Is my daughter short for her age?

[CrazyPotato]

Hi, My daughter is 13 and she is 4ft 10in. She is one of the shortest kids in her school and all of her friends are 5ft - even 5ft 8in! She feels really insecure about it and is only 79 lbs when her friends have already passed 100 lbs. I'm 5ft 2in (I know, I'm short too) but her dad is 6ft 2in. I really don't want her to feel left out or anything because she says all of her friends have started their periods and I started mine when I was 12 but her dad's mom didn't start her's until she was 15. She wears a trading bra but she snuck into my room and she found a very small padded bra for children when I was little. She's now stuffing that and wearing it to school because she feels like she is "not big enough" to fit in.

Hi! I'm sorry I don't have children so I'm not sure if this is unusual for her age, BUT at 13 I was around the same height and now I am 28 I am 4 foot 11 and 84 pounds.

I am very small etc and people do think I'm a child. BUT it's never held me back at all

Well I was 5'2 in year 7 and one of the shortest in my class 20 years ago. Tbf none of them had tits.

That is quite short but if she hasnt started her periods she's still got some growing to do. Unfortunately a tall and a shorter woman arent necessarily going tp produce an average child.

a tall man.

I was the shortest in yr 7, but didn’t really hit puberty until the 16/17 and grew slowly until the. And a bit after. I’m now over average height. I think that’s what it depends on

This was and still is me 🙈 I haven't grown at all since I was 13

If she hasn't started her periods then she will probably grow more. Is she showing signs of puberty?

Plenty of women are 4.10 or 5ft as adults. It's a little short yes but lots of people love petite women and she can wear heels or wedges when older if she wants to add some height.

She may still grow too if she hasn't started periods yet. I would not worry but maybe a check at the gp wouldn't hurt. I'd also get her some decent training bras M&S have an excellent selection if you go to a big store. One of the retail park type ones.

According to this she’s between 9th and 25th centiles if she’s exactly 13. She’s 147 cm. So totally normal.
www.rcpch.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Girls_2-18_years_growth_chart.pdf

Small is beautiful! Sounds like she will likely end up petite but could grow quite a bit more yet. There is nothing you can do other than a go visit. If most of her friends are only around 5 feet then that's not much different anyway. My 8 year old is like this, aware of being smaller, but doesn't mind as doesn't see it as a negative. Can u find some smaller role models for her?

I have a DD with a genetic growth disorder, diagnosed at 3 (she's now 5)

It may well be that nothing is wrong at all. However, growth is more than being a certain height and purely aesthetics etc. Growth problems can affect strength, puberty etc and often there is something that can be done.

Two things to consider if you're concerned about your child's growth:

Are they following the same growth line or has there been a sudden change? (DD was 90+ centiles for height and weight and at 18m her height was right at the bottom of the chart so a drastic reduction in growth

How does your child's height compare to parental height? I am average and DP is tall so to have a child who was the shortest by far of her peer group was a bit odd!

If you're worried, do get her checked

As others have said, if your dd hasn't started her periods yet then she should continue to grow. I think I've heard before that a girl usually grows about 2 - 3 inches after their periods start.

Conversely, I started my periods at 10, was the second tallest in my class in yr 7, but stopped growing at 12. I have been the same height ever since (5ft 2in). The different age that puberty starts for each girl can mean a big difference in how and when each child grows.

Dd didn't grow much til age 15 then made huge leaps when periods started.
Just tell to be patient.