Does height even out as they get older (from baby stage)?

[MainlyMaynie]

Where I live, they measure height as well as weight, DS is currently about 98th centile for both and has been about that for ages. I hadn't noticed what this really meant until recently - he's 12 months, so playing standing up a lot more. Today he was standing next to a boy a couple of months older and he was a full head taller. He looked way way older, particularly as he also has loads of hair.

I was tall as a child and hated the way strangers expected me to act older than I was (and I had to stop going on kids rides really early too!) Is it inevitable that DS will have this too or might it even out as they move from baby to child? I'm slightly above average height now, but not particularly tall and nor is DH.

DS was 58.5cms at birth, so pretty long really, and continued through toddlerhood to be a tall little boy, he is now a good head taller than most of his peers and certainly weighs more than the average (almost) 4yr old (24kgs, wears 5-6yr clothing, last measure was 114cm a month or two ago). However his Dad is 6ft2inches (I'm average height) so I think he has tall genes! It has really bothered me in the past that people have expected more from him as he looks a year older than he is, that makes a big difference in things like sharing / social maturity etc, DS is a late summer birthday too so will be simultaneously one of the biggest in his reception class and one of the youngest - all I can do is make sure people / teachers remember how old he actually is and make sure I do the same!

My ds was on the 98th centile..still is. At 12 he is 5'6" and has size 9 (some are 10's) feet! He has an expected height of 6'3"..his brother is not expected to get above 5'7". I'm only 5'3 and dp is 5'11 so oldest will be taller than all of us.

Conversely, both DSD and DD were small at birth. At 5.5 DSD has had a massive growth spurt and is now similar in height to her peers, DD has gone from below the 1st percentile to just above the 25th in 19m. I don't think you can really tell, other than to say that if both parents are on the taller side, its likely the child will be too!

My friend's DS was the longest baby ever to be delivered at our local hospital and he is now 6ft 6. He towered above all his friends thoughout school but then a few of them caught up to some extent with final heights of 6.2 or 6.3.

I always cite my DDs in these threads

Obviously individuals will always have variations but

DD1 was 10th centile, tiny little thing, shortest in class - esp noticeable in Y6/8 when everybody else was shooting up

DD2 was 75th centile, big strapping lass throughout primary school & beyond

eventually when they both stopped growing they ended up the same height (5'7) & same shoe size too (7)

also DS1 was 50th centile & DS2 90th - DS2 has ended up a bit taller, & their build is completely different (1 chunky, 1 lanky), but otherwise there's very little between them & again shoe size is almost the same

DD is on the 25th centile for height and weight, she was 6 in Feb and weighs 18/19kg and is between 118-120cms (DS measured regulary and she's a teeny bit smaller). She was 53.5cms at birth and 8lbs 4oz, she is quite petite and has been since a baby, she sort of evened herself out and stuck along the 25th centile. She has previously been under a dietician, who predicted her adult height to be around 5'2 - I am 5'9, her dad also 5'9.

DS is on the 98th percentile, he's between 122-124cms and 23/24kg. He was 54.5cms long at birth and 9lbs 4oz, he's stayed pretty big. (He was 5 in April and towers over most of the other kids in his class). He has two sizes bigger feet than DD.

I think the idea is that they follow their centile throughout their development. You only have to read a few of these threads on here though to see that lots of kids gain or drop height and weight centiles.

DS has been just off the top of the length chart from birth but has so far followed the curve pretty much perfectly. He is now 95cm at 22.5months. He does look like he is 3! He is late August born so just like kiwi's DS he will be the biggest littlest kid in Reception.

His predicted height is 6'7 but I don't think he'll make that. In my family the kids grow quickly and stop young. My brother was as big as DS, made 6'4 at 14 and didn't grow any more.

People kept telling me my DS would stop growing at such a prodigious rate after being a giant baby, off chart for everything.

However, he is now 4 and 120cms tall. Maybe more now, couple months since we measured him. I am a bit worried he will end up just freakishly tall; but I suppose no point worrying.

DD2 was a shortarse. Nine years on, she remains a shortarse. She is the child of one shortarse (me) and one Moderate Shortarse in Denial (Mr Inferior) so suspect this is a lifetime condition.

DD1 was an even shorterarse and is now quite tall for 11 but suspect this is merely pubertal growth spurt as her feet are about the same size as mine (a 3) and that she will revert to parental type.

At 2 yo Ds is 90th centile although was born on the 50th. However, dh reached his adult height of 6ft by 13 so I think there's a high chance that ds could do similar and be a tall child but not a massively tall adult.

I have a feeling that I read somewhere that if you double a child's height when they are around about the age of 3 then this measurement apparently predicts what their potential adult height will be .

Has anyone else heard this ?

I think it's 2yrs 6mo that you are supposed to be half your adult height Jemma.

That's one of the measures the Russians (Soviet Block) used to use to stream young kids into sports programmes. My DS would not have been picked for gymnastics.

Thanks EBDTeacher, I measured my dd just before her 3rd birthday and so she is supposedly going to be around 5 11' , I can see her being tall as already she is one of the tallest in her class at the age of 8 and wears size 4 shoes !

If that's the case then DS will be 6ft 5 I know we breed them tall in this family but that's above and beyond!

DD1 will be 6ft 3
DD2 will be 6ft

I'm only 5ft 7!

My DD1 was around 90th centile for height when born. Now in yr 2 and is the tallest in her class (of both the boys and the girls), it really stood out a couple of days ago at prize giving when her class were all standing in a line. DS's height was off the centile chart when he was born even though he was a very scrawny thing and only on about 25th centile for his birth weight. Now at 3 most people assume he is at least a year older. He started nursery recently and is as tall as many of the reception children. DD2 was v average length at birth and her height remains very much in line with her class mates. So it is certainly true for my 3 that their early height has tracked through as they got older - don't know where they will end up though of course.

I had a schoolfriend who was turned down for the Royal Ballet School because she was too tall at 5ft 1 at age 11. She only grew another inch, so her adult height was 5.2.

I went to school with 2 girls who were incredibly tall for 11 - one around 5'5, the other around 5'7

They had both almost finished growing too!

I've always wondered this too. I went through puberty early and was 5'6" at age 11, then never grew any more after that.

DD is only 2 and is on the 97 centile for height, I wonder if she'll stop growing like me, or end up quite tall.

I have 5 sons ranging in height from 5'10 (age 26) to 6'3 (age 16 so still time to grow). The 5'10 DS was the heaviest and longest at birth. This proves....nothing. They all have the same 5'10 dad and 5'4 mum.

My mum always said that girls stopped growing once their periods started. It was true for me and my sisters.

That's what happened to me nagy, I was freakishly tall in my small school and started my periods early..then never grew again.

do you remember which centiles they were all on as children though, nagy? It would be interesting to know that

I've got little red books somewhere for the youngest 3.....not sure how accurately (Sp) They were filled in! But they were 7lb 3oz, 7lb 2 oz and 6lb 2oz at birth. The two older boys were pre little red books and were 7lb 13 oz and 8lb 6 oz at birth. The 8lb 6oz one is the shortest brother! Not sure how tall the younger 3 will be they are all still growing.