Very small 7 year old- when to worry?

[cadburyegg]

My ds2 is 7 next week. He went to a party at the weekend and it was very obvious how much shorter he is than his peers, even the summer borns. He is 114cm and he's told me he is the shortest in his class. I am not sure of his weight but he was underweight last time I weighed him. Someone asked me today "is he 4 or 5?"

He has always been short - 6lb at birth, he would have been considered overweight by age 2 but he didn't walk until then and after that his weight evened out. He has an older brother who is average, 142cm at age 10. They have a reasonably balanced diet.

Just wondering when to worry really? I am 5ft 2 but their dad is 6ft 6! I was always small as a child but I have a summer birthday.

I guess if he has always been short, he is continuing to follow his own growth pattern. Maybe have a phone chat to the GP in the first instance?

His height is 9th centile which isn't that short. It's an adult height of 5ft 6 if that helps.

Both my husband and I are quite short (5’8 and 5’3) and my daughter was (is) the shortest in her class at 7, but around 10cm taller than your boy.

Given your own heights, I would chat to a GP, for reassurance if nothing else.

Genuine question here but is there anything you can do about height? I mean if you speak to your GP what can they actually recommend? It's not like weight where changes in diet & exercise have an impact - or is it?!

Has he followed his centile or dropped off?

Has he tracked his centile? You can check on the who online charts.

What was his father's growth pattern like?

Given his father's height it might be worth having him checked out, hormonal imbalances are easier dealt with sooner than later.

So I took ds2 to GP this week as he’s had a bizarre thing with his mouth since Easter - really sore tongue. They treated it as if it is oral thrush but I am not convinced. (Neither was GP tbf.)

Anyway GP was really good and gave him a full once over. She didn’t say too much in front of him but I could tell she thought his weight was a bit of a concern. - 17kg which is 0.4 centile. She is going to do some blood tests for things like iron but also coeliac and diabetes. I’m coeliac so… there is a slightly higher chance.

But I do feel quite worried now that there might be an underlying problem 😭

anyway thanks for the comments, I just thought I’d update this thread.

Coeliac could be highly likely..