Final answer:
Toddlers indeed experience weight and height gains in spurts, reflecting a non-linear pattern of growth, with slowdowns and accelerations at different developmental stages.
Step-by-step explanation:
True. Toddlers tend to gain weight and height in spurts rather than in a continuous linear fashion. This pattern of growth is in line with general pediatric observation that physical development during infancy and childhood does not occur at a constant rate. For instance, between 1 and 3 years of age, toddlers undergo growth but not as rapidly as during their first year. The weight gain in toddlers from one to three years is approximately a 52 percent increase, and in terms of height, there is about a 26 percent increase. This rate is significantly slower than the nearly 200 percent increase in weight and 100 percent increase in height observed from birth to one year. Moreover, the adolescent growth spurt marks another period where the rate of growth significantly accelerates during puberty, showing further evidence that growth occurs in phases rather than steadily over time.