Large babies & tall children

[Janh]

i've never had an enormous baby, although my last is taller than the others and he grows out of clothes and shoes faster than they did.

what i would say is don't set too much store by the percentiles on growth charts. my first daughter was nearly off the bottom (under the 10th line) and my second daughter was near the top (over the 75th line) - they are now 19 and 16 and THE SAME HEIGHT!!!!! - about 5'7".

my mother was 6' (and so am i, and my brothers are 6'6") and my mil is 5'. also my father's mother was under 5'. so we have a mixed bag of genes but you just can't tell what will predominate...

I really dislike having a tall child. My eldest is 3.5, and looks 5 - I mean really looks 5. Child professionals - health visitors, nursery teachers, teachers, and playgroup leaders etc. have all expressed astonishment when I've told them his real age. As well as the expense of shoes especially - four pairs every year so far, I find myself continuously telling people his age. As he looks so much older than he is, people expect far more from him in terms of behaviour, I even find myself thinking this sometimes. Many of his friends are a couple of months younger than him, but he is treated as though he were a couple of years older, in terms of the expectations on him. It is tough!

My younger son is pretty much average height, which is much easier all round.

well my largest baby - 4.170 kg (dunno wot that is in lbs, sorry - is my smallest child. i hav 6 children and none of them were even close to his birthweight, they were all between 3&3.7kg... he looked like a 3 month old when he was 3 days old. but as time went by he seemed to be growing really slowly, and because he was very bright and full of beans, his diminutive size was part of the package - until he got to 5 and sed "mummy i dont wanna be cute anymore", coz he was still wearing 24-36 month clothing. anyway, had him checked out and was told that i was imagining things, that i shouldnt expect him to be any bigger because both his father and i are not tall - and then when he was 10 i noticed a change in his body, he got middle-age spread and seemed to lose muscle tone in his legs. so back to the dr i went, had them run tests on his endocrine system - and found that he had almost NO growth hormone present in his system. that was 2 yrs ago, he has been on growth hormone therapy (daily injection, he does it himself) for the last 2 yrs and is growing beautifully - and so has his confidence!

my dd2 is a large girl. she is actually off the scale atm for both her weight and height. she looks at least the age of 2, she is only 11months old tho. the hv asked the other day where she gets her height from, i said her dad. she asked how tall he is (6ft) then said that wasnt relativly tall at all. she doesnt get it from me (only 5ft 3", but i was considered tall as a child, i had an early growth spurt but by the time i was 14 the other kids had overtaken me and i never really caught up again.
she was in size 0-3months clothes when born, was in a forward facing carseat at 4months (was sitting well, rolling, very advanced), now wears her sisters clothes (ranges from 2-4years depending on where bought), has size 4 1/2h shoes, has been walking a few steps since 4 weeks ago now, and has outgrown disposibles nappies.
people sometimes look at her funny, like she should be doing more than she is, everyone is shocked when i say she is only 11months, even if they dont say anything i can tell by the confused look at their faces.
shes soon gonna overtake her big sister.

My DS was a 10lb baby and was enormous until he was walking (at 14 months) ...
He is now nearly 4 and is of average weight and height ... in fact he is quite small compared to a lot of children at kindy (Pacific Islander children tend to be bigger on average than European children) ...
There is height in my family (my grandfather was 6'5" ...) but also there is 'smallness' in my family (one grandmother was 5' 1" and the other was 4' 1" .... DH's family are pretty average in height.
I don't think big babies necessarily become big people ...

Don't know why the winky face appeared ... sorry!

My ds was born 5lb 8oz, very skinny with his little ribs sticking out, and within a few months he had tripled his weight and actually started to look muscular. When he turned 3 (a month ago), I measured him at 105cm tall and he weighs 20kg, which is (according to Christopher Green's book) about the size of a 4 1/2 yr old. I must admit sometimes I worry about his big size but at the same time, at least he's strong & healthy... it's so amazing how you really can't tell anything about their future size from their birth weight.

Those who know me know how big my DS is. 5kg at birth (11lb 2oz) and 62 cm long, straight into 3-6 month clothes completely fooled me as I had NO CLOTHES to fit him at all when he was born! Now, at 4 he is over 120 cm tall and in age 7 clothes, and is consistently mistaken for an older child, helped by the fact that he is very articulate and chatty. First shoes at 12months a 5 and a half G, now in a 12 and a half F. He has always been well over the height chart centiles and seems to be increasing his lead at the moment! Slim though with it and always has been. DD is tiny in comparison, but is firmly on the 75th centile for height. The paed says that it is probably because I am tall for my generation, but are doing tests to see if he has XYY cromosomes.

My BF has had two relatively small babies (given that she is about 5'10 and her DH is over 6 feet), DD was 6lb 13 and DS was about 7lb 2. Both have grown incredibly since they were born and are now well at the top of the centile charts. So it's not just big babies who grow lots!

It can be a pain though when it comes to clothes, as DS grows out of things like nobodies business, it was only about a year ago that DS was still in age 5 clothes, but he's grown about 10cm in a year!! He doesn't start School until January, and heaven knows how big he will be then.....

My ds is 3.4 and he always gets mistaken for a 5-6 year old. In his first term at playgroup, the leader pulled me aside virtually everyday about his behaviour until one morning very red-faced she apologised and said that they thought he was a couple of years older than he actually was. My heart breaks for him when parents pull their 3 year olds away from him because they think that theres something wrong with his mental deveolpment. Last week there was very nearly an arguement when a woman shouted at my ds for not waiting in line for the slide. My poor ds was terrified by this woman who never apologised and muttered to her 4 year old how rude bigger boys are. I can't see any good points about raising a larger child and as far as I can see it will be a constant burden on him throughout his childhood years. Thankfully he is extremely lively, affectionate and out-going, but I don't know how long that will last for if adults keep reacting so appallingly to him.

bekki i understand what u mean about people wondering about your ds mental age thing. just becuase he is bigger than average people shouldnt automatically assume he is older. people do look at me funny and my dd2 because she is so big, like their is something wrong with her because she acts like a 1year old not a 2-3 year old, errrrr because she is only just coming up 1year!!!
my other daughter is dinky, and people thing she is a bit younger than she isnt but i dont see that as a problem really.

It is awful sometimes and unfortunatley it means that i put added pressure on him to behave like a 5 year old. I started getting dirty looks about 18 months ago when ds was in his buggy and so I sometimes made him walk alot further than perhaps he felt comfortable to walk. Even people who know his age completely forget and look towards me when he ignores them for the umpteenth time. Theres nothing you can do about it apart from telling everyone who looks in your general direction his exact age or make him wear a birthday badge everyday. I just want to wrap him up in cotton wool and protect him from these people but I know that hes just got to get on with it and learn in his own time how to stand up for himself. Its alot harder on me than it is for him.

It is very unfair - the unluckiest one I came across was a boy of about 4 who was very very tall and looked like 9 or 10 (can't remember details exactly, this was 20 years ago). Can you imagine how he got on in playgrounds, poor lad?

As misdee has mentioned, it isn't a problem at all the other way round - a dinky child appears very mature. In some ways having a very large child must be a bit like having one with special needs/behavioural problems - short of labelling them with a badge like "actually I am only 4" "I am autistic" "I have ADHD", what do you do?

ds1 is very tall for his age, and when he was 3, my mum actually knitted a jumper for him which said on it "I'm only 3", because I was so sick of sticking up for him!

His size used to be a big problem for us, but it does get easier as they get older - the differences are less noticeable, and some advantages start to come out as well. DS1 is now just 6. Yes, he still grows out of shoes and clothes at an alarming rate, and people expect a lot of him ... but on the plus side - he was delighted to recently visit a theme park and be allowed to go on virtually all the big rides, which his friends hadn't been able to go on! At this age, being tall is also a matter of pride -he is pleased that he is the tallest in his class, and has the biggest size shoes. Especially as he is the second youngest in the class.

Also, being at school makes it easier:- Their teacher will know their age, and all staff will know what school year they are in - so the "high expectations" thing doesn't happen so much.

So do keep sticking up for him Bekki, and be reassured and encouraged that it does get better with time.

Thanks for the reasurrance KMG1. I was just thinking that it would get better when he started school, but this isn't until next September. Some people can guess his age correctly but its very rare and they are usually men or women with 5 or more children. I knew he looked older than his three years but i had no idea how much older until a lady with an extremely dainty 2 year old guessed he was 6! I thought that there might have been something wrong with her to be honest but it explained alot. Going to the park tomorrow, I'm going to keep my head high and treat him as a 3 year old. I don't care what people think now as long as my son dosen't have pressure on him from his own mother to be older than he is then they can say what they like.

my family are all small in height and weight, but that didn't stop my son come out a giant to, 9 lb bron then 10 lb at 10 DAYS OLD, my and my partner had gone out and spent loads of money on new clothes for him while i was pg, as you do. but i was only in the 0-3 months things for 2 WEEKS only. Then to was off to town to buy yet more clothes something that we was intending to do till he was almost 3 months, but no it was 2 weeks. at 6 months he was in wait for it 18 months cloths. now my other son is small for his age, he's almost 4 but he's still in 3 yaers with room to spare.

So when i go to town these days to pick up cloths, for my one year old and get size 2 years, and pick up clothes for my 4 year old, size 3 yaers, yet there is 2 1/2 years between them.

Bekki - I have complete sympathy with you. For the last two years people have been looking at DS and asking him why he wasn't at School? And when you're only 2 it's kind of confusing, and yes they do think they have some kind of development delay. Tantrums in public are the worst, because I find myself talking him out of it in a very loud voice mentioning his age REALLY REALLY loudly. I do find that when parents find out how old he is, usually when I've said to their faces well he is only (whatever age) you know, they're usually 1. shocked 2. apologetic and 3. sympathetic. But not always and I have had a stand up row with a woman in Tescos because he was having a tantrum and she was tutting and muttering about it and I just lost my rag......

My dd is tall and presumably going to be tall as an adult, as dh is v.tall. I just think she will make a great supermodel!

I did the shouty out age thing yesterday, when we were waiting in Clarks for an hour to be measured. My ds was bored and falling all over the place, moving shoes around and I felt the need to justify his age twice. Once to nobody in particular just whoever cared, and secondly to the assistant who was completely shocked particularly as he size 10 and a half feet.

Ooooh Bekki don't get me started about Clarks!!! Everytime I go in there (like every week or something - well OK so not that often but it feels like that.....) I have to patiently explain that DS in only 4 and no he doesn't need school shoes so please don't even bother to try and sell me those as well, and they look at me as if I am a tight wad and don't want to buy shoes and trainers...... grrrrrrr! And why can't they do the shoes aimed at pre-schoolers in sizes that fit him. OK so he is a 12 and a half, but he would still like ones like his friends have. and I have seen much older children moving the shoes around, I mean if they put them on low shelves what on earth do they expect?? Next time I go in I might well do it myself!

SML, wedgiesmum etc - know how you feel - let's form a 'Mums of Big Boys Club'
My DSs (3.8 and 1 respectively) are 98th and 91st percentiles in both height and weight.

DS1 is already 110cm, and DS2 is most comfortable in age 2 clothes.
Suffered from all the problems - people thinking he's older etc etc.
Wouldn't swap them for the world though, and I think the most important thing is to help them grow up tall and proud of it! I remember a tall boy at school (called 'Lanky', surprise, surprise...) who walked around with his shoulders hunched and trousers that were always too short - my two will NOT be like that I've vowed

The scarey bit it to check in the red book to see how old they'll be when they're the same height as you - looks like I'll have an 11 yr-old leaning on my shoulder - what an awful thought!

The club is a good idea! We could have a second hand clothes exchange - everything will be as good as new as they grow out of things so quickly things never get worn!!

I'm tall too - and I remember being at school and being picked on for it and have vowed too that my two won't suffer like I did, especially from parents of other children saying things like 'a big girl like you should/shouldn't do this' when I was younger than their child who they weren't chastising like that!!

My dd is 12 and is 5'8" with size 9 feet and HUGE bosoms! She wasn't a huge baby - just under 9lb. I'm 5 foot 9 and her dad is 6 foot 1.

It's really difficult for her at school because she towers over all of her classmates ... she is just extremely self-conscious no matter how many times I tell her she is an amazonian beauty! I guess at that age they just want to fit in and it's painful not to be able to help her feel OK about herself.

Wish I had bosoms as big as hers

WedgiesMum - that brought back a memory of an old chap getting verbally very agressive with me once asking why ds1 wasn't in school ... this was 2 yrs before he was due to start school!

u know the 1st shoes clarks do? the softy squidgy soled ones that are lovely. i went to get shoes for my dd1 who is 3 1/2 and they bought out a pair of these with the selection they had. made me giggle.
my dd2 didnt have much choice with her 1st shoes, they were all pretty horrible, and they had some lovely 1st shoes there but they just didnt have her size (all too small )
i noticed today that dd1 is almost too big for her car seat (stage one and 2, meant to last till age 4, she is 1 next week), her head is pretty far up the back of it and she can kick her dads chair fairly easily. guess i'm gonna have to get a high back booster soon with the intergral harness. i also sorted out loads of clothes today that she has outgrown, some of it only a month or so old. having a large child who doesnt seem to be slowing down just yet is very expensive.

It is nearly 3 years to the day that I last posted on this thread (name change). My DS is now 8 years old and still huge with size 4 feet. He is really slim though and still eats like a horse.

He weighed 9lb 8oz, I had a section at 38 weeks as he was breech and still growing.

It made me laugh to read something I'd typed 3 years ago. Can't believe I've been on Mumsnet so long!

It is great reading about all your experiences, I have just started a message on large babies, as I had not seen this thread. My DS is 21 weeks old and 76 cms long, he grows out of everyhting at an amazing rate.

My DH and I have decided to say he is 7 months old, a bit big and a bit retarded to anyone who makes negative comments and watch their reaction.

We are going to a wedding this weekend and I really wanted something special for him to wear, but the shops tried to fit him out in toddler clothes, they look stupid as he is still a baby and should look like one for a while at least.
God knows how big he will become, as I am 6foot and Dh is 6ft4.
I am just scared about having a girl - how big will she be!!!!!