Hi, am looking for some reassurance
Am getting increasingly worried about my tiny 13.5 year old daughter. She has always been small for her age, but this has become far more pronounced over the last couple of years. She is only 141cm and size 1 feet. Puberty not properly started although can notice breast buds if looking closely, only recently though. All her school friends tower over her, children in Year 6 (she is Year 8) tower over her. She looks like a 9 or 10 year old and it is affecting her self esteem as she would love to dress in older clothes and not look like a "little kid" as she puts it. She is barely above the 0.4th percentile and she has practically not grown in the last 3 months! (Her brother has grown a cm) - I measure them both at regular intervals. From about age 1-5 she was on the 2nd percentile and then it dropped after that. The last few years she has grown less than the standard 2 inches a year, and no growth spurt seems to be happening. Things are getting worse as younger and younger kids catch up and overtake her.
I am seriously considering taking her to the doctors, but before I do would like to hear if anyone with older children have had a similar experience with their daughters, which turned out all right?
By the way, my husband is 5 foot 10, I am 5 foot 2 and I started my period at age 14 and 2 months, if that helps.
Thank you.
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Worried about my tiny 13.5 year old daughter
hampshiremum321 · 15/03/2017 17:32
She sounds a lot like me when I was younger (except I had huge feet!). Friends towered over me, I didn't need a bra until I was 15, started my periods a week before my 16th birthday. I also looked very young (I only stopped being id on a regular basis when I hit 30).
If it's any consolidation I had a growth spurt at 17. I'm still friends with one of my school friends and now tower over her (i'm 5'5 now so average height - still big feet though 
).
My mum is smaller than you and my dad about the same as your dh. My dd is on 25th centile and much smaller than friends toddlers.
OK, have dug out my figures
DD was 5.11 at birth & stayed on a very low centile throughout childhood. She was one of the 2 smallest in her year all the way through primary school & for most of secondary. Late puberty though I don't remember exactly when. Tiny feet most of the time (one pair of shoes lasted 18 months aged 4-5).
For perspective, I'm 6' & half of my family are very tall; the other half are small to average, & my grandma that side was under 5'. DH is only 5'10, his entire family are small to average, & his mum was barely 5' - so with tiny women on both sides she could have stayed tiny.
However: DD's adolescent heights (which we only have because we measured against a door which we subsequently replaced but kept the plywood facing) 
12.0 - 144
12.3 - 145
12.11 - 150
13.4 - 154
13.6 - 156
13.10 - 157
14.0 - 158
14.5 - 160
15.1 - 165
No more measurements or records, but went on growing slowly & is now (over 30!) 170 with size 7 feet.
So your DD could easily keep on growing similarly & achieve a reasonable height in due course, especially as she sounds to be some way off puberty.
However, I think in your position I would go to the GP in an attempt to get some reassurance (if possible), especially as her self-esteem is beginning to be affected. (fwiw at 13+ I was only 5'3; I grew another 9" after that!)
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