Baby has short arms

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Hello,
I know this might sound odd but my daughter is 5 months and has short arms that only reach the top of her hips/thighs. Does anyone else's little one look like this?Her overall length is quite long and her body is really long. She is not in proportion. Her hands do not reach if I put them above her head. I also have to roll her sleeves up on all tops.

If you are concerned I would head to the GP x

That seems normal to me.

I'd actually head to the GP if you're concerned.
Your gut is telling you something. Do you have other children or is this your first?

I intend to book a GP appointment, but was hoping to hear of others who have babies similar. I mentioned it to the health visitor but she laughed and said she was fine. I go swimming with other babies and her arms are obviously shorter @Queenfreak.

Babies can't reach the tops of their heads due to having larger heads. There is a good diagram here but if you are worried do talk to your HV or GP.

I looked at that @CoatTails. Hers are smaller than that, thank you for posting..
This is my second but first girl @TheVanguardSix. I hoping it is just her and her arms have a growth spurt. Not sure that happens though.

I have a 5 month old on my lap and I've just tried and his arms don't reach over his head. If I uncurl him his fists are just past the top of his nappy. The arms on his sleepsuits fit but that could be my washing technique which tends to shrink everything

Thank you so much for checking your little boy. That is reassuring. When she is lying down her arms reach a similar place. Does your little boy have a long body too? Is he a long or short baby?

Thank you so much for checking your little boy. That is reassuring. When she is lying down her arms reach a similar place. Does your little boy have a long body too? Is he a long or short baby @gaffamate

It’s normal. I had a whole afternoon of fun when I realised baby DD1 couldn’t arm over her head.

Some non numerate cultures use it as a way of accessing a child’s age.

I believe this was a way of checking if children were old enough to be sent up chimneys in Victorian times. Once your arm could reach over your head, you were old enough (about 7 or 8 I think)- up you go lad!

It's a funny thing. DC3 had incredibly, abnormally TINY feet. They were so out of proportion to his body that, when I brought him home from hospital and people saw him for the first time, they immediately noticed his feet. Their minscule, disproportionate size was glaringly obvious.
I was actually quite worried, OP. I don't remember when it all 'sorted itself out' but he's now 5 and half and has enormous feet like the rest of us, poor guy. We are a family of huge feet. I wanted his feet to get a bit bigger but was secretly hoping he wouldn't end up with my clodhoppers. The good thing is, they're in total proportion to his body. My confident guess is that your little one is absolutely fine and everything will all come together. But if you're worried, the reassurance from the GP will help.

He is to my knowledge about 25th or 50th on height so on the shorter side, but that was based on the wildly inaccurate health visitor technique of laying wriggly baby on a ruler father and I are both average height so he's probably going to be 5'10 or so.

A school nurse once told me that in some parts of the world they estimate a child's age by the proportion of its arm length. For example most children's arms aren't long enough to reach over their head and touch the opposite ear until they are around 5.

Thanks for the responses. I am hoping she evens out and I look back as you do @TheVanguardSix. My son is a very proportional 2.5 year old who has very long arms and isn't helping my worries.

My daughter is 75 percentile so I was expecting big long arms, but I feel this is made up of her big head and body. Poor thing I hope she evens out @gaffamate.

No chimneys for her for a while based on her arms

Apparently you can't bend your arms over your head till the age of seven. (Ie the elbow being above your head)

@BalloonSlayer I just tried that. My girl can't even clasp her hands.

But what will a GP do?

Seriously? If your child had a global growth delay, maybe; but there's no 'cure' for short arms, as such.

I have short arms, in that my fingertips reach my groin, not mid thigh. I have to roll all my sleeves up.

No one notices until I point it out 😂

Are her legs short as well? I thoughts arms and legs are in proportion to each other

My DD was 75th centile, she was all legs when born. Currently eleven months old and I’ve checked, her arms reach the top of her thighs too. I don’t think she’s out of proportion at all.

That sounds quite normal - they use arm length as a gauge of age in developing countries as they are 'disproportionate' to body /leg length until 'adult hood'.
If you're worried though, go to your GP or HV.

I agree it sounds normal, but also, keep in mind that 'normal' is a wide band and they all look different.

It could actually be that your first child was slightly unusual, too.

My DD is a weird shape, always has been - she is a narrow toddler and was a very narrow baby, with a tiny head, so she has the same proportions as a much older child. People often think she looks like a doll. But there's nothing wrong with her. It's just how she is. I expect if I had another baby who was a classic fat-bellied baby, I'd be shocked and would be thinking it was obese. If I pick up an average toddler I always find it a shock how heavy and chunky they are - it's not because they're a funny shape, but I have got used to DD being a skinny minnie.

She can't clap her hands in front of her ? How is her development in other ways ?

But 5 months is quite early for clapping, surely? However long or short her arms are, it's not typical they can do that until a bit later.

I don’t know if my one year old could make his hands meet above his head. He puts his hand up and says Meeeee when he wants a turn and we all laugh because of his short baby arms, his hand only goes to about the top of his head height wise. They are a completely normal length. But you should see your gp of course. There seems to be a gap to me between what you are describing in terms of where your babies arms reach (which seems normal) and also saying they are noticeably shorter than other babies (obviously less usual).