Does anyone else have really tall children for their age?

[Orangeanddemons]

Dd is 7. I've just bought her some age 11 trousers. They are just long enough. In tops, I tend to buy 11-12 to allow for growing room. They don't look too big.

Do they just stop growing earlier, or do they end up very tall? I'm tall, dh is tall, and she was on the .97th percentile for height when she was born. She's the tallest person in her class.

I'm struggling to find age appropriate clothes for her

My two eldest are very tall my 14 yr old is 6foot 1. He isn't the tallest in his class. But my daughter is 11. She is 5foot 9 and is by far the tallest. She sticks out like a sore thumb in school bless her.
Ds seems to have stopped growing in height but I'm not sure about daughter. Her shape is changing all the time. So hard to tell. I'm 5'6 and their father is 6'.

so what percentile is she on now? If you follow 98th through to 20 its apparently 176cm or 5'91/2. Coincidentally that's my height and tbh I don't find it particularly extreme. There are lots of women about the same height/ taller than me!

There is a school of thought that girls who are tall start puberty earlier (and therefore stop growing earlier). Anecdotally I didn't and grew late having not been enormously tall as a child.

Brett I didn't know that! My daughter started her periods at 9 so that would fit with her. That's interesting.

Onsieone that does seem tall considering you are only 5'6 i would have expected girl to be 5'6 (5'6+6'0/2 -3=5'6)
But then for a boy 5'6+6'/2 +3=6'0 so he is already taller. He is unlikely to stop growing at 14 i would think. I thought boys usually had growth spurt later than that.

I think you need to be over a certain weight to start puberty hence taller starting it earlier. (And children all starting earlier now as heavier and taller than before)
Orange i guess some will start to catch up when they hit puberty.

Not sure what percentile she's on now...um....age 11 percentile??

Ds is 6ft5 and still growing at 20. He grew an inch last year! I stopped growing quite early on I think. About 14??. I was always the tallest in the class. I started periods at 12.

The problem is clothes for her. When she reaches the end of the girls wear ranges she will be probably about 10. Then do I have to dress her in adult stuff? I seem to remember wearing adult stuff at 10. Ds took size 10 shoes at 10

Not sure what percentile she's on...um..age 11 percentile?!!

I was always the tallest in the class at about 10 or 11. I started my periods about 12, and stopped growing about 14 or so, I think.

Ds who's 20 is 6ft 5. He grew an inch last year, and thinks he's still growing! God forbid. Fortunately he wears his trousers round his arse, so can get them long enough.

iPad fail....

My DD is also 7 and very tall. Aways skimming the top of the chart. Luckily she is the youngest in her class and there are some tall boys who are nearly a year older which means she doesn't stand out too much. She looks about 10 and is generally mistaken for that age by anyone who doesn't know her.

My niece is 10 and is now 5ft 5. She has size 8 feet and in adult clothes (although tricky as she's pretty lean). She looks 15 easily, it's scary. Started her periods at 9. We breed them big in our family!

My worry is less about clothes and more about the emotional maturity. They get treated as if they are older which can have a negative effect. Certainly has on my DD who is an extremely anxious child. People expect far more from her than she is able to give, and I think we are as guilty of that as others outside the family.

My just 7yo is also in size 10-11 jeans and they fit (altho not sideways! baggy bum!) She's so skinny that I got her a maxi dress in age 5 last week (to wear knee length, looks cute!) and her age 4 shorts still fit.

I'm expecting her to be 5' 10" at least. I'm 5' 8" and OH is 6' 6"

Yes, my DD who is 4.5 is in 8yr clothing. She's off the scale (about 130th centile) and is under a specialist at the hospital. They've done tests and I think it will just be put down to genetics (both tall parents). She's been off the scale since she was 2 and I hated it for a long time as everyone comments.

Bertha, I totally agree re emotional maturity. I constantly check how I treat her as everyone expects so much from her. She's also very advanced verbally which exacerbates the problem.

No idea about percentiles, but my DS is 8 and is 148cms. He is by far the tallest in his class, and a head taller than DD, who is only 11 months younger than him. I'm 5'10 and DH is 5'11

Yes, it is a problem when they look older. You find yourself unconsciously expecting them to behave it a different way.

Yes, DD is 4.3 and age 6-7 year clothes.
DS is 18 months and just grown out of 2-3 year clothes.
Not sure if I should take them to see somebody about it. DD won the nursery 'competition' and is the tallest out of all 40 children.

Boden are good for this IMO. Their young girls range goes from age 2-12 so you might be ok with some of that for a bit. For girls, some of the stuff does come up small so get a free returns code. Then you can buy Johnnie B stuff which is a bit more expensive but still some nice age appropriate staples. My 6yo dd and 8yo ds have mini boden 11-12 and Johnnie B teenage stuff which I find really nice and completely age appropriate. It is very hard to get them clothes other than that. My dd has a couple of adult basic tshirt tops from M&S which are plain so if you find teenage clothes inappropriate you could go straight to very plain adult clothes, particularly for tops where the shaping doesn't matter so much. The hip shape can be a problem for bottoms though. Both dc also have adult sports tops as well.

Dd has just turned seven and is in age 12 clothes, she's on the 99.8 centile for height. It is very difficult to find age appropriate clothes and having looked around sainsburys are your best bet. We do find she fits in adult size six as well with some things. Its the shoes that get me, she's a size three so not tax exempt but she's only been seven a month!

Both mine were on 98th centile from birth, and were the tallest or nearly the tallest in their classes all the way through primary school, wearing clothes several sizes bigger than their age and being taken to be much older than they really were.

DS is now 15 and has finally stopped growing (I think) at 6ft, so some of his classmates have already overtaken him. He's ended up taller than I expected, given that we are not a tall family (me 5'5, DH 5'9), but not as tall as he would have been if he'd carried on following the 98th centile line to age 16-18.

DD is now 11/yr6, still growing, and has almost overtaken me in height, so very nearly 5'5, and has been wearing adult clothes for a year or so. She is rather chuffed to be the tallest child in the whole junior school (I think she's even taller than the headmaster, who is not big...). But she is already well into puberty, so I am guessing she will only be growing for another year or so and might hit 5'7-5'8 - again, tall for our family, but not as tall as her growth chart would suggest.

I think really it comes down to a combination of genes and nutrition - if you're tall, they will probably be tall; if you stopped growing early/put on a late growth spurt, they will most likely do the same. Obviously if you and your DH had very different growth patterns it will be a toss-up.

Exexpat, don't be too sure that your ds has stopped growing. Boys keep growing for ages. Ds grew 5 inches between 15 and 20, with a growth spurt when he hit 20! As I said he's huge.

I like Sainsburys clothes, but dd is in age 11, and they only go up tp 12. Where do you go from there?

Orange - I suppose it's possible DS might creep up another centimetre or two, but it's only been about 1cm in the past year, and his dad stopped growing altogether at 14 - everyone on both sides of the family seems to grow young, hit puberty early and then stop growing while everyone else catches up/overtakes them.

As far as clothes go, DD moved fairly smoothly from the largest sizes in H&M children/teenager's clothes to the plainer end of the adult range, a lot of which was actually more age-appropriate than the teen stuff (plain hoodies, wider range of styles in jeans etc rather than everything glittery and skin tight and so on).

We also found a few nice things in M&S's Angel range for teenagers, though having just looked online I get the feeling they may have discontinued that except for bras. Next children's clothes sizes stop at age 12 in store but go up to age 16 (I think) online, so that is worth a look.

Otherwise I'm afraid we tend to go for basics from Primark etc, because it really doesn't seem worth buying expensive clothes that are going to be outgrown within months, and I don't have a younger DD to pass them on to. I'm looking forward to her growth slowing down a bit - I think her feet may already be getting to that stage (she's a 7-7.5 already; I'm a 6.5) so we can start buying more expensive shoes too. She's been hankering for a pair of real Doc Martens for years, and I keep saying no because they cost way too much to only be worn for a few months.

My 11 year old daughter was born 'off the range' of the centile chart and has stayed just off the scale consistently. She is now 5'8 with size 8 feet and not even at secondary school yet.There is only one teacher at school taller than her! She loves shopping in charity shops where she can get stuff for £3/£4 in a ladies 6/8 and it will fit her for a year or so.Also good for shoes as they cost a few pounds not £50+ M&S do one style of school trouser in an extra long length which has suited her but her school uniform is all inches short for her now and I am holding out for secondary school which is a different colour.Making her wear skirts where possible now as the trousers all look silly. My 9 and 7 year olds are tallest in their classes but in top centile,not off the scale. I am 6'1" and hubby is 6'7" so I guess we are totally to blame! At least we know what she is going through but even understanding that, I still find I expect alot from her as she seems so much older than she is. I have to keep reminding myself she is just 11.

Mine are all tall. Not sure about percentiles but last time I measured them:

DS1 140cm (age 8.4)
DD 129cm (age 6.6)
DS2 114cm (age 4.6)

They all seem to like being tall! I'm 5'8'' and DH is 6'3''.