Short son

[Sailingovertheedge]

Hi all, I’m wondering what to do, if anything. My son is in y5 and really short. He’s the shortest in a year of 120 (4 form). I’m wondering if I should take him to the doctors - realistically is there anything they could do? Sorry for the clueless post.

How short is he?

Thanks Toughlover. That’s helpful. Genuine question re whether I should be concerned about my son, but yeah take the piss why don’t you.

133cm

Percentile Chart. Where is he on that?

Mines also in year 5 so am comparing to him. Mine is 10 in aug and is 142cm ish. When is your sons birthday? Are you and his dad short?

Some people are short. It's very, very rarely a medical issue.

X post, is he about 25th percentile? That isn't especially short.

Someone is always the shortest in the year. Think about how tall the men in his family are (maternal and paternal sides) and what was their pattern of growth like? Some boys grow very late. Like they are the shortest in their year group until 16 or 17 and then they get their big growth spurt and grow a foot in a few months.
Why do you think he should see the dr? Has he always been the smallest in the year or has his rate of growth seriously decreased at some point? Sometimes kids don’t grow if they’re not getting enough nutritionally and there can be various medical things going on to explain why that might be the case.

Wasn’t taking the piss. There is many studies and articles you can find on this.

Somewhere between the 3rd and 9th centile. He’s September birthday ….his dad is 5’8 so not super small but paternal and fraternal grandfathers 5’5/5’6. I’m 5’4 so around average ish

Toughlover - An adult would struggle to hang by their arms for 20 minutes, think about it, so how on earth could a child do this?

He eats loads. So can’t be that. Thanks for the advice. He’s always been small. Well, not weight (he was an average baby) but they didn’t measure his height when born. To be hobest I was just wondering if he’s low In a hormone or something.

DS2 was always tiny. He was the smallest in his class for a long time.
Then in lockdown1 he grew about 4 inches. He's grown another 4-5 inches since then too and is now 5ft8 or 9ish.

My son was below the percentile chart and has had growth hormone since the age of 7. He is now 17 and about 5'7". Growth hormone will only work until they've gone through puberty, as their bones fuse. It's very expensive for the NHS so there is lots of criteria to fulfill to get it granted. It's quite invasive with ongoing blood tests and injections every day, so please bear that in mind. I haven't look at the percentile for you son, but if it is 25, then he's perfectly normal and you shouldn't worry. Good luck 😁

He’s from a family of small men on both sides so I’m not surprised he’s shorter than average. What does he eat on a typical day?

My son is 2 to 4th centile and mid junior school age. He's gradually fallen down centiles since birth. We have a paediatric appt. From initial telephone appt she thinks it may be related to issues he had in childhood having long term effect on appetite. He just isn't that interested in food. If your son eats loads and neither you or your H are that tall he may just be short.

If your DS is 133cm, then according to that centile chart he is above the 25th?

At what age did he start growing?

My son has never had a growth or eating spurt!

Three meals. Family dinners. Snacks. Fruit. No eating issues at all.

Holly60 he’s a sept birthday so further towards 11.

Thanks Trogbog. I might just take him to GP to see if we need paed aptment.

My son is short. We took him to the GP and they did a bone age scan, an X-ray of his hand. From that they can tell if his skeleton is delayed with growth and should catch up.

With my son, it determined that he is small but should continue growing after his peers have stopped so should end up average sized.

Definitely see the GP.

Sounds normal. He's from a short family - hardly surprising he's short! Both you and your dh are between 25th and 50th centiles. Anything within two centile bands is expected for your ds, so from between 9th and 25th to 75th and 91st. Which he is.

I thought that sons will always be taller than their mothers. How tall are you?