AIBU to ask for a visit from hv because my child is short?

[wholefttoastonthestairs]

My 4 year old is really short compared to the other children in her class . She is 4 years 9 months and is 93cm tall. She was 83cm at her two year check which is the last for in her red book . Everyone tells me she is just little but tbh I feel like she is not keeping up her growth?.

The hv came when I had my last baby and measured her she was on the 0.4th febrile and the hv again said she was probably just going to be short.

I have tried to work it out and I think she is now below that?

But people act as though I'm crazy if I mention it!

I am not tall I am 5 foot 3 but dh is 6 foot and out other children are all around 50th-75th centigrade for height.

Aibu to ask for another hv visit or even visit gp?

Is this something I am wayyyyy overthinking?

[Outofoptions]

Take her to get checked over, if only to get your mind put to rest. I know the worry you feel - although I had the opposite worry ! DS has always tracked higher than the top of the percentile chart and dh and me are average hight as are the rest of the family! Nothing appears to be wrong he must be a genetic throwback from some long lost giant ancestors! i was worried for a long time but felt much better once a dr told me he was healthy.

[youcantgoback]

Definitely take her to the GP and insist on a paediatric referral. There tends to be a lot of wait and see and they like to monitor growth over a period of a year or so before they really do much investigation.
The Child Growth Foundation has a website with lots of advice. She might be about to have a growth spurt but it's always best to check it out and monitor growth if growth has tailed off or is unusual compared to the family.

[museumum]

My red book has a chart for children in it that goes beyond age 2. If you plot her in that and she's really plummeted from her previous growth then I would go to the gp just to be sure.
I'm short (5'2") and my ds is and always has been on about the 9th but he was 93cm at 3.

[Cucumber5]

My parents 70's fast food treat was boil in the bag cod. They were on a tight budget so it was mostly shepherds pie or chilli. Followed with home made rice pudding. Basic cookery. With horrid margarine.

Factual statistics show that fast food and convenience food is a much bigger thing. Statistics also show that children spend much more time in front of screens. The knock on effect is much higher rates of diabetes and obesity, costing the NHS and tax payers.

[bruffin]

In the 70s convenience food hadnt just started to take off, it was just different. Tea for us was a tin of irish stew and timned potatoes, all of which had been around for decades and were cheap

[hazeyjane]

In the 1970s my mums idea of a healthy tea was german spiced sausage and a tin of potato salad followed by a ski yoghurt....mind you compared to my nan, who used to put a slice of butter on top of our chips, my mum's cuisine was positively glowing with health. I don't know about less screens too, I seemed to manage to glue myself to Crown Court, The Sullivans and all manner of shite on TV!

Back to the OP - you want to see the GP, rather than HV (who yes is for preschool children - even my disabled child moved on from the HV at when school started). The first thing to do would be to make sure you are getting accurate measurements, as it is quite hard to do this with children.

[hazell42]

My son was very small til he was about 8. When he lined up at school the difference in size was very very noticeable. He is now 6 feet tall. they do grow at different ages. Consult HV, if they are happy forget about it

[ReallyTired]

HV is meant for pre schoolers and babies or disabled children. Once your is reception they come under the school nurse.

I had a letter from the school nurse saying that dd was small. I spoke to her and explained that her growth had be monitored by the health visitor and she was just following her growth curve.

[Cucumber5]

Yes I lived through the 70's. Junk food and convenience food had only started to take off. Also it was quite expensive to buy. The junk food and convenience food industry are huge mega earners now, while waist lines have got podgier.

[BishopBrennansArse]

Since when was the HV an emergency service?
Honestly has it got that bad that you're not expected to use the NHS unless your leg is dropping off?

[bruffin]

a 1970's figure is healthy. Pre junk food and pre convenience food.

you obviously didnt live through the 70s,

[pregnantat50]

If it reassures you then contact your HV and I do understand your concerns but children who are small sometimes have later growth spurts.

I have 3 children. My eldest was on the 75th centile and then had a growth spurt when he was 12 and was the tallest in his year, he is now 5ft 10, my middle son was born over the 99th Centile and remained tall he is 6ft 3, my daughter was born on the 25th centile, she has remained little and she is 5 ft now at the age of 21(she was the same height as your daughter at 4). Her best friend at the age of 5 was even shorter than her at that age but then shot up and is now 5ft 8!

There is a mixture of genes from within family s and as long as your little girl is healthy and eating well I wouldn't worry.

[Basicbrown]

Yes this golden age stuff makes me laugh. Everything had E numbers and/ or came in a can or was frozen processed shite. Raiding a child was like some weird chemical experiment. My kids have a much better diet than I did as a child born in the 70s (although most of my childhood would have been the 80s).

And regardless of diet in childhood the resulting adults are hardly svelte on average as a generation.

[Artus]

Off topic but I was a child in the seventies. There was plenty of unhealthy food around. Tinned fruit and evaporated milk, Birds Eye frozen mousse, tinned spaghetti on toast, Vesta Chow Mien (I miss that!). Five a day unheard of. We had a hot lunch then "tea" every day, usually followed by cake. Pudding after every meal. After school activities were minimal, unless you played football or cricket. We did walk more, and play outside with far fewer restrictions.

I suppose the point I am making is there was no golden age in the past.

[Colby43443]

My brother was 0.3 in height at that age to the point where GP was investigating hormonal and kidney problems. Fast forward 10 years and he had a growth spurt at 14 that had him grow eight inches over the summer from barely 5,6 to 6,2. Their height now isn't really a true reflection.

[BusterGonad]

I agree Cucumber5 the 1970s figure is so much healthier than today's, hence the 'vanity' sizing, which I wouldn't call vanity sizing just readjusting to our changing shape, bigger waists or no waists and bigger boobs. I'm sure if you look at the average bra size today and the 70s they would be VERY different. I'd rather having a 1970s figure than my rather waistless 2010 figure!

[ReallyTired]

I thought that children were discharged from the health visitor at school age unless there are special needs. Has the school nurse flagged her height as a cause for concern.

Unless you want to be visited by someone who is as mad as box of frogs there is little to be gained from seeing the health visitor. I had the health visitor coming to measure dd because she was tiny when she was a year old. I finally got rid when she was two and half.

Some children are destined to be small. Dd is still tiny, but she is healthy.

[AppleAndBlackberry]

A friend had this with her DS and it turned out to be coeliac disease. Definitely worth seeing the GP.

[w4nnabesahm]

if you are concerned then take her to the GP who can refer to paed if they think it is warranted. Not sure why the HV should come out to you for this. It's not really HV stuff.

[myfavouritecolourispurple]

My son was 78cm when he was 2. He has always been small, he very nearly fell off the growth chart altogether, but eventually he started tracking on the 9th centile. He is now 14 and between the 25th and 50th centiles. He always used to be the smallest in the class, now there are quite a few smaller than he is.

It's worth keeping an eye on things, but some kids grow slowly. I was a bit the same, though not quite as small - and my father too. My father ended up being 6'1''.

[Cucumber5]

It's the way I've often heard a healthy body shape described, so not unusual.

The norm in the 1970's is much healthier then the norm in the 2010's

[Cel982]

Cel - a 1970's figure is healthy. Pre junk food and pre convenience food. Lots more walking to school/playing outside and less sitting on arses watching screens.

It's just an odd way to put it, that's all. One decade didn't have a monopoly on normal body shape.

[Cucumber5]

Cel - a 1970's figure is healthy. Pre junk food and pre convenience food. Lots more walking to school/playing outside and less sitting on arses watching screens.

[SilentBiscuits]

My 2yo was exactly the same height as yours and our GP referred us to an endocrinologist. A year later we're being monitored, but it looks like she might just be short!

So yes, definitely get it checked out. Growth hormone deficiencies have more side effects than just being short, their hearts can be affected too. Will probably be nothing, just a short-arse kid, but there's a chance it's actually something.

[Yoarchie]

No harm in getting checked, agree to go to GP to get referral.