10yo's height. Should I worry?

[SomewhereEast]

I'm guessing not, but ...

10yo DS (October birthday) has alway been smallish, but just seems to be lagging more and more behind other boys his age. Even his 8yo brother has now just overtaken him. He's 4ft 6, which I know isn't absolutely tiny, but seems odd given everyone in our family on both sides is above average height (I'm 5 ft 8, DH is 6ft). He's also very slim & eats what seems to me to be tiny amounts, not helped by the fact he's always been very picky. Am I overthinking it or is it worth checking in with the GP? His energy levels seem fine & he is actually growing.

There's no harm in seeing/speaking to your GP and asking for a referral to paediatrics if you're worried. Do you still have a red book for your DS? You could start by checking his height on there (it should have charts for older children in the back, or you could find them online if it doesn't) to see how much below the bottom curve he is.

We are seeing the paediatricians because DD2 is very small with delayed puberty and everyone we've seen has been very helpful, reassuring, and is absolutely taking it seriously. She's had various checks to rule things out, and the likelihood is that she will grow in her own time. However, she is reassured that we and her doctors are taking seriously something which has quite a big impact on her day to day life.

Does he look younger than he is too? You should check his growth charts and see if he has dropped over the years. Does his shoe size change often or his clothes size?

All DC have growth spurts at different stages however you shouldnt rule out getting him checked to ensure your not missing something. My DS has an abnormality in his pituitary and needs help to grow, he has daily injections and is also on thyroxine. Without these he wouldnt have grown beyon 4ft 11. He is currently 5ft 11 and has another two years so will reach his predicted height. Hormones arent just about height but lack of them can affect energy levels, academic achievement, puberty so shouldnt

It's worth mentioning if it's worrying you, but I doubt they'd take you seriously if there's nothing else obvious. That's 137cm and the average (and clothes size) for a 10 year old is 140cm.

Meant to add, has he always been on the average line for his age (i.e. smaller than his brothers for his age) or is this a new thing. If it's always been like it, I'd be less worried than if he's suddenly stopped growing.
I know the comparison issue, I have the same with my eldest and youngest. The eldest is a giant so I always think the youngest is small. But actually not -exactly average for age.

He's 1m 37cm at 10? How is that in any way worrying? He's average height.

Same age boys here and while my 8yo hasn't over taken the 10yo (yet) he's only about a cm shorter. I hadn't been thinking much about it as DS8 is one of the tallest in his class and is more stocky (not fat at all but broad/well built) compared to his brother who is very slender and narrow but then I saw DS10 standing in a group in his class and he was the shortest. I'm the same height as you and DH is 6'3 so I wasn't expecting him to be short - I was borderline underweight at his age but tall so I just assumed he took after me and DS8 after their dad who is built like a rugby player.

I'm not worried but I did get a bit of a jolt when I realised he was one of the shorter children in his class.

WHO height and weight charts - completely average. There is no virtue or achievement in being tall and no failure or disappointment in being short.

just echoing what others have said about checking your son’s measurements using the growth charts in his red book or you find the charts here

www.rcpch.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Boys_childhood_and_puberty_close_monitoring_growth_chart.pdf

You can also use the charts to work out what his mid-parental centile should be and whether he falls within a centile ranges of that. That can help you work out whether you should be concerned but worth seeing a GP if you have concerns about weigh/height/growth.

Should say 2 centiles range

Doesn’t make sense to compare him to the average/50th centile of all children as some are suggesting on here - if he’s been on 95th centile and dropped to 50th that’s still a cause for checking things over

if he’s been on 95th centile and dropped to 50th that’s still a cause for checking things over
but OP says he's always been smallish so on it's own it doesn't sound like a cause for concern, more something to be mentioned in passing if she's at the GP with him for something else.

My October born 10 year old is 135cm so about an inch shorter than yours by my reckoning. He’s also very slim and has abs! He’s not picky at all, though he has excellent self-control around food and has a mad preference for salad.

We both have very tall and very short relations so I’m not bothered, he’s completely healthy. Personally I think so long as he’s healthy, not overly tired or anything then you don’t need to worry.

If you didn't have growth charts you wouldn't think there was something to worry about.

Do you want to put him as early as possible onto a probably unneccesary path of hormone treatment? What else do you reckon GP would do?

Go to see your GP and take with you his red book with his height and weight plotted for any measurements you have over the years.Also take your height and weight and those of your son's father.Dr will want to have a look at your boy and look at measurements.