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Original poster

Daughter tall for her age!

33 replies

AnWelch · 10/10/2020 10:54

Just joined for some advice - my daughter who is 3 is really tall for her age. At nursery she is twice the height of anyone else!! Anyone else with tall kids? and do they plateau at any point!

OP posts:
LovelyBranches · 10/10/2020 10:59

Mine is the same. She’s 3 and the tallest in her class. My ds is 5 and the smallest in his class. I regularly get asked if they are twins.

beebeebeeb · 10/10/2020 11:00

You should take her to the doctor if she is twice the height of the other children. That is extremely tall

funtimefrank · 10/10/2020 11:03

Mine was always the tallest - 95+ percentile since birth and even in utero had amusingly long femur measurements.

She's 11 now and whilst still tall, not massively so - she's 5ft. However, she's not started her puberty growth spurt yet.

Her dad and nan are tall so it's to be expected. It's never been a thing really, she's just tall. We got a lot of clothes in H&M when she was younger as she's skinny too and they cut for her shape. A lot of other clothes are way too big around the waist.

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wishing3 · 10/10/2020 11:06

Me and my sister are the same height(5 10). She was always super tall as a child whereas I was average. I guess she just did her growing early though as she stopped maybe early teens and I kept growing til about 17 and caught up. So I guess she could plateau. As pp said though-if she is twice the height I’d go to docs for monitoring/reassurance.

TeenPlusTwenties · 10/10/2020 12:06

Watch out for people expecting more from her in terms of behaviour as with younger ones people equate height with age/maturity.

doctorhamster · 10/10/2020 12:11

My dd was always 98th centile for height and towered over everyone all the way through primary. She's in year 8 now and about 5ft 5. She's not the tallest in her year any more.

TeenPlusTwenties · 10/10/2020 12:15

The tallest girl in DD's reception class is now 11 years later the tallest girl in her secondary school. DD was one of the smallest in reception (helped only by being autumn born) and has stopped growing at under 5ft.

Parker231 · 10/10/2020 12:18

DT’s were always the tallest in their class. They’re 21 now and DS is 6’3 and DD 5’10.

terriblyangryattimes · 10/10/2020 12:25

I have a tall 7 year old shes in aged 10-11 trousers and tights etc. Was always taller than nursery/classmates but dad is v tall so assuming she'll plateau at some point before she reaches 6'5 like him!

exexpat · 10/10/2020 12:25

Both mine were 98th/99th centile from babyhood until they hit puberty relatively early and stopped growing at normal sort of heights (DD was 5'6 or so by 12, DS 6' at 14 or 15). They can feel a bit conspicuous, finding age-appropriate clothing in the right sizes is sometimes hard, constantly buying new shoes is expensive, and adults expect them to behave in a more mature way than their actual age.

RuthW · 10/10/2020 12:33

My dd was the tallest in her class age 7. She stopped growing age 11. She's 24 now and is 5 foot 3 inches and can get in clothes she wore in yr 6!

Original poster
AnWelch · 21/10/2020 12:44

thank you all that's reassuring to know. Fingers crossed she plateaus.
As it happens the other children in her class are small (below average) so doesnt help with optics!

OP posts:
Seeline · 21/10/2020 12:47

Are you and her father tall?

PlateTectonics · 21/10/2020 12:50

My DD is tall - 13yo, 5'8" and still growing. She's really good at netball and she likes being tall!

Justforphoto · 21/10/2020 12:53

Has it's advantages, I can spot mine in the crowd when they come out of primary school as she is head and shoulders taller than the rest. A previous person is correct though other people do expect more as they assume they are an older child, that can be tricky when your child looks more like 6 than 4 and is having a tantrum.

DelurkingAJ · 21/10/2020 12:54

I was ridiculously tall but stopped growing at 12 (having hit 5’10”). My DM was buying clothing as if I was going to be over 6’ so I swam in my school uniform for several years...

HoldMyLobster · 21/10/2020 13:40

I have 2 daughters who followed their centile curve pretty much bang on.

One was always the tallest in her class and 99th centile for height. She's now 19 and is 6'1.

My second was always bang on 50th centile and is now 5'6 at 17.

I'm 5'7 and DH is 6'3.

PlateTectonics · 21/10/2020 13:43

OP, your post implies that you see this as a negative thing? It's great to be tall!

Rowgtfc72 · 21/10/2020 14:41

Dd was always 99th centile for height and head and shoulders above her friends.
Shes 13 now and 5ft 10 but seems to be slowing down.

Like a previous poster said watch out for people expecting more from her because of her height. My tantrumming 3yr old looked like a seven year old and we were tutted at!

Raindropsonrosesand · 21/10/2020 16:40

If she's significantly taller than her age-peers, take her to the GP (especially if you and her father are not super-tall).

There are some conditions - which can be treated - where a child's brain produces too much growth hormone. This makes them very tall in childhood, but then they stop growing too early and end up being much shorter than they should have been. If it's that, you need to treat early.

underneaththeash · 21/10/2020 16:44

My DS1 has always been over the 99th centimetres for height and at 14 he’s 6’3 and wears size 14 shoes. He is very clumsy and it’s difficult getting clothes to fit, especially shoes as his feet are really wide too.
DH is 6’5, but I’m only 5’4.
DS2 tends to be around 75th centile. Whilst DD runs on the 50th.

MrsGulDukat · 21/10/2020 16:49

My DD was tall but she's 13 now and 5 ft 2. She hasnt started her periods yet so I'm guessing she has more growing to get in first.

ThatGhastlyWoman · 21/10/2020 16:56

Now, this is interesting. My daughter has always been on the 95th-98th percentile, and when she was 2 or so I used one of those height predicting calculators to see what height she might end up at. It predicted 5'10", (The same as her grandma and aunt on the paternal side.) I, however am a small-to-average 5'4".

Maybe it's wildly off, then, looking at some of these answers...

OpposableThumbs2 · 21/10/2020 17:45

I would suggest measuring her and plotting it in her red book rather than comparing her to others. Both of my DDs towered above their peers early on but remained on their centile line which should make their adult height fractionally taller than me so no cause for concern.

JuliaJohnston · 21/10/2020 17:47

@AnWelch

thank you all that's reassuring to know. Fingers crossed she plateaus. As it happens the other children in her class are small (below average) so doesnt help with optics!
The entire class are below average height? What are the chances?!