Very concerned about 10 yr old DS's growth

[mumof2kiddos]

My 10 yr old DS is very small for his age and now is of the height of a 8 yr old. Many of his friends have shot up over the summer while he seems to have stagnated in the last one year. Normally he lags by one year, so by now he should have been the height of 9 yr old but due to his extremely slow growth last yr, he has fallen down the curve. He is the oldest in his class but the shortest. He is also very skinny. He eats well, have loads of energy to play football, swimming and other activities in school and in the top groups in everything in his class.
I know each child is different but is there anything that I can do to help him? He knows that he is small but is very confident. But my heart sinks everytime I see him with his peers. He looks so small!
His dad and I are average height of our ethnic origin and even boys of his age from our ethnic community are growing far more than him.

Have you measured and weighed him OP? If you plot his height and weight on the centiles chart, is he dropping and if so, by how much?

My DS is active and skinny too. After reading the Caroline Walker Trust guide to feeding teenagers, I’ve upped his calories by making a few small changes. The guide for 5 to 12 year olds is here.

If he is dropping height centiles, I’d take him to the GP

Speak to your GP and also contact the child Growth foundation; they are the experts at what’s “normal” and have an advice line, website and online support and advice.

OP a friend’s son was like this. GP wasn’t bothered and pointed out neither parent was particulary tall. However Ds’s 4 siblings were of average stature. When he was 10, fearing he’d miss the window of opportunity re treatment (I suspected it might be hormonal) I persuaded my friend that to insist on a specialist referral.
Turned out DS has coeliac dissease.He was put on a gluten free diet and began to grow. He’s now adult and possibly not as tall he should be but is not abnormally short for an adult male.
As a child apart from growth he appeared healthy enough.
I’d recommend that you seek a referral to a paediatrician. Don’t experiment in the meantime with a gluten free diet as that will skew any tests.
Good luck