I've always believed that you measure a child on their second birthday and double it to predict how tall they will be as an adult.

Anyone else heard this one?

Or you could share any similar ones.



(Dd is 2 today and is 2' 10 1/2", so 5'9" as an adult?)

I have heard that too and it makes my 7 year old 5 foot 11.

There's a thingy in ds's little red development book that tells yo uhow to calculate final height. Mine is going to be 6' 2". Given that his Dad's 6'4", he'll be a shorty!

I'd heard that too, but I think it's more of a "rule of thumb" than proper scientific fact. the red book chart gives a final height range between two centiles, but they were quite far apart, making my DS anything from 5'6" to 5'11".

well I did that thing in the red book for dd when she was 2.
she's 16 and 2 inches of the 5'5 she's meant to reach

I think it only works for boys

You dont stop growing until your 21 - so your 16 year old has got another 5 years possible growth.

am hoping my little ds2 will be an exception to this rule: he was only 80cm at 2yo, which means that he would end up at 1.60m. (sorry don't do inches and feet) with dh at 1.90, me at 1.80 and ds1 (4y5mo and 1.10) on the 91st centile, he will be extremely short...

I thought girls stopped much sooner than boys,around 16.
She would be delighted to think she may still grow.

I doubt there's many girls still growing at 21. They tend to grow only another 2cm or so after periods start, so many girls have stopped growing by their early teens. but yes it's common for some boys to carry on growing until 19 or 20.

My hv mentioned something about this when ds2 was 2. If I went by that ds2 would have been predicted to be 6ft 8". He is 17 now and is about 6ft 1" so he's going to have to do some serious growing!! His friend, who was much shorter at 3 when they met, now has to duck to get through my 6ft 6" doorways.

My dd is 15 and started her periods when she was 11. In december I measured her and she was 5ft8, 1/2 - one month later she had grown half an inch... My dd has grown far more than 2 cm since she was 11

i like this

Again...it's a tendency, that's all. It's still unusual for girls to grow much after menstruation. <<But a 15 yo girl at 5ft 9 !! - she sounds lovely ! My periods started at 11 too and I think I'd reached most of my 5' 4" by then >>

i was 5'8" at 11

Yes I've heard that too. Not sure how accurate it is though! According to my ds' red book he should be about 6ft as an adult. I don't think that's accurate either as that goes by adding the 2 parents height together then dividing it. Can't always be the case as my mum was 5 '7", my dad is 6 foot, my brother is 6' 6" so not an exact science either!

I heard you double it a 18 months for a girl and two years old for a boy.

My HV said 5ft 5 for DD she is 5ft 3 at 14 and seems to have stopped growing now. Also girls only grow a couple of inches and for a two more years after their periods start.

Think its similar for boys too. Later puberty can mean higher growth potential.

Ivykate thats encouraging. DD would love to grow taller also started at 11 when she was 5 ft 1. I was going by the text book answers. Nice to know its not set in stone.

I've also always believed that boys are ALWAYS taller than their mum.

i grew half an inch when i was 17, having previously stopped at 12.

Not sure about these predictions, it means that only DD1 has a hope of being taller than me.

DD1 5'8" (if doubled at 2) or 5'5" (centile at 20yo)
DS1 5'3" (if doubled at 2) or 5'6" (centile)
DD2 5'6" (if doubled at 2) or 5'3" (centile)

But I grew 4" between ages of 16 and 18 (I was measured by GP for my first passport at 16yo and it says 5'2" - I'm 5'6").

honey - we may have those sorts of teenage boys that grow like weeds over night and suddenly catch up/overtake everyone else.

I've heard that Broccoli - apparantly scouts looking at junior footballers ask them how tall their mothers are to get a rough idea of how tall they'll be fully grown. I'm 5'11", so hoping ds will be a six footer rather than 5'10" like his dad!

I stopped growing at 14, btw.

GGirl, I didn't stop growing until I was 19, so there is hope for your DD (mind you, I'm only 5'5" myself!)

the link further down suggests ds will be 6ft which sounds a bit on the low side - aren't boys usually taller than their fathers, unless they have a small mother? (Dh is 6ft and I'm 5'7".)

it worked for me- I'm only 1/2 inch off what I should be based on my height at 2yo.

I've heard this but am praying it isn't true, otherwise ds1 will be a dwarf. Just calculated it and he is exactly half my height (5'2) - fine for a girl, but not for a boy. Dh is 6 feet tall, and is the short one in his family.

my MIL believes this so I measured ds on his 2nd birthday. Although he is the tallest 2 year old we know and is on the 75th centile thing for height and weight it worked out that he would be 5 ft 6! I suspect it's an old wives tale.

You can never really predict. How many families do you know with same parents but different heights of children. My dad was 5ft 8 and my mum 5ft 1.

My sis is 5ft 6 but I'm only 5ft 2.

Her DH is 5ft 10 and so is her DD!!

My DD is 5ft 3 but her dad is 5ft 11!!

Checked dd as well now. She was 91cm at 2 so this will make her 182cm or just under 6 ft. If she follows the centile shes on she will be 173cm. That's quite a difference

Well, I'm throwing grandparental genetics into the mix for ds. FIL was 6'3", taller than dh. My theory is severe childhood asthma stunted dh's growth (dh's mum was 5'6" which was quite tall for her generation, although she's shrunk a bit in old age) so as ds is fortunately asthma-free he should be taller than his dad.