Baby dropping centiles

[Babycentiles]

My 15 month old keeps dropping centiles for height. For length, she was 50th centile as a newborn, 25th centile at the 12 month check, and now she's 10th centile. She has always been 9th centile for weight and eats well apart from when she's picked up a bug.

I'm really concerned that she has only grown 1.5cm in 3 months. Anyone else experienced this?

Quite a similar position OP, my DS was a long 54cm at birth and over 90th centile, and by the 10 month check he was 33rd centile. I haven’t really measured him since but he is now nearly 19 months and I can tell he’s not as tall as many of his friends the same age. He was also born on 75th for weight but now sits around 50th so that has dropped too. I haven’t been too concerned as he eats well and is definitely moving up clothes sizes!

My daughter did this was 15 months she was 25th for length by 2 she was 1st for height. We had a few extra measurements over the first 3 months to make sure she wasn't still dropping. She stayed on the 1st percentile until about 3.5. in the last 6 months has moved up a little. She's just over 4 and on the 4th percentile but on a new chart, so not sure of that is part of the increase. She's between the 25th-50th for weight so at the top of the healthy weight for her height.
She has food allergies and reflux so is under paeds and dietician neither of them are concerned about her height. I'm only 5ft2. I think this is the equivalent of 9th percentile for an 18yo so she will probably be about my height as an adult possibly slightly under. My dad is only 5ft5 and his sister is 4ft11 so we have small genes. My partner is 6ft but was short as a child.

The only problem we have had is her moving to a child but the size of a toddler. We had to delay potty training by a few months until she went into 18-24 month clothes so the smallest knickers we found would fit her. It was a struggle to find unpoppered vests. She's August born too and has just started school and has only just gone into aged 2-3 clothes and this is the smallest school uniform I found and some items we still massive on her. We had to go to another shop for trousers as the first set were too big even in a 2-3! School shoes start in size 7 or 8 in most places it took a while to find black shoes in a size 6!

Oh there is also quite a large error in the length measurements. My daughter has 2 measurements 4 weeks apart at 15 months and she lost 4cm in that time! Reality was probably the first measurement longer than it should have been and the second too short and she was really something in between.

@Cdoc similar experience then albeit different starting centiles. It's so hard not to worry.

@Superscientist I am also 5'2" but I wasn't always short. I was average height until my teens. Partner is 6'2" and always been tall. So that's why I'm surprised my DD seems to have slowed down in growing in height. Interesting about the potty training because my DD has always been on the lower side for weight.

Also find it funny that your DD supposedly shrunk by 4cm!

@Babycentiles it’s hard not to worry about so many things! I am also 5’2” like you, and husband is 5’ 10” so not tall really, but it’s the dropping height that makes me more concerned! It makes me wonder if there’s any nutrient deficiencies but he’s had blood tests for allergies etc and apart from being iron deficient about 6 months ago his bloods have otherwise always been fine. Maybe this is what they are meant to be! Especially as there are no other developmental delays or concerns?

We're all 5'2"! My DD has never been tested for anything but she's very happy and active so I don't have any worries other than her not growing much since the 12 month check.

What does the health visitor say?

I think length isn’t very accurate when they are babies. Weight-wise mine dropped from 50th centile at birth to 2nd centile at some point. The health visitor kept an eye on him but said birth weight is about the placenta, then they catch up or ‘catch down’ to their own size.

At his 2 year check his height was between 2nd and 0.4th centile. He was referred to a paediatrician who did blood tests and reviewed his height over the next couple of years. We do have both tall and short family members. The paediatrician thought it might be growth delay rather than just short stature, in which case he might go into puberty later then catch up.

Another one starting school in age 2-3 trousers (that were too big!).

He’s now 13 and yet to really hit puberty. He is short but has caught up a little.

@NorthWestWise health visitor at baby clinic only weighed her and just mentioned she's still on the 9th centile for weight (she was born on this centile). I measured her height and I'm concerned she's dropping centiles.

Did you do height or length?

I had something like this with my DD, @Babycentiles. She was bang on 50th when born, and barely dropped any birth weight. Then she slid right down! I can't remember where she was at first check - possibly 9th (from 50th!) but lots of babies take time to find their 'natural' equilibrium when they're no longer dependent on help from mum's placenta.

Does her length centile correspond to her weight centile roughly? That was the indication for my HV that things were probably okay. I'm 5'0 and DP is 6'2" so we figure she's likely to take after me (she has longer legs and a slightly shorter torso like me too). She's 83cm at 2 years 3 months, which puts her between 3rd and 15th centiles.

Measured the length of her lying down

We are 5'2" and 6'2" so similar to you and your partner. Her weight has always been on the 9th centile from birth but she went from 50th centile at birth, 25th at 12 month check and now 10th centile at 15 months. Partner has always been tall. I was always 50th centile until I started secondary school.

Great, I was just checking as you said height and that would have been different.

As I said I had 2 professional measurements very differently 4 weeks apart. We never managed to get a good length measurement ourselves. You can ask you HV to measure them too. We did this at 5 months to find out if we could remove her newborn insert. She was still in 0-3 month clothes which was also a concern. We were measuring her around 50cm from recollection which would have been the 2nd percentile but the HV measured her at 55 cm i think it was 25th percentile anyway and was above the length for the insert so we removed it. This was our first length measurement as we didn't get one at birth. Lengths up to 15 months were always 25th except the time that she was shorter than the time before. I think that put her on the 4th percentile so an off measurement can make a huge difference in the percentiles!

Try not to fret too much but it might be worth reaching out to get a measurement done by your HV or gp for some peace of mind.