very 'long' baby - should I worry?

[Ettenna]

Measured LO today and he's about 79cm at 33 weeks. According to the dread red book, he's completely off the scale - almost off the page, in fact! Should we be concerned? He was just over 10lbs at birth and looks fine - not fat, not thin. Just a bit taken aback at how far above the average he is. Any advice?

Are you and his father tall? If so that will explain it!

I'm 5'8'' (nearly!) and DH is just under 6 foot.

What is his weight? Ideally, his weight and his height should be on the same (roughly) percentile.

My boy was 14 months before he hit that height, but I'm only 5ft 6" and his dad is 5ft 10", so your boy would be taller, genetically.

Bare in mind, however, that growth significantly reduces after one year plus.

dd1 was always way off the scale! She was just a tall child. She's slowed down a bit now she's 13 and is still quite tall, but not HUGE iykwim.

There are lots of pros and cons of having a tall baby/child, but they're a post for another day... in the meantime, don't worry about it, enjoy your beautiful, bouncing baby and delight in everyone saying "ooh, isn't he big!"

You will need to tell everyone that is likely to buy clothes for him though, that they need to buy at least 1 or 2 sizes bigger than they thought.

fora ny child to be average, some children have to be above and some below, the average line, or it would not exist!

Thanks for your responses all.

Good point about the averages, Lulumama! I wouldn't be concerned except he appears SO much longer than "normal". His weight is 98th centile.

If he's 98th centile for weight, it would be pretty proportionate that he is tall as well. You should be happy = it's great for boys to be tall!

Well then he's perfectly balanced!

You are the proud mother of a big, strapping lad

He is strapping and no mistake!

Sounds very well proportioned to me. My ds is about 70cm at 30 weeks and has always been long for his weight iygwim. Does a young baby's length really go on parents height at this age? I always thought it wasn't until they were older that you could tell. I'm 5'8 and dh is nearly 6.4 so if you go by dh, ds should be massive!!!

No worries. He's perfectly in proportion!

That said, be prepared for slowed growth over the next couple of years. He can't sustain it (no kid can) ... but it's always good to check that the height/weight percentiles are on a level.

If you want to second guess his adult height, the red book has an equation you can use, based on his parents' adult height. But I'd add an inch

My DS is 74cm at 23 weeks! But then I'm 6ft tall. I'm not worrying about it.

My DS was 4.5kg (10lb) born and by 2 weeks was 60cm long!!! I'm 160cm (5' 3")but husband is 6'. Husband was, however, 6lb born and I was 11lb 4oz!

I think it's a combination of things, genes, diet etc. that determines final size and height. Birth weight and length isn't an indication of what size you'll be.

I wouldn't be unduly concerned.

I wouldn't be too concerned DS's head size was always off the chart and even now at age two he wears age 6/7 hats but he doesn't look odd and he doesn't fall down stairs if he bends his head forward

What you are worried about? Is he healthy, meeting milestones? You can't control how tall / short your DS will be, so really, please don't worry!

Is he otherwise not worrying you? You are lucky!

Mine are all on 98th for height, have been since birth, but the average height for my family (male and female) is 6 foot or thereabouts,DH's lot are all average height so i wasn't expecting pixies! DS2 also has to wear a small men's size in hats but again he doesn't look weird (just cute, see my profile) and doesn't fall over when he leans forward

Bl**dy hell - ds1 is 84cm and he's 2.5 years

He is (as family paed has confirmed several times - healthy and developmentally fine - just as yours is - they are simply at two extremes of an of necessity wide scale.

I would not worry if he is healthy and happy. My boys are both big for their ages too, especially DS2. At 3.5 he had a check up and was the height and weight of the average 5 year old! Sounds like your little lad is well balanced with his height and weight so just enjoy him!

I think I was just a bit worried in case he was growing too fast - a hormone problem or something.

He's my first so my paranoia threshold is quite low!!

DS1 was 59cm at birth, and was always extra long as a baby, but now he is average height at one minth off his 3rd birthday

ettena, dd2 was off the charts at under a year old. i was also worried about growth disorders. she is still very tall at 5 years old (towers over her peers) but is now just slightly above the line, nowhere near the off the chart like she was before. her growth has slowed down a lot, but is still very tall.

height and weight always in proportion for her.

My daughter is above the 90th percentile for height and only in the 25th-30th for weight..she is 1...and she eats loads, I think all babies are just different!!