To worry about short DS because my husband is really tall?

[Dadadaa]

DS is 13 months. The HV said at the 1 year check that he was in the 2nd percentile for height (dropping from 50th when he was 4 months old) which worried me but when I got home and checked online he was actually around the 14th, then I remeasured him at 13 months and he'd dropped to the 11th. He looks quite slight although is on the 50th percentile for weight and he loves eating - 3x meals a day plus I'm still feeding 2-3 times a day. I'm worried because my husband is 6'5'' (I'm 5'6'') and I'd kind of assumed our son would be tall (all the men on his side are above 6'3'', although on my side the men are around 5'8/9''). Should I be worried as there may be an issue with his growth? My HV wants to see him again in a couple of months.

Also I’ve never heard of HV being worried about height percentiles! I don’t think anyone has checked my daughters heights more than once or twice. His weight seems on track.

my now 15yr old was on the 99th centile for weight and height at birth (he was 11lb 4) He had allergies and went down to 4th centile by the time he was 10mths, They initially blamed his allergies and we monitored and focussed on his eating, When he got to nearly 3 my 6ft 4 husband said that his son hasnt changed shoe size for 2 yrs. The endocrinologist he was originally referred to looked at my DH and said oh tall father- small child its just genes. My DH was a academic and had researched the subject and challenged him. Turns out after testing that my DS had an abnormailty in the pituitary and has been on growth hormone injections and thyroxine tablets since. Dont let folks fob you off...

I wouldn’t be concerned because your husband is tall and your son is small for his age.

My dbro is over 6ft. His som is tiny and his daughter is tall. But that may all change come puberty.

My sons dad is 5ft 6in. My son is 11 and 5ft 4 already.

My partner is 6ft 4in. His dad was 5ft 9in. Although Dp looks just like his dad no one has a clue where his height came from. And dp was quite short, apparently , until the year he turned 13 and shot up.

Height can come at anytime. Plus just because your child and husband are both male, that doesn’t mean you son will take after his dad. He may end up a similar height to you or the people on your side of the family. Or somewhere in between .

At this point, no I wouldn’t be worried. He’ll likely have a growth spurt between now and puberty. Our eldest was 9th centile for height and 50th for weight around that age.

Dh is 6’5 and I’m 5’9. No idea how tall she is now (she’s 10), but she’s a perfectly average to above average height compared to her peers. She’s definitely not short. I expect she’ll sprout up again before she’s a teen.

It’s a long game. If he’s eating well and otherwise healthy, he’ll almost certainly catch up with himself eventually.

Thanks everyone for the reassurance! I'm not worried that he'll be short, just that something may be wrong due to the drop in percentile. I think he was 71cm and the 50th percentile is 76cm. I cant remember exactly off the top of my head sorry.

He hasn't been unwell at all, and he's been sleeping through the night for a few weeks, although his naps are a bit erratic. He eats well -regular meat, fish, veg, pulses etc. He was allergic to milk and eggs and didn't have any until recently. He has been eating milk baked in things, and butter (but no cheese or milk) and eggs for a couple of months now. He did eat some fortified foods recommended by the dietician regularly during the first 6 months of solids.

I don't have many friends who have babies his age so it's hard to compare but he's a very happy and bright little boy. He's meeting almost all his milestones (although his crawling and walking were/are a bit delayed). I guess I will keep an eye on him and hopefully the HV will flag any issues over the coming months.

This is an old wives tale. Children will be mid range of both parents, then take in sex. My mum is tall as is all her family, dad is short as is all his family. I'm very much short but the tallest of my cousins on my dad's side of the family. Shortest on my mums side.
Dad's genes try to get babies to grow big (to survive) but Mums genes try to keep baby small enough to birth (so she lives), just a little interesting fact.

See how he goes
but test for coeliac if height continues to drop off
Coeliac can result in poor growth
And weakness
Not walking at 13 months is not a delay !
Check for hypermobility

@cestlavielife interesting - I am hypermobile and it's caused me a few problems along the way! If he is hypermobile how could this affect his growth?

I'm not worried about his walking (or not walking yet) but my HV highlighted it! He wasn't cruising round the furniture at that point but is now, I know he'll get there in his own time :)

This x

Well some short staturesyndromes go slong with hypermobility eg academic.oup.com/jcem/article/106/11/e4716/6301140

If you hypermobile it familial? Look at hms

Dd does not have any of those however took first steps at 24 months hypermobile
and coeliac eventually diagnosed age four after height growth stopped altogether .