14 yo ds stopped growing?? and receding hairline...

[WhiteArmedHera]

Help! Would be very grateful for any advice (name change as this will identify me to friends)...

14 yo ds has always been very tall for his age - e.g. 175 cm at age 13 (we have height marks and dates on the kitchen wall). However, he is now nearly 15 and has not grown at all for the whole of the last year.

Simultaneously, his hairline has started to recede very noticeably at the temples, to the degree that he is getting 'banter' about it at school - all good-natured and the banter doesn't bother him but I think the hairline does a bit.

Are the receding hairline and lack of growth connected? Or is it likely that he just did all his growing early and now it's time for his peers to catch up...? Is it normal to start to have a receding hairline as such a young teen? His dad is bald on top but didn't start to go bald until mid-twenties, so 14 does seem a bit extreme.

Otherwise ds is fit and healthy, eats a good diet with plenty of protein and vegetables and fruit, plays a huge amount of sport (lack of growth is starting to look like it might become a problem for rugby...)

Any ideas or advice?

popping out now but back later!

My daughter is 16 and has a friend whose hair line is receding. I don't know him very well, but as long as I have he has been tall, so I presume he did his growing early.

It could be a hormonal imbalance causing the receding hair line? If it is noticeable I would have a quick word with his GP to put your mind at rest or get it treated if appropriate.

My father, who isn't with us anymore, stopped growing at 14 and started losing his hair at the same age. Both my brother have little hair, but started receeding at 16.
I was very tall as a child and stopped growing at 12, periods started at at 10. So maybe its just an early puberty.
I would certainly get it checked, but it could just be an extreme norm.

Thanks all. I was really hoping he hasn't just stopped growing. Have an appointment with GP tomorrow. Any stories of growth spurts following a period of no growth..??

DS is 14/nearly 15 and seems to have stopped growing. Like most of the family, he was very tall for his age all through childhood, hit puberty early, and was a normal adult height (nearly 6ft) by 14 and a half - then stopped, which was basically what I expected him to do. Is your DS the kind of height you would have expected him to reach as an adult, ie roughly the same as his dad or other men in the family? Or do you think he has stopped too soon?

14 does seem early for thinning hair, but I remember a friend of mine in the 6th form who was starting to go bald, so he must have been 16/17. I think it ran in his family.

It is probably all just in your DS's genes, but if you're worried, there is no harm in making a GP's appointment, and maybe asking for blood tests to check for hormone levels.

Oh dear feeling disheartened now like this is maybe just how it is going to be. I was hoping this would be just a pause in his growth and he would go on to grow several more inches. Karoleann, it's sounding just like your father...

Exexpat - dh isn't that tall but his brother is, and ever since ds was born he has been tall and heavy and much more in the mould of his uncle, so for the first 13 years we've always assumed ds would end up 6'2" or 3" - as opposed to the 5'9" he is now.

He is a very keen rugby player (county level with aspirations) but it could be the end of his ambitions if he's not going to grow any more...! C'est la vie but a shame at age 14...

Thanks for the input, more stories welcome.

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