DS worried about growth

[Darklamp]

DS just turned 16 and he is 5'4. His voice broke when he was 13/14 and he hasn't grown at all since he was 14. His nutrition and everything is great and he exercises a lot. All his life he's been around the 45th percentile which would make him about 5'9 as an adult. (The double height at 2 thing would also make him 5'8 -9) He hasn't got a beard yet or anything but has a deep voice, armpit hair etc and has had for a while. I am 5'3 and his father is 5'6. He is worried as his height hasn't increased at all for 2 years and he is one of the shortest in his year. He says all the other short people are late bloomers but he isn't. Anyone have any similar experiences?

Forgot to add, he had a mini growth spurt when his voice broke, he grew 2-3 inches. Nothing since then though

Isn't it normal to be around the same heights as your parents? Sorry I knkw that's not super helpful but I always thought shorter people have shorter kids.

My DH and I are both relatively tall and our baby has measured as above average legs even on growth scans while I was pregnant. She's very long now too so I just figured it's because we are tall?

I think genetics is a big factor in height. I am 5.0, dh is 5.6, I don't think my children will be any taller then 5.6.

I know genetics is the main factor but he's worried about the fact that he's shorter than his predictions. Ds2 is 14 and 6 foot somehow lol. He's always been tall though

It's worth going to your GP. I know someone whose son was short. The GP referred them to a paediatrician and the child took a growth hormone I think which apparently made a difference.

The tallest man I know was also the smallest boy in 6th form. Boys can have very late growth spurts.

@fuzzymoon

It's worth going to your GP. I know someone whose son was short. The GP referred them to a paediatrician and the child took a growth hormone I think which apparently made a difference.

My son was like this, also despite eating similarly to his dbs was quite overweight. He had a series of growth hormone injections. I’m only 5’1” but dh and his dbs are about 6’, dd has Ended up about 5’7l.The dr stressed that it wouldn’t make him grow taller than he was meant to be, but should encourage him to achieve his optimum height. It worked and he’s now about 5’9”. However, I sometimes wonder if it did make him more bad tempered and aggressive. I would look into potential side effects first.

Ds was 4ft 9 at age 15 and finally asked to go and see the gp. We thought he would need growth hormone therapy (I'm 5ft 6 and dad is 6ft 1 so expected height for dh should have been 5ft 10 or so)

All growth hormone tests came back negative but he was diagnosed with Coeliacs- 3 years later on a gluten free diet he's now taller than me and a lot happier. His bone age also came back as 3 years younger than his actual age so he has the potential to grow until his early twenties according to his consultant.

Still no sign of a beard though.......

Might be worth getting him checked out just to rule out any problems.

What's his muscle growth like? Is he skinny?

TeenMummy thanks for your reply, he isnt as broad as the other 16 year olds in terms of bone structure but is fairly muscular and goes to the gym regularly.

Gluten is a growth hormone disrupter, so why not go gluten free for a while (six months?) and see how it works. No need to go nuts about traces of gluten in soy or ham, but just avoid, flour (so bread, biscuits, pasta....) .
He can still have rice or quinoa.
Milk on the other side will push his growth.

Has he got any body hair or increased adult leg hair? Has he had a recent puberty exam to check the size of his testicals. Reasons I say this as it may be a sign if they are smaller than average that could suggest a genetic condition