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Behaviour/development

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Original poster

Double their height at 2yrs = full adult height?

25 replies

mistressploppy · 05/12/2011 22:15

Is this true, do you think? I'm 5'11" and DH is 6'2", so we're expecting DS to be tall too... but at 2.1yrs he's 89cm, which doubled and translated feet/inches gives 5'10"

Not that it matters, but any thoughts?

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ASuitableGirl · 05/12/2011 22:21

I'm sure my mum said at 2 I was three feet tall,

I am not 6 foot tall now :)

probably a slightly larger sample size is needed though,

Flisspaps · 05/12/2011 22:31

It's supposed to be a good indicator of full adult height (apparently)

baubleybobbityhat · 05/12/2011 22:34

I believe that anecdotal measuring thing refers to girls, not boys.

We did it for dd aged 2 and her adult height is set to come out at 6ft! Her father is 6'4" and I am 5'2".

exexpat · 05/12/2011 22:58

I really don't think so.

DS and DD were both well over 90cm/36" by the age of two, and I don't think they are both going to be over 6ft, not even DS. I'm 5'5", DH was 5'9"; DS is now 13 and 5'10", but has slowed down or nearly stopped growing.

ReadingTeaLeaves · 05/12/2011 22:59

Is it at their second birthday or some other point that year? If the former, my DS is going to be really really short............

SantasNutellaFairy · 05/12/2011 23:00

God Help my sister if that's the case with my nephew. He's 13 months and 90cm already.

exexpat · 05/12/2011 23:00

What I meant to say is that some children grow early and stop early (the pattern in our family), some are small/average as children then put on a growth spurt in puberty. I think looking at average family heights and growth patterns is a better guide than the 'double your height at age two' thing.

RockStockAndTwoOpenBottles · 05/12/2011 23:05

With 2 out of 3 of my teenage DC it's been pretty much spot on, DD1 was 34" at 2 and is now 5'7". DS was 38" and is already 6'1 and a bit, and growing in front of my eyes.

DD2, according to the 'rule' should be 5'8", but is 5'5" and has probably stopped growing I reckon (she's 17 now).

DD3 is 2¾ and if the measurement stands, then I expect her to be 5'8" as well. We shall see.

PersevareDiabolicum · 05/12/2011 23:10

Apparently, sons are never shorter than their mothers...

MaybeAudiMaybeNot · 05/12/2011 23:16

No - my nephew predicted to be 5ft 4" (by doubling height at 2) and both his parents are short. He's almost 18 and 5ft 10".

I've found that following the growth charts has been the best indicator - one of mine has followed it to the letter -following centile for 6ft and is 18 and 6ft, one should be 6ft 2" as adult and already 6ft 3" at 15 and the last one predicted to be 6ft 1 and is now 17 and 6ft 2.

OldLadyKnowsSantaClaus · 05/12/2011 23:22

I hadn't heard of this with ds1 but made a point of measuring ds2 on his second birthday. He was 3 feet tall (is that 90cm? Yes!) and now, at 21, he's about 5'9, so 3 inches short of predicted.

But then I'm a short arse at 5 feet/152cm, so no big surprise.

lottiegb · 05/12/2011 23:23

I heard this debunked on a programmne about statistics - it can't work most obviously because it fails to distinguish adequately between boys and girls. They debunked the 'all boys taller than their mothers' thing a while ago too, not common but it does happen (and I've met at least one).

I found my own old growth chart, with a measurement at two and it's out by an inch.

HansieMom · 05/12/2011 23:39

I knew of this in 1970 and it did not work for us. DS1 was supposed to be 6' and he is 6'1.5". His younger brother was supposed to be only 5'10" and he is 6'3".

I'm 5'5" (well, at least I was) and DS1 was my height at age 13. DS2 was my height at age 14.

fortyplus · 05/12/2011 23:41

Not true... ds2 was shorter than ds1 was at age 2 but now ds1 is 5'11" and ds2 is 6'1"

marriednotdead · 05/12/2011 23:56

Not true. DD was 3ft at aged 2, fully expected her to reach 6ft like several female relatives on her dad's side. She finished up at 5'8".

scurryfunge · 06/12/2011 00:03

No, it is not aged 2 but aged 3-that is more accurate.

Lynli · 06/12/2011 00:09

My DD was 3ft 5 at two years, I was worried. She is now 25 and 5ft 8.

Traceymac2 · 06/12/2011 00:28

It's not an exact science. My dd1 is very petite, at 3 yrs and 3 months is 86 cm. She had a bone age scan done which shows nervous age is only 2 yrs 3 months. This means growth spurts and adolescence will probably happen later than the other kids and she will keep growing for longer to reach her adult height. Some children have a bone age that is older than their actual age so have spurts earlier and reach adult height earlier.

Traceymac2 · 06/12/2011 00:29

Nervous age?! That's bone age! Word predictor strikes again!

confuddledDOTcom · 06/12/2011 00:34

Not sure how old my middle daughter is but she's 3 next month and only wearing 12-18m clothes, a year ago she was in 9-12m. My eldest was in 12-18m around her second birthday.

I'm 5'9" and he's 5'8" so I think they're going to have his short genes.

Our youngest is 6m old and in 3-6m clothes (lower end) so I think she'll be our biggest.

exexpat · 06/12/2011 01:11

Scurry - no way could it be double your height at age three. That would give both my DCs a predicted height of nearly 7ft.

lottiegb · 06/12/2011 09:18

There is no perfect predictive 'rule', stop imagining that there is! This is old-wives-tales territory.

The percentile tables used by medical professionals will be more accurate because they are based on more precise, recent evidence and take account of sex differences - so boys' teenage growth spurt.

Boy and girl toddlers aren't that different in height on average, men and women are. Given that, how could a toddler-based predictor possibly work?

Traceymac2 · 06/12/2011 20:23

Confuddled, your dd could be a slow grower like mine and may well keep growing well after the other kids have slowed/stopped. My brother and mother did this too.

scurryfunge · 06/12/2011 20:44

Maybe it is an old wives tale for 3 . I may be getting confused!

Blackpuddingbertha · 06/12/2011 22:35

I'm pleased so many of you are saying this is incorrect - we measured DD1 at 2yrs and worked out she'd be 6ft 4! She's always been at the top of, or just off the chart, but we're really hoping she'll stop growing a bit earlier than others...she's 5 now and I'm buying clothes in size 7-8.

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