13 year old boy not growing

[Smallngrumpy]

My 13 year old seems to have just stopped growing. Over the last couple if years he's put less and less on each month and his height has stayed more or less static.

According to height and weight charts ge is under weight.
We have tried to increase his portion s, added milk etc but made no difference.
Was hoping puberty would kick in and this would be sorted but it hasn't.
What do I do?

How is his height measured, it's notoriously difficult to measure. My daughter apparently shrank 4 cm in a month measured at the hospital. She didn't but one of the two or even both weren't measured right.

Our paediatrician repeats that as long as my daughter is actively gaining weight no matter how slowly he's not concerned which is really frustrating.

I would keep a food diaries to look for common factors. My mum gets migraines just with lemonade all other fizzy drinks are fine and a mix tap for her Coke has been enough to trigger an attack. I have a histamine intolerance and one of the ways it manifests for me now is being violently ill sick in the middle of the night. Usually at 3 am and it throw up a whole meal from 6-8pm. It happens more often when I have eaten out or had a takeaway. The histamine in foods increases with how long it's been cooked for which is think is why I react more to foods not prepared at home.
My sister had gallstones misdiagnosed as IBS for three years and she didn't know she was reacting to fatty foods but the original food diaries showed links to dairy and gluten as the meals she had with them in were also high in fat. She always lost a lot of weight due to the gallstones. She went from the 50th percentile at 15 to the 0.4th at 16!

Just a few slightly unusual things that can impact on dietary issues and can have a knock on impact of weight. My daughter has around 20 food allergies too and when we are having a bad period with them and her reflux her weight gain slows.

Im pretty sure not got coeliac as the sickness is very random and not very often.
i would like to give protein shakes but not sure if he is ok having them.

With ref to his height, I measure him myself but Im only 5 ft 1 muself and hes shorter. According to red book, he should have overtaken me around March /April this year.

Doc said, as few here have , that growth can stop and start. he checked him over and all good.
Plan is to try to increase meals and decreae snacks and see where we are after new year.

Glad you got seen so quickly and have a bit of a plan from the GP. Is DS onboard with the snack reduction?

He knows he has to do this or we may have to go down the testing road.
It has settled my mind a little and showed him that he cant be so fussy and needs to eat whats in front of him. We have got into bad habits of offering snacks as was worried he wasnt eating enough at meal times.

You need to see an endocrinologist. If there are issues with his pituitary gland then that won't be picked up by the GP. I recommend joining the Child Growth Foundation page on FB for some more information & general support.

@BlackSwan The doctor didnt seem worried especially as he is only just 13. He said to wait and see what happens in couple of months and we will try to get more calories into him. Obviously if there is no move in his weight/height/puberty by Jan then I will go back to doctors and go from there.

Yes, if it’s just an innocent explanation then waiting to see an endocrinologist would be fine. The trouble is the ‘fine print’ more sinister issues, while rare, which can also delay growth. My son had a pituitary tumour which stalled his growth for a couple of years (until it was removed/he completed radiation treatment & then started growth hormone therapy). I certainly hope this isn’t what’s going on for your son (one in a million chances etc) but you’re better to push the drs in my experience & rule out these types of issues.

Hi @Smallngrumpy just wondered if there was any update?

@Bringmetea1234 Sorry I had forgot about this thread.
Something happened about 2 months ago (Feb) and he suddenly got taller. His appetite has gone through the roof and he is putting weight on now. So it was just a case of waiting for his body to get on with it. Definitely very relieved even though Im now the shortest in the family.

Op watch trying things like shakes unless prescribed to you, I know children who became too used to them and ate less. Does he eat cereal? Things like beans on toast, yoghurts, eggs, cheese toasted etc? I’d agree an endocrinologist and dietician since you’re so worried but also remember he honestly could be just taking after you? (My friend’s always giving out that she and her mum are so much smaller than her dad , sister and brother who are tall (all about six foot, her and her mum are five foot 2)

Brilliant news!

Sorry about being the smallest now! I'm only 5ft2 from a small family - my almost 14yo niece is now the tallest out of the women in my family.

At 13 there was 20kg and 20cm between my twin boys...

2 years later and the difference has closed so much i can't tell from the back who's who :)

Is 5ft 1 that small for a 13 year old? My son is 13 and prob 5ft 4 and he has several friends who are considerably shorter than him, and me and I’m prob 5ft 2?

I see it was an older thread, good news for the op.

@Tulipvase I wasnt worried so much about his height , more that he wasnt growing at all and had stayed the same for a long while. His weight has always been on the slight side but he looks so much more "covered" now, at least I cant see his ribs anymore.

Ah I see, I’m glad the issue seems to have resolved. My nephew is on the smaller side and it’s hard when to know when to worry or not.