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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

Undersized 14 year old boy

19 replies

handlemecarefully · 25/02/2004 15:57

My friend and colleague has a 14 year old son who is 4 feet 11 inches tall. She is 5ft 1 and dad is 5ft 8. Obviously he is never going to be a basket ball player, but her concern is that he hasn't grown in height for 2 years!! She is wondering whether to seek medical advice. Could anything be wrong? He is healthy, eats a good diet and is physically active.

Anyone any experience of this - anyone with sons who had growth spurts later than 14? Apparently the other boys in his class have had some growth spurts so its not just a gender thing (i.e. she is aware that boys growth spurts come later than girls)

OP posts:

angelinaballerina · 25/02/2004 15:58

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twiglett · 25/02/2004 15:59

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ghengis · 25/02/2004 16:01

I am 5'1" and DH is 6'3", DS (11) is about 4'10" and not particularly like either of us in shape. An experienced Mum of 3 boys once told me that boys start growing once they hit puberty. Is your friend's son in adolesence (sp?) yet? Does she have a friendly HV she can call to check out centile charts, etc?

Janh · 25/02/2004 16:15

hmc, DS1 was 15 in July and after having been one of the shortest and latest developing of his year is now having his growth spurt - also his voice is a lot deeper - also he is finally Growing Up which is a relief!

For comparison (I am 6' and his dad is 5'10) - I just got these figures off our height chart:

Age 11.6 - 4'10
Age 13.1 - 5'1
Age 15.7 - 5'9 (ish)

And most of that 8" growth is from the last 6 months or so - maybe even less. Has your friend actually measured her son, or is it just that he still looks the same and his clothes still fit? Mine grew very little from 11.6-15 - only 3 or 4 inches. He wore the same school shirts for 4 years and only had new trousers because the old ones got too tight, not too short. (Did get a bigger blazer though.)

I know of 2 or 3 other boys who grew very late and went from quite short to over 6' - one of them shot up after he was 16. So there is lots of time for your friend's son - though if she is definite that he hasn't grown even a smidgen for 2 years then maybe she should go to the doctor so they can check whatever it is that controls growth (thyroid???)

spacemonkey · 25/02/2004 18:03

A friend of mine has a 15 year old son who is just under 5' tall (she is about 5'2" and his dad is about 5'4". He's shorter than my 10 yr old. Although he's 15, he isn't really showing many physical signs of puberty - his mum was a very late developer (didn't start her periods until she was 18). I don't think she has sought medical advice about his lack of growth because he is healthy and happy (seems to deal with his differentness very well and hasn't been bullied at school). I think she's assuming he will be a late developer like she was.

If your friend's son is worried about it, I can't see there'd be any harm in going to the doc. However, if he's not bothered and seems healthy and happy, I think I'd be reluctant to make an issue out of it IYKWIM!

spacemonkey · 25/02/2004 18:03

unintentional smiley there!

mears · 25/02/2004 18:28

My DS3 is 13 years old and 4'9. His height has been monitored by the GP as he did attend regularly because of asthma. However he is off all treatment now. My first 2 sons are much taller. Infact DS3 had a school medical today and the note home had his height written with an asterix beside it 145cm. It said no problems identified but to call if I was worried about his height! DH is 5'8 and he didn't grow until he was 16-17yrs so I think he is just going to be the same. The GP said the same. It is perhaps worth speaking to the GP to rule out any kind of problem. My DS was reassured by the GP because he himself was getting worried too.

zebra · 25/02/2004 18:37

Definitely can run in families. MIL tells me that she was the smallest in her school classes until about age 14... now she's 5'7" (so taller than average). Same story for one of her brothers, and DH -- both near the 6' mark now.

zebra · 25/02/2004 18:41

Should add... my kids are so small, by the 'rules of thumb' -- double height at 2.5yo for boys or 2yo for girls to get adult height, they'll be lucky to make 5'6" (boy) and 5'4" (the girl). Meanwhile, I'm 5'8", DH is 5'11". Some short relatives, but most well over average, especially all the close male relatives are near or well over 6'. Do I really expect my son to only be 5'6"? Don't think so!

Bron · 25/02/2004 19:43

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

fisil · 25/02/2004 20:00

Don't males reach their adult height on average at about 18? I think it's meant to be later than girls, anyway.

I am likely to have a very short ds (he is still wearing 9-12 months, but he turned 1 in January). I have occassionally read that it is meant to be worrying if a boy is short. As this has never been a worry to me, or dp (both 5 foot 3), I wonder if anyone knows why some people do worry about a boy's height? I really honestly can't think of why it could be a problem - are there health issues?

coppertop · 25/02/2004 20:51

My FIL was convinced that dh had a bright future ahead of him as a jockey (not being flippant - FIL was quite involved in the world of horse-racing). Dh stayed at 4ft 8ins until just after his 15th birthday, and then had a growth spurt. Dh is now 6ft 4ins. This is probably a slightly more extreme example than most but dh says that he too had remained the same height for a couple of years beforehand. The downside was that the growing pains were extremely painful.

twiglett · 25/02/2004 20:53

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Original poster

handlemecarefully · 26/02/2004 10:27

Thank you for your comments. I have printed off this thread and my friend has read it and found it quite reassuring (i.e. lots of examples of late growth spurts).

Her ds is probably at the beginning of puberty - i.e. no facial hair as yet and only just developing hair 'elsewhere', so that in itself would fit with the theory that growth spurts for boys tend to come towards the end of puberty etc

OP posts:

tigermoth · 26/02/2004 13:22

twiglett, it's a saying in our house that a boy never grows taller than his mother - whatever height he ends up being

tallulah · 26/02/2004 19:04

late as usual, but DS1 (16) had this problem. We have been taking him to a paeditrician for the last 2-3 years because everyone was so concerned about his height. At almost 16 he was the height (& size) of a 12 year old. He had xrays of his wrists last year which confirmed his bone age was only 12.

Suddenly in the 6 months between appointments he started to grow & hasn't stopped! He now towers above me (OK I'm only 5 ft 2) & is growing out of everything. Reading the other posts, seems like this is "normal". Wish i'd asked mumsnet, instead of worrying myself silly

deegward · 26/02/2004 19:57

Sorry if I repeat anything here, but haven't read whole thread.

My brother was tiny all through school, by that I mean he hit 5ft 2 at 17! My parents kept being adviced to give my bother growth hormones. They didn't and my brother took a growth spurt after 17 and is now 5ft 9.

I think this is really common, and as long as the boy is supported and knows that height does not make you a better person, they will have no problems.

Original poster

handlemecarefully · 26/02/2004 21:42

Tallulah,

Yes mumsnet is great for this sort of thing isn't it...

Deegward - her son is pretty cool about it all, but a little concerned that its affecting his romantic chances with the girls in his year at school!

OP posts:

Janh · 26/02/2004 21:57

hmc, I'm afraid IME it is true - mostly - that the girls in Y8/9/10 do seem to prefer the "older" boys. However there is lots of scope for the others to be really nice kind friends to the girls, which gives them loads of credit later when they have caught up and the girls will have seen through the cool images!

(It works the other way too - the girls who are considered dead cool in Y8/9/10 get left behind by the late starters in Y11.)

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