adjust bedtime, snoring, eating habits and activity levels together with you. While herbal medicine changes the body's conditions, daily life has to back it up.

Five. We measure every week under the same conditions.
Once a week, at about the same time, we measure height and weight and add them to the chart. It's not a weekly report card but a way to build a trend line. We judge by how much the child grows in a year over several months and by the change in ranking. If growth falls short of the standard, we don't just repeat the same prescription. We look again at what we might have missed.

If you don't check now

Growth never gets worse suddenly. That makes it easy to say, "Let's wait and see a little longer."

But something keeps quietly slipping away while you wait. The bones keep growing, and the window for growing gets shorter. Once the growth plates close, there's nothing left to work with.

When puberty starts early, this clock runs even faster. The remaining room shrinks while the child looks like they're growing well.

The earlier you clear what's holding growth back, the more time you have to use.

What changes

Your child starts eating well. Mornings get easier. Colds come less often. And the growth curve gets back on track.

What we aim for isn't a particular height. It's clearing what was holding your child back so they get back to their own pace.

We start by checking where your child is right now. We won't rush you, and we'll tell you, based on evidence, whether it's fine to wait or not.

How fast a child grows and their final height vary depending on genetics, the timing of puberty, any other conditions and daily habits.

Come see us if

• You're worried because your child is smaller than other kids
• Your child still fits into last year's clothes
• Your child eats well but it doesn't seem to go into height
• Your child is showing signs of puberty earlier than their peers

We won't make you anxious or rush you. On the day, you'll learn where your child is now and hear, based on evidence, whether it's fine to wait.

Sources for this article

Source	What was studied	Findings
Lee et al., 2017	Multicenter comparison trial, 129 children aged 6–8	Children who took a fixed formula for 6 months grew 0.29 cm more than with placebo, no serious side effects
Shim et al., 2022	Pooled analysis of trials combining growth hormone and herbal medicine	Summarized evidence for combined use, but certainty is low because the included trials were of low quality
Takahashi et al., 1968	Blood drawn continuously during sleep	First confirmed that the big surge of growth hormone comes right after falling asleep
Van Cauter et al., 1996	Review of literature on sleep and growth hormone	About 70% of nighttime pulses overlap with deep sleep; more deep sleep, more secretion
Brandenberger et al., 2000	Experiment keeping adults awake for one night	What wasn't released at night was made up during the day, so the daily total was similar

References

1. Lee D, Lee SH, Song J, Jee HJ, Cha SH, Chang GT. Effects of Astragalus extract mixture HT042 on height growth in children with mild short stature: a multicenter randomized controlled trial. Phytotherapy Research. 2017;31(11):1713-1719. doi:10.1002/ptr.5886

2. Shim S, Kim S, Choi DS, Kwon YB, Kwon J. Effectiveness and safety of combination therapy with herbal medicine and growth hormone for short stature children: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2022;2022:5725258. doi:10.1155/2022/5725258

3. Takahashi Y, Kipnis DM, Daughaday WH. Growth hormone secretion during sleep. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 1968;47(9):2079-2090.

4. Van Cauter E, Plat L. Physiology of growth hormone secretion during sleep. Journal of Pediatrics. 1996;128(5 Pt 2):S32-S37. doi:10.1016/s0022-3476(96)70008-2. PMID: 8627466

5. Brandenberger G, Gronfier C, Chapotot F, Simon C, Piquard F. Effect of sleep deprivation on overall 24 h growth-hormone secretion. Lancet. 2000;356(9239):1408. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(00)02847-6

---

If you're worried about your child's height, come see us. We'll start by checking bone age to see how much time is left.

For questions or appointments, message us in English through the messenger at the bottom right of the page, or call +82-53-716-1175.