Please tell me about your sons' late growth spurts!

[jingjang]

Most (but not all) of the men in our family are well over 6'. DS1 was 6' 2" by age 16, and grew another inch at 18, so is now 6' 3". But younger brother DS2 is nearly 17 and has been 5' 11" for a couple of years now - his feet are size 10.5 UK and haven't grown since he was 13. He wants to be taller, especially as he is starting to be de-selected for the sport that he loves and otherwise excels at. His friends and team mates have shot past him in the last 2 years. We of course encourage him to love the height that he is, and tell him that late growth spurts are possible, like his brother. But, just for me, please tell me about your sons' late growth spurts - how late, and by how much?

I was warned against hormone treatment for my son as it would cause his bone plates to fuse and reduce his height potential.

My husband was told at 15/16 he was too small for 1st XV rugby.

He stopped growing upwards at 18/19 and outwards at 21. He's 6'3" and 16 stone......so yeah, a later grower!

Yeah I've read up about it and spoke at length with the consultant and endocrine nurse re the risks.

Agree but from the opposite side - DP is 6ft 5 and always gets comments on his height like he’s some kind of spectacle. Why are people so invested in how others look - does my head in.

I'm not worried. Just hopeful for him, and drawing more hope from this thread.

Maybe read the room...

To all those with smaller kids who might want to talk about worries we have for them (& moan about the fact that this is a thing we have to worry about!) I started another thread yesterday after reading this one that I'm happy to turn in to one we can generally chat about this stuff on https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/4815820-teenage-son-with-very-slow-growth-any-experiences-with-hospital-referral?reply=126498866

My dc is waiting for 1st hospital appointment about this at 13 and 4 foot 8

Very odd that he is so small then. Children are usually taller than their shortest parent. I hope he is ok!

Cut off point is about 15/16 for girls, 18/19 for boys - depends on when you complete puberty.

Although I do agree that if OP’s some has been 5’11 for “two years”, he is probably done growing already.

I would work on his self esteem because if he feels that is linked to his height and he doesn't grow he may develop issues.

Interestingly with sports Jazmin Sawyers is short when it comes to Long Jump (5ft4) and broke 7m this winter. He may need to work but don't write him off for be a tiny 5ft11!! (That's taller than every man in my family)

OP does the sport your DS do bioband youth players?

There’s a university-developed biobanding widget towards the end of this article which gives a likely height guide based on entering some basic info.

I wasn’t surprised to see my DS’s biobanded age 18 months behind his actual age as both myself and late DH are tall and he’s currently fairly small.

Heights are tricky things. I’m 5’11 and would love to be nearer 5”8!

Similar to my DS a year younger but only 5ft2. He keeps getting called short at school.

Why? It's my room, and you're gatecrashing and being spiteful.

Thanks to everyone who is posting positive anecdotes in the spirit of the thread. 🙂

Thanks for this - no, it's not used in DS's sport. Looks positive though.

This is interesting. As the owner of a short swimmer I've often thought they should categorise them by height rather than age until they reach 16 or 18. My DS is 13 and 5ft exactly but some of the kids he is swimming against are already pushing 6ft already.

Ffs, he's 5 ft 11 and that's not tall enough? He needs to give his head a wobble 🙄🙄🙄

And if he's short among his mates and family then you are all outliers. He's taller than average. 🙄🙄

But being taller doesn't mean you're more of a man or a better man. Ffs, why put so much emphasis on something that's totally out of their control??

I came on to this thread ready to tell you about my brother's late growth spurt, but I am baffled.

My brother was tiny. In family photos he looked the same size as our cousin who was five years younger, from when he was 10 and our cousin was 5, to when he was 18 and our cousin was 13 and outgrew him.

On his first day in 6th form a new teacher told him off in front of a huge group of students for not being in school uniform, because the teacher thought he was in year 7.

He eventually grew taller after he left school and is now about 5'10 and quite burly, but being so small really affected his confidence for his entire childhood and adolescence.

Your son is completely normal.

Why? It's my room, and you're gatecrashing and being spiteful.

It's a public room. Do you walk into food banks and declare how awful it is you don't have any jars of caviar?

You could have asked exactly the same and elicited helpful responses without adding all the 'we're all really tall and his friends are really tall and it's all awful that he's only normally tall'. It's the oblivious to everyone else hand wringing that many of us have objected to, not you asking the question.

Both my sons (12 and 14) are tiny. They have both had tested done for delayed growth ect and found they both have a delayed bone age of 2 years. So the dr said that they would grow for 2 years longer than normal. My 14 year old is short for 14, but pretty average for a 12 year old. I suppose there would also be kids who have faster bone age, who stop growing earlier. So that may be why these kids who have their growth spurt at 12 or 13 stop growing.

I guess most people wouldn’t know cause they don’t have any reason to get the tests.

in the op case it seems like your son had his growth spurt early. Size 13 feet at that age? Mine were still in kids sizes.

my dh isn’t tall. I’m hoping my boys end up taller than him. They probably won’t get to 6 foot but they would be happy with 5 11!

I didn"t say it was awful. You made that up. I'm sorry if my perfectly reasonable thread has touched your raw nerve. Thanks for bumping it though.

Totally agree with this. Well said. The OP is still not getting it.

Yes you’d think a risk of missing out in talent with late growers too as with some of the examples in the article

At 16 he was mistaken all the time for a 12 year old (he passed his tractor driving test - locals would stop him and tell him off for driving on public roads). He was much shorter than me, I’m 5’5”, so probably under 5’. He was (and is) averse to going to the dr, so we took a wait and see approach.
He just slowly grew, no sudden growth spurts, his voice slowly deepened.
He’s now in his 20’s, is about 5’8 (reached that by 20) and happy with his height.
Think the op needs to give her head a wobble tbh, stressed that her son won’t have a growth spurt - he’s already tall 🙄

Nope, not stressed, and not worried, just after some anecdotes to give me some hope that my son's wishes may one day come true. He's a well adjusted boy, who will make the most of whatever life brings him. I'm not sharing the anecdotes with him - they're purely for me, and have made me happy.

Shorter boys can have late growth spurts too - and I'm just as happy to hear those stories. It's the age and size of the spurt I'm interested in, rather than the ultimate height reached.

Thank you @AttilaThePun ,that's reassuring. My son says at school he gets told by teachers that don't know him that he's in the wrong area/classroom as they think he's yr7/8. His 13 yr old sister is a few inches taller now which stings too.