11 month old measuring so small he's not even on the chart - should I be worried?

[DaisyEM]

My 2nd DS is 11 months old and is sitting well under the centile chart, not even just a little bit. He is 11 months and 66cm. I guess I'm looking for anyone who had similar and to learn what the outcome was? I'm not usually one to worry too much about these things, my other DS has always sat between 9th and 25th percentile for height and this has never concerned me, however it seems more concerning that DS2 isn't even on the chart? The HV said to remeasure him in May, however someone else I know said that their son was small and tested for possible genetic causes or low testosterone, so I'm not sure if it's OK to wait until May, or perhaps ask for a second opinion and if anything needs checking? Would be great to hear of others' experiences with similar please! Thanks in advance

Is he reaching all other milestones? Crawling, pulling to stand, talking/babbling etc?

I'd go to the GP. If he needs something like a referral to pediatrics then the sooner he is on the waiting list, the better.

Go back to your HV and tell her to refer your son to the community paediatrician.

Yes otherwise fine, crawling and pulling to stand, also babbling but no 'proper' words yet x

Thank you, I have been considering asking for an appointment with the GP to query it x

My daughter was born at 34 weeks and she was tiny for the first year. I can't remember her exact weight at a year but pictures of her show her to be about the same size as her sister was at six months. I'm here to tell you that she's a fine and healthy 33. year old now and about 5'6". Get him checked to be on the safe side but hopefully nothing to worry about.

I was referred to an endocrinologist over my tall son she said she only deals with the very tall or the very short usually so that's how she picked us out in reception. Could you ask if this would be worth a referral?

Quite possibly more older having a Google. But you should ask for a paediatrician.

Oh that's great, thank you! She's taller than me now then! I'm only 5"1 myself, but DH is 6ft. DS2 was born bang on 37 weeks, so technically just one day off of being premature. Thanks for your reply, that's reassuring x

I think perhaps my first step might be to speak to the HV again and query if waiting until May to remeasure again is the right thing to do. I would have asked this at the time, but it wasn't until I got home and looked at the chart that I realised how far off of it he is x

I wouldn't trust an HV on this. They're not doctors. I'd just go to the GP.

Was he standing up or lying down to be measured? Lying down lengths are pretty unreliable... have you had other length measurements taken over the months to see if he is growing consistently along a line, albeit his own off the chart line? How is his weight measurement? Is he similarly low down on the weight centiles? The paediatrician I saw with my second who had dropped weight centiles (down to 2nd centile) wasn't at all concerned because weight matched length matched head circumference. She said the ones she'd want to investigate further were those who were disproportionate (ie big head but short/light).

I agree with @WhichBigToe – a baby's length is tricky to measure, so I'd want confirmation. What does he weigh? What size clothing is he wearing? At 66cm, you'd expect him to be wearing 3-6 months clothes (for length, at any rate) – does that match what actually fits him?

Thanks, I think I will x

He was lay down. Weight is 9th centile, so at least on the chart. My first was similar as a baby - short and stocky, but he was around 9th centile for height and 50th for weight. DS2 has never been on the chart to be fair, when they measured him at 3 months he was plotting under the chart, but he's dropped down a bit more at this next length done (none were done in between) x

Dropping centiles, you need to go to doctors

His weight at this most recent appointment was 8kg (17.6lb), and he's wearing 6-9 month clothes, but some are getting on the snug/short size so he's due to go up to 9-12 really, but then I do have the odd pair of 6-9 month leggings that I still roll up a bit. He generally has gone into the next size about a month late (correlates to him being 3 weeks early), but it feels like perhaps his growth has slowed down recently, as he's still in 6-9 at 11 months x

I had a hospital referral for DD . They said she’s perfect what did you expect you are tiny, I’m 5 ft 1 .

My son was on the 1st-2nd percentile for weight (never measured height but was never in the right aged clothes always at least 1 behind) growing up. Doctors never concerned as hit all milestones and was happy, healthy and active. As an adult he is 5’10” so bang on average.

I'm within an average range for height for a woman though, I'm not unusually small? It's not that he's small that I'm worried about, he's perfect in my eyes, it's the fact that he's significantly under the chart and has gone even further under than last time that I'm concerned about, I think I'd be irresponsible not to question it and have it double checked?

I appreciate your reply :) this is reassuring x

P.s sorry I sort of misread your reply and thought you said 'you are tiny' - I am only 5"1 too, I guess it's to be expected but my husband is 6ft so I thought it would even itself out slightly 😅

You should definitely be querying this. Get and appointment with the GP (not HV) and ask for a referral to the Community Paediatrician. Here are the NICE guidelines:
https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/faltering-growth/diagnosis/when-to-suspect/
Good luck, please let us know how you get on.

This has made me laugh as they said similar to me. My DD was tiny for years ( I'm 5'1 and her dad is 6'2 ) she was still in 3-6 month clothes when she was 11 months old. I had friends who had babies serval months younger than DD and she was the same size as them 😅

She was the smallest girl in her class for years, she's now 11, same size as most girls in her class and almost as tall as me. It's gone from everyone commenting on how small she was to everyone telling me she's going to be tall when she's older

Definetly get your baby checked OP, but it could just turn out that you have a tiny baby

I remember when my DS was 3 months old and a friend had her baby, who was bigger than him. It was very comical as he was obviously a newborn and my son looked like a 3 month old, but the newborn was bigger!