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Original poster

How much do kids grow during puberty?

11 replies

Hoolajerry · 03/10/2019 23:04

Just curious about others experience. My ds is 14 yrs 2 months and has just started puberty. He has always been small for his age and a slow grower . He's currently 5ft 4 with size 5.5 feet. His dad is just over 6ft and I'm 5ft 6 but some of my extended family are short whilst dh's are tall. Dh didn't grow until he was 16 so it seems to be a genetic thing. Weirdly his teeth are also 2 years behind on development.
My dd is coming up to 12. She is also just starting puberty. She's 5ft exactly at the moment with size 5 feet. Her feet grew in year 5 but seem to have stopped for a while. She is at least 2 inches taller than ds at the same age.

I find it really fascinating wondering how they will end up. Did anyone have small dc who have gone on to be tall or vice versa? What age did they have their big growth spurts and was it a gradual thing or something that happened quickly? Thanks for sharing

OP posts:

HennyPennyHorror · 04/10/2019 01:20

I find it fascinating too OP. My children are 15 and 11...both girls. Oldest DD is shortest in her year at 5.1. She's so dainty whereas I'm 5.6 and my Dad was 6.4! But my DH is only 5.9...and my Mum is just 5 feet...so there's every likeleyhood that DD will remain about 5.1 or so...I mean I was 5.6 at 15 and stopped growing! Girls stop sooner than boys.

I remember going back to school for the final year...everyone had just turned 16 and suddenly all the lads had shot up over summer and were massive.

We girls had towered over them for years!

DD2 is 11 and the second tallest in her class at 5.4. She'll probably slow down but there's no telling...she's more like me than DH and so she may have got some of my Dad's gene...though 5.4 at 11 isn't massive it's certainly tallish.

My nephew is 16...he was premature and small and thin for years. Then he hit 15 and shot up. He's 16 and 6 feet now.

eeksville · 04/10/2019 01:37

I grew late, was average height for yrs & shot up at 13 & grew for a few yrs. I'm 5ft 9 (parents are 5ft 7 & 6ft 2 & i'm the smallest of my siblings). DH is 6ft 2 & had a growth spurt at 15/16. DS1 is pretty average currently.

SquintEastwood · 04/10/2019 01:37

My DS (13y3m) was always on the smaller side through primary school, he hit puberty at 11.5 and hasn't stopped growing since.

He's 5ft 6 now and in 2 years has gone from a size 4 to size 9 shoe - DH is also teaching him how to shave this weekend as he has a pretty full on patchy moustache!

DH was similar, he stretched to 6ft and size 10 shoe by 15 and stopped growing - I stopped growing around 17 I think, I'm 5ft 3.5 and a size 8 shoe.

It looks like our 6yo DD will follow me as she's a 13.5 shoe but one of the smallest in her age group at school.

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eeksville · 04/10/2019 01:39

my feet stopped growing at 14 & are quite small for my height (5.5) but DH is a 12/13 & both dcs have big feet.

BalloonSlayer · 04/10/2019 07:00

It tends to happen to most at 13/14, usually Year 9 at school.

I was always fascinated by my DCs heights and used to use an online height predictor which doesn't use parental height but just used DC height and weight (overweight children tend to grow tall early so it can be misleading), but I can't find it any more, annoyingly. I didn't like the ones that asked for parental height because they just said that DD would be my height and the two DSes would be DH's. Well thanks.

My DS1 was always forecast to be super tall (6'4") but actually stopped at just under 6' (I know that is tall, just not as tall as we expected. But then he does have food allergies, another reason why I was so interested in monitoring his growth.) DH is 5'9"

DD was forecast to be 5'6" and she is 5'7" (I am 5'5")

DS2 was forecast to be 5'9" (DH's height, interesting because as I say the website didn't ask for our heights). He is now 12 and although only about 5'2" he is towering over his friends, mind you he is old in the school year.

Be aware that a lot of people overexaggerate their DCs height though. You will get a lot of posts from people with six foot fourteen year old sons on here, a lot of those in reality will be from a short woman who is charmed by her son seeming a lot taller than her. I sound harsh but I have seen this IRL.

DelurkingAJ · 04/10/2019 08:20

I’m 5’10” and was 5’8” aged 11 (before I hit puberty). DBiL was dinky until 15 and is now 6’6” (he got stretch marks on his back because he grew so fast). I suspect it’s varies wildly based on this and other anecdotal evidence.

Coldishfeet · 04/10/2019 08:29

Do most girls have a final growth spurt in Year 9 or is most of their growing done by Year 8? DD, now Year 9, has grown 1cm in the past 12 months. Other friends are overtaking her, but DD was a long baby, tall toddler and above average height through primary school. I expected her to be taller than me. DH is tall. But she started her periods almost 2 years ago and I thought girls didn't grow much after thise 2 years, so I don't know whether to expect a Y9 growth spurt or not.

Boys I know are very different and are often towered over for the duration of Year 9 only to come back in Year 10 as a giant man.

Blueshadow · 04/10/2019 08:47

My dd grew quickly in year six and seven, slowed down and grew a couple of inches in year 9. Then stopped. She is an inch smaller than me at 5 ft 6ish. Her friends may well overtake her.

MamTDM · 04/10/2019 10:05

Did anyone else's DS grow out before they grew up? Mine is 12 1/2 and has always been slim and athletic, but in the past year he has developed a bit of a belly despite doing loads of sport and walking to and from school. He's not overweight but he's a completely different shape.

eeksville · 04/10/2019 12:09

You will get a lot of posts from people with six foot fourteen year old sons on here, a lot of those in reality will be from a short woman who is charmed by her son seeming a lot taller than her. I sound harsh but I have seen this IRL.

I can imagine this is true. I'm constantly told I'm 5ft 11 etc because the person telling me is 5ft 8. I'm definitely 5ft 9 (I used to do modelling & they always measure you).

sugarbum · 04/10/2019 12:33

They are all so very different its hard to know whats going to happen.
I stopped growing (in height and boobs! at about 12) I was just over 5ft 4" I started my periods at 10. My dad was 6ft 4" and my birth mum 5ft1" so I thought I'd get a bit more height than that.

My DS1 (12) has been going through puberty for a while now. His voice has broken. He is approx 5ft 8", and has size 10 feet (DH is 5ft 11" and has size 9.5 feet) Whilst he has fairly slim hips, he has big calves and thighs and is broad shouldered.

Its clear to me that his body shape 'inheritance' has skipped a generation as he has the same build as my dad did, and not DH (who is now skinnier than his 12 year old son) DH said he was a slow developer, whereas my dad was the opposite.
Obviously I don't have a crystal ball, so I don't know when this will slow down or stop. He was the same height as me when we moved house 15 months ago. Photo of him and his dad so you can see the difference between the 12 year old and the 46 year old :)

I think my DS2 has started puberty. He is nearly 10. He has smelly armpits now and gets really cross (he has always been the easiest going child ever) He isn't as tall as his brother was at the same age, nor are his feet as big. He doesn't have DH's figure either though and is clearly also going to be much stockier.

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