Anyone else got a small child?

[WonderfulWeirdo]

Just wondering at what point, if any you would start to worry about the size of a child?

Child in question will be 3 in a matter of weeks and has just tried on their Halloween costume which is age 12-18 months with some growing room left over.

This is typical of most of the clothes, we own nothing bigger in size than a few 18-24 month Jumpers which again are baggy.

I appreciate someone has to be the smallest but a friend has commented regarding the costume size asking if I'm not worried they are still in baby clothes despite being nearly a pre schooler.

Should I be worried?

What centile are they on in the baby book? As long as they are on it even if its at the very bottom and havent dropped down centiles from an initial higher position then its fine. As you say someone has to be the smallest. I have kids at either end if the centiles and both have up and downsides.

Are they hitting developmental milestones? Do they have plenty of energy? DS (2) is very skinny and I mentioned it to his paediatrician over the summer. He wasn’t bothered as he said DS was clearly healthy and developing well. He has ridiculous amounts of energy.

Another thing is genetics, DS has a little girl in his class who is very small. She is coming up to three but I would be surprised if she is wearing clothes much bigger than 12 months. However both her parents are also small and slim so it’s not surprising.

I was always rubbish at the centile thing but when last measured in the summer we got a height of approximately 86cms give or take a cm or 2.

Milestone wise I have absolutely no concerns and there doesn't seem to be any discernable difference between my child and their peers except for their height.

I did wonder about parents heights playing a part but neither me or dad are particularly short.

Mine is also 3 in a couple of weeks and I am constantly concerned she is behind her peer group. She's in 2-3 clothes which I guess is probably average, she has loads of energy and eats well, but compared to the rest of her classmates, she looks so petite. I'm 5'10 and her dad 6'1 so we just thought she wouldn't be so petite. Some friends children who are 12-18 months younger than her weight the same!

I think it's completely normal to worry, but if there's constant illness (above and beyond Childrens normal), struggles with food and developmental issues, contact your HV or GP.

My very nearly 3 year old sound a similar height to yours OP. She's a wild, feisty creature and has hit milestones with no issues.

I'm also small so it's not surprising that she is. It really doesn't worry me at all, it's not held me back and I doubt it will her. The only issues I've had in life are finding good quality petite clothes, and a teacher in primary school who assumed I wasn't very bright because I was small - I was by far the brightest kid in school and I'm still furious at that teacher for making such assumptions!

Mine is almost 4 and most of his clothes are still 2-3!

The only issues I've had in life are finding good quality petite clothes, and a teacher in primary school who assumed I wasn't very bright because I was small

I'm sorry to hear that. Thus far we've had very few issues except for some similarly aged children assuming DC is younger and treating them as though they are a baby which can be frustrating.

In terms of milestones, eating, illnesses etc I have no concerns and I wasn't overly fussed but every now and then someone says something and I worry I should be more worried if that makes sense?

I fear we will be the same in a years time to be honest and think finding school uniform in the future could prove a shopping nightmare. I might make that Daddy's job.

DS2 was always tiny. I can't be certain now, but I think he was in 18-24 months clothes at 3.

Hes 15 now and about 5ft 8, 28inch waist. So still not huge, but not tiny either. (I'm only 5ft1 and his dad is about 5ft10)

Yep.

She was 4lbs at birth (38 weeks, crappy placenta, lots of issues despite me being a healthy 30 something). Her first school uniform was 2-3, could only find that size in JL and it cost me a bomb.

She’s now 16, same height as me (5ft 2, ExH is 5ft 7 so tall children were probably never going to happen), 8st.

Milestones all hit as normal, the further end of normal, but nothing to be concerned about.

My youngest is 6 and still wears mostly age 4/5 and has always worn smaller than their age clothes. He isn’t overly small compared to peers, maybe slimmer but not height wise. I think clothes sizes are just all over the place tbh.
His brother was the same but now at 9 is average height/weight when compared to peers.

My 16 month old still wears the odd outfit that's 3-6 months, she's tiny, doesn't look older than 6 months old. My 4 year old wears 18-24 months, also tiny, both are happy, healthy, ideal weight and meeting all growth areas, we're not concerned at all.

Yeah. My older DD is 3.5y, but 2-3y clothes still fit her (and a 12-18mo coat, which she's been wearing for the entirety of her time at nursery). We just say she's bijou. Her younger sister is a good few months in front of her in terms of clothes sizes (we can tell from hand-me-down photos) - as long as she's growing and healthy and happy, we don't give it a lot of thought.

Oh, and she was walking at 11mo, so we've never had any concerns about her development. She's just a pocket rocket! She's very bright and happy and can hold her own with bigger children - she's just a good thing in a small package 🥰

It's reassuring to see so many others have dinky DC.

I think I'm sensible to continue to just go with the flow as I was doing already and only worry should I notice anything untoward e.g delayed /slowed development or lack of apetite (not likely as I'm raising a human dustbin who will eat anything and everything and then some).

It's reassuring to hear some children's had a growth spurt too. It's an odd thing to be wishing for your child to get bigger but it would be nice if we had a growth spurt eventually.

My 2 year old is 2nd centile for height. Still in clothes she was wearing from before she was even one! They just fit in a slightly different way now.
It took me a while to notice tbh, and I initially worried but it's no big deal. Apparently if you take their height at 2 and double it, that's how tall they'll be in adulthood. I'm short and it's not held be back in any way, other than my year 5 teacher, announcing to the whole class that I was the reason we couldn't do basketball in P.E

My dd had always been tiny. Always wore clothing about a year under her age group, but as she developed perfectly fine and wasn't underweight for her height, no one was ever too concerned.

She hit a massive growth spurt about age 9 and was suddenly taller than all of her friends. But then they had growth spurts too and hers stopped and if say about age 10 she just seemed to stop growing. She is just small, small framed but perfectly in balance. She is 20 now, we had a bit of the giggle recently as quite a lot of her t-shirts and clothes are from the kiddies section, age 10 to 13.

So as long is the milestones are being met and DC eats a fairly balanced diet, I wouldn't worry too much.

My 2 1/2 year old is wearing her 12-18 Halloween tutu from last year again this year, just going from 12-18 to 18-24. She started at the 10th percentile and is now the 20th percentile. It’s not particularly unexpected as I was always the smallest in my class. I’m a reasonably respectable 5’3 now though!

My two are both small for their ages. I took Dc2 to the Dr when I noticed he was under the bottom of the centile chart, the Dr did some blood tests which came back normal, and told us not to worry. I am not very tall so I expect they are going to take after me.

They are both primary school aged now and doing well. They are both autumn babies so quite old in their school year, so their small size is less noticeable.

One bonus is that they both get hand me down school uniform from their classmates 😁

Im sorry but the height of a 2yr old doubled is adult size!

My 2 yr old is tiny. If double his height is his adult size hell be smaller than my 10yr old.

Dd was tiny and eventually diagnosed coeliac
As cause of zero growth
Get measured properly at gp
Then again in 3 and 6 months to check growth rate

I've heard similar before but I don't think it's fully accurate otherwise my child is going to be a seriously short adult. It might work for some but it can't work for all as otherwise there would be a lot of much shorter adults walking around.

As a curiosity was the lack of height growth the only symptom that prompted the concerns for being a coeliac?

On average a child is half their adult height at 2.5 years old. Apparently.

Based on that DS2 would be 5ft3 as an adult. He's 5ft8 and presumably still growing.
So I think it's bollocks.

My youngest is quite small, even though his dad and I are tall. His feet didn't grow for almost 2 years, during which time he only grew a couple of centimetres in height. He's 10 now and one of the smallest in his class, despite being one of the oldest. His school coat is age 7-8. But I can see signs of him starting to stretch now.

I wouldn't set too much store in clothes sizes though. My eldest is tall, but always still wore loads of his younger age clothes because he was thin and they kind of hung on him. He's 14 now and 6ft tall and still wearing age 10 pants🤣

Sorry i was meaning i didnt believe the whole double the height at 2 =adult size

Also dh at 2 was tiny. Hes now 6ft 1