Falling down height centiles

[ThanksForAllTheFish]

DD (8 years 9 months) is 120 cm which puts her on the second centile for height. Using the height prediction chart from my and DH height she should be on the 50th centile. I know she has previously been around the 15th centile, then dropped to the 9th and is now on the 2nd.

I keep waiting for a big growth spurt to happen but she’s only grown just over a centimetre since last summer (although her feet have gone up 3 sizes and are disproportionately large for her short self).

I’m wondering if now is the time to start worrying about her growth or to wait and see for another little while.

I have no idea what weight she is (we don’t have scales) but she is skinny and you can see her ribs. I don’t think she looks underweight or overweight at all so not concerned about that. It’s just the height thing that’s concerning me.

Go see your GP. If she's really only grown 1 cm in 12 months, that needs checking out...though it might be errors in measuring, if you're doing it yourself at home, as really needs to be done in a proper device.

ask for coeliac screen (coeliac can lead to slow growth) from gp via blood test and referral to growth clinic. they will do all measurements check growth rate and run some tests. growth clinic will measure then monitor for six months so best get referral now as it takes time...
growth of 1 cm in a year is low.

Do your husband or you remember your growth timeline? I was tiny at school, with enormous feet. In fact, until I was 13 I was one of the shortest of the children. Hit puberty and shot up like a weed and within 2 years was one of the tallest in the class. The same happened with both of my brothers.

My daughter has followed her father's timeline by being consistently tall - I'm expecting her to top out at around 5' 10".

If you're really worried, take her to the doctor and ask, it may be nothing but there's nothing wrong with alleviating fear.