Is it ok for babies to drop down height centiles?

[ceebee74]

I know it is quite common for weight centiles and DS dropped from 50th to 25th on his weight about 12 months ago and has never caught up.

But I measured his height yesterday and marked it on the chart (last time he was measured he was 2 months old - he is now 18 months old!) and noticed he has dropped from the 50th centile down to the 9th for his height. Is this common? Just a bit concerned as me and DH are both tall so we kinda expected a tall child and he has struggled to put weight on due to frequent vomiting so wondered if this could have affected his growth at all.

I knew in the back of my mind that he wasn't growing very much as he is still in 9-12 months clothes and has been for 6 months now - and they are still ok for size - all these people who kept telling me that babies grown out of their clothes so fast were clearly telling fibs

[ceebee74]

Anyone?

[mumtoone]

The measurement of length in babies is notoriously inaccurate so I wouldn't read too much into that. I do understand your concerns as my ds did something very similar. He was always quite an average baby in terms of weight and length but his growth seemed to slow down more than most when he started walking. I did see a doctor about it when he was 18 months and they monitored him for a while which showed he was growing and is probably just a small build. DS is now 4 and his friends younger siblings are now overtaking him in height! I'm not looking forward to buying him school uniform for September as he still wears 18-24month trousers! DH and myself are both average height so I wasn't expecting to have a child who will probably be the smallest in his class at school. The vomiting you mention will temporarily affect growth but he should catch up following a spell of good health. If its concerning you I would see your gp or hv who may monitor his growth for a bit.

[ceebee74]

Thanks Mumtoone - that does make me feel better knowing that it does happen.