Baby’s height

[Georgia2609]

Hi everyone on Monday decided to measure my baby as I was curious how long he was and when I did I was shocked to see that he was under all the lines on the centime chart for his age, he’s 4.5 months old and only 51cm! I tried messaging and calling my hv but she hadn’t gotten back to me, he had a doctors appointment for something else and I asked the doctor and she told me she didn’t even know hot to measure babies so couldn’t be any help and I don’t know who else to go to but I’m quite worried. I’ve realised now that whenever I’m talking to anyone about him and they ask how old he is and I tell them that the first thing they say is “aww he’s so tiny!” and until now that never bothered me. Can him being so small he a sign of any issues? Has anyone else’s baby been this small and if so what happened? Sorry for the long post I’m just really worried and feel like no one’s helping me.

Centile chart* I didn’t realise there was so many typos in that post whoops!

How did you measure him?

Does he fit size 3-6 month clothes? If so, or even if he's in 0-3, as long as they aren't huge on him, he's probably in the normal range

None of mine ever had height measured and I'm not sure how you would at that age as they are not really "flat"

Was he not measured when he was born? My two were because the midwives commented on how long they were and we were given the tape measures as a souvenir.

They are very difficult to measure accurately until they stand.

One of mine was so long she didn't hit the charts until 9 months old!

@N0N4M3 I measured him from the top of his head to his heal and made sure he was completely stretched out

@MotherOfCrocodiles he’s in 0-3 clothes and doesn’t look like he’ll be growing out of them any time soon, I put him in a 0-6 outfit and it absolutely drowned him

@TheFairyCaravan no I thought they was mean to but he was rushed to nicu when he was born so maybe that’s why? There’s no measurement in his red book and I don’t remember ever being told a length

@RandomMess I measured him a few times and got the same reading within 1cm every time and even if I added a few cm on he still wouldn’t be on the 0.4th percentile, me and his dad aren’t really tall but I didn’t expect him to be so small

You can't measure him without a baby measurer. You will be way off. Book in to a weighing clinic and get him measured there. In the mean time stop panicking it's unlikely anything is wrong.

Does he still look/act quite like a new born or does he look like a 4.5 month old other than his height?

Why was he rushed off to NICU? Was he prem?

I was told that they don't bother measuring babies any more unless there's a concern because it's difficult to get accurate which can cause problems in itself. They did give me a paper tape measure to have a go myself though.

@Givemepickles I wouldn’t say he acts like a newborn but he isn’t rolling or giggling yet but he’s very alert and babbles

@RandomMess he was born at 37 weeks because I was induced for medical reasons and when he was born he couldn’t breathe so they took him away and put him on oxygen and then they did his infection marker level and it was really high so he had to have tests and it turned out I’m a carrier of strep b and he got it so they had to treat him through an IV

None of mine have ever been measured until they went to school and had their BMI calculated.

What was his femur length like on scans? If small there then it would make sense he's shorter than average.

Was he a premie? If so just being on the centile chart at this age is an achievement. They don’t measure baby length any more unless they suspect something specific (my DS only had it measured because they thought he inhaled maeconium and so wanted to keep track of his growth over the long term). So if he was a premie and a low birth weight 0.4 in height will be fine until he weans.

@TyrantosaurusRex it seems to be different in every area because some places still do it and some don’t but where I am don’t but you think they’d do it to have a rough idea what kind of centile they’re on when they’re born to see if they follow it because if he’s always been this small then it wouldn’t matter

@20week I’m not sure what his femur length was on scans but I might see if I can find his scan reports and have a look

@Ozanj no he wasn’t premature, he was born at 37+2 so considered full term so I don’t know why he’s so small but I feel like he hasn’t grown length wise very much since being born

You can't really measure baby length properly yourself. Even the health visitors struggle with the baby measuring device and generally won't measure baby's length / height until they're toddlers that can stand properly to be measured more accurately.

I'd stop worrying and speak to the health visitors / drop in at a baby clinic if you would like some reassurance.

for anyone that is interested in an update to this post I spoke to a health visitor who booked him in to get measured and he is on the smaller side as he’s on the 9th percentile but they’re not too concerned as they think he’ll either have a growth spurt or just be on the shorter side

I’m in a similar issue now
with my boy. How did your little one grow?

@Geordiemam24 hi, he's about to be 2 next month and still very short, he's always 1-2 clothes sizes behind because he's also quite skinny even though he never stops eating! 😂 we have his 2 year check soon where they'll weigh and measure him and I'll be able to see where he is then but health wise he's absolutely healthy, there's nothing else that I nor anyone else has noticed with him that isn't right so I think he's just a small kid! He wasn't big when born, I had him at 37 weeks and he was 6lb 4oz and my eldest was 6lb 3 when he was born and has been on the 20th centile for everything his whole life so I think I just have children on the smaller side, I'm currently pregnant with my 3rd so I'm interested to see what she weighs when she's born lol