18 month old length advice

[FTMaz]

Hi

my DS is nearly 18 months old - at his 1 year check he was 76.5cm which put him just above the line of the 75th percentile. He is now 80cm meaning he has only grown 3.5cm in 6 months and he is now below the 25th percentile. Should I be worried as he has fallen 2 percentiles and it says online they grow an average of 1.3cm per month which he hasn’t. Is this normal or should I raise it with the health visitor?

thank you

Length measurements are notoriously difficult to do. My daughter had two measurements a month a part at paeds by the same nurse and shrank 4 cm!

She did also tumble down the length/height percentages between 1 and 2 as well. At 14 months, and all previous lengths, she was on the 25th percentile, 15 months when she apparently shrank 4cm she was on the 4th percentile. She and her height done at 2 and she was in the 1st percentile. She stayed there until 4 and she "climbed" back up to the 4th percentile. She has been under paeds and dieticians since 4m due to allergies and reflux, we had a few extra checks for a few months to make sure that she wasn't still actively falling but they have decided she's just small. I am only 5ft2.

It probably is worth a call to the HV to get his length and height checked and they can arrange any necessary monitoring and referrals.

I agree that length is notoriously hard to measure. I would take him to a baby weigh in clinic and get them to measure weight, height and head circumference and record them in the red book. If there is still a difference in centiles you could ask to speak to the HV.