12 year old girl short for age

[Yikes123]

Posted here for traffic. My just turned 12 year old DD has always been on the small side as are her three younger siblings. I am 5'2 and DH is 6' so they obviously take after me. She measures approx 138-139 cm, is of a slim (but not 'too' slim) build, size 2 feet, not yet in obvious puberty but in certain tops I notice beginnings of tiny breast buds and she is starting to get greasier hair/skin.

She is so much smaller than her friends, she finds it embarrassing at times. They are virtually all quite a few inches taller than me and DD only reaches their shoulders. She hasn't grown much at all in the last two years. Is it likely that she will suddenly grow as puberty kicks in? I would like to check it out with our GP but DD is adamant that she doesn't want to go and our GP won't organise any blood tests etc without DD's consent.

Has anyone else had experience of this? I started my periods at 13 and only started with pubic hair etc a few months beforehand. My mum started her periods at 15 but ended up 5'6. Just want to make sure she does start growing!!

Your daughter will get to a point where she is comfortable with her size. Encourage her to feel confident in the way she is as she sounds gorgeous! Easier said than done when all she wants is an extra 12" I know.

Thank you everyone. I feel much more reassured now. It's nice to know other 12 year old have been a similar height and I'm in total agreement that it's easier having periods at 13/14 than 9/10. If she could get to five foot something, I think she'd be delighted as would I. I don't think it would be turners syndrome as I had an amino during my pregnancy with her due to a higher than normal downs syndrome risk and the chromosome results said she was female.Thank you for the clothes tips, we'll have a look.

Im

How I feel does not impact you pro them

I feel sad because periods hurt. And, as Bunbaker says, most girls don't. Early development is stressful for girls

you or them

As she is only just starting puberty she has a good bit of growing left to do (probably another 20-25cm which would put her close to your height). It's very normal for growth to slow somewhat just before puberty, followed by 12-18 months of rather rapid growth which slows once periods start. If your DD appears to be growing very slowly then a quick chat with your GP would be worthwhile but from what you say there is unlikely to be a problem!

My daughter was tiny at 12 (probably similar to your daughter, OP). I seem to remember her feet were size 2 for about 3 years.She was also very thin.
She's 15 now, just started her periods, and about 5' 1''. She's still quite thin and her feet are size 5 . She still wears older childrens clothes rather than womens.
I'm sure she will grow, OP. It's just that some children go through their puberty later than others. Just make sure she has a good diet with plenty of protein. You can tell when they are going to have a growing spurt because they're always hungry.

OP, just to add. My daughter had a very slow puberty, from starting to develop breasts to actually starting her periods seemed to take around 3 years. I don't know if that was connected to her being so small.
I'm 5' 4'' but my youngest sister is short , around 5' 2'' ,so I wasn't surprised when my daughter turned out to be short.

The standard growth charts are a bit misleading because they're averages of girls having these slowdowns and growth spurts at different times which smooths the curve. As has been said, that's not how it goes for an individual. Also growth can be a bit seasonal so she'll probably grow a bit faster over the summer than she has this winter.

Ummmm people with turners syndrome are female...

Presumably the OPs dd is also female....

My dd was like this and at nearly 17 is five foot. I thought she had stopped growing at 12 and would stay 4,11. I am only 5'2 so takes after me

I was average height until I hit 13, then grew 11 inches in a year and ended up at 5'10 aged 14! I started my period at 13.6. I think if she's showing signs of puberty she'll grow fast (even if she doesn't end up as tall as me!) - I had horrendously greasy hair for most of year 8, which must have been a sign.

I didn't get much in the way of boobs (or hit my final height of 5'11") until I was 16/17, so it can take a while for things to even out...

My nearly 16 year old has just been tested for chromosome disorders due to very delayed puberty, which looks like it might have stopped completely.

My son hates it, it is very embarrassing and he still looks like a little boy :( he is under a consultants care now. He is off to college soon and he is worried about how young he looks and his younger brother has now over taken him which is causing him a lot of distress.

At 12 I would not worry too much. My 12 year old son is also dinky and so was his brother who grew overnight it seemed at aged 13.

There is no harm taking her to the GP to check her hormone levels and thyroid to put your mind at rest though, but this is well in the range of normal.

Yarp said re late starting periods:

Sounds like I was. I seems more unusual now than it was then (1980s)

I think that is right, as the onset of periods is correlated to weight and children have got heavier -> as a group the average start age has lowered.

i was little at that age im only just 5'2 now and didn't get a period till i was 15 or pubic hair till i was 16 just let her be she's the size she's ment to be

Thank you all for the advice. Sorry if I caused confusion replying regarding Turner ' s syndrome/amnio - what I meant to say was that her chromosomes were studied so if part or all of one of her x chromosomes were missing, it would have been spotted. I think we'll leave it until the end of summer and if there isn't any growth, I'll have a chat myself with the go for advice.

G.p. even

OP one last thing from me

An overenthusiastic GP referred me to a paediatrician when I was about 14. I had an x-ray of my hand which they use in a similar way to dating scans in pregnancy - they can see how developed the hand is and get an idea of how much growing is left. This was fine.

For some reason they then did further testing which I was very against. It involved being in hospital for half a day and having a tube of blood taken every half hour. About 3hrs in I was a wreck, passing out left right and centre. I can't remember exactly what this test was for and it may not even exist 17 yrs on.

I'm not trying to scare you but as an (admittedly precocious ) child, I was well aware that with a 5'2 mum and 5'6" dad, the gene pool wasn't weighted in my favour! My maternal gps were 4'11" and 6'1" - my brother got my grandad's genes! I was adamant that I didn't want anything in the way of 'treatment' so wasn't sure why they were testing - as long as there was no underlying cause for my stature other than genetics then I was happy. Sadly the tests have left me with a severe phobia of needles, blood tests and a deep cynicism of healthcare professionals saying you 'need' something.

All I'm saying is that if you do go to the GP be very clear about what you're trying to achieve: ruling out underlying issues, a steer on your daughters likely final height, or just reassurance. Make sure she's in agreement with why you're doing it too.

Hope that helps?

Oh, and try and discourage people from saying 'oh, but you'll always be able to buy cheaper children's clothes/shoes'. This is not an appealing prospect to a going teen, however helpful they may think.they are being. Trainers, flip flops etc are one thing but have they seen most kids stuff and would they wear it?!

Thanks Last night. Sadly the blood tests you remember were similar to ones carried out on my premature son nine years ago. They were checking a particular hormone in his blood which turned out to be normal. Thankfully he slept through most of the morning and the numbing gel made it so that he couldn't feel the cannula. I can understand why you found it so traumatic and appreciate you taking the time to reply.x

It's important to have bone age checked in short children because although being 136cm at 12 seems fine, if bone age is advanced they might only grow another few cms. Advanced bone age in short children doesn't always get picked up for some reason.

How do people still miss the big red writing 😂

I started my period at 9 but still grew taller afterwards. Reached my adult height at 14, so keep your fingers crossed.