Why are some children taller than others in their class?

[Fiona2011231]

As you may notice in your own area, some children are (much) taller than others in their class.

Usually, is it because of their genes or is there something that we can learn from so that we can help our own children grow taller?

For example, some say drinking milk helps children taller.

Thanks,

Genetics. I don’t think there’s anything you can actively do to make them grow taller but there are things you can avoid to prevent their growth being stunted if that makes sense

Genetics is the biggest factor these days. A balanced diet is also important, stunted growth due to malnutrition is a problem especially in poorer countries.

The red book doesn't predict anything. It gives a probability range.

There is a formula in the back of my DC’s red books for estimating their adult heights, based on length centile at birth and parental heights. It puts DS at 6’4” and DD at 5’11”, which both feel fairly right for both mine and DH’s tall families.

genetics, diet and exercise keeping their body healthy.

Genetics, as others have said. And good nutrition. Some research has suggested that breastfeeding helps, as well as lots of protein and calcium.

The tall ones chose their parents carefully.

There is a formula in the back of my DC’s red books for estimating their adult heights

Estimation is the word, not prediction. There will be an error margin associated, IIRC.

I'm 6ft. I drank a lot of milk growing up and had a lot of fresh air, kicked out in the garden most of the time!
Though having tall parents probably helped the most

I totally agree with you Lewji. That’s why I used “estimate”.

My and my spouse's family has people ranging from under 5 ft to over 6 ft, so I tell my kids it'll likely be a mixed bag but to eat their vegetables and protein if they want to be big . I'm a pretty average height and while I wish I had broader shoulders, I've never wanted to be taller except when frustrated with working around a lot of tall people.

My oldest at 14 already towers over many adults and is among the 3 tallest in his cadets group which goes up to 17 (they stand in ranks by height which is how I know). He is nowhere near the end of puberty and I do wonder how much taller he's going to get. He doesn't seem to eat particularly a lot, only has milk with cereal, though he does like his baths so maybe part whale.

He has tiny legs and shoulders (I'll let him blame me for the shoulders, but not the legs) so it's all going into height so far it seems.

I read somewhere that if you double the height of your child (roughly around the age of 2 and a half) , this gives an indication of the potential adult height your child might grow to, presuming they have a healthy diet and don't suffer any serious illness.

Whether this is true or not, I measured my DD at this age and was surprised that the calculation showed she could maybe end up to be 5ft 10.
(Her dad's tall but I'm only 5'5)

Dd is now 15 and 5ft 9 and possibly still growing, so it may be coincidence or there could be some truth in the calculation, I don't know.

Ds is supposed to be 6 ft 2 according to that, he's now just turned 15 and 5 ft 11 so I think he will be taller.

I came across that calculation too. It's slightly more than doubling, though thereabouts, as there's one for boys and another for girls. Presumably as girls are supposed to stop growing at puberty.