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Preteens

Parenting a preteen can be a minefield. Find support here.

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Original poster

Silly question about girls' heights and puberty

24 replies

Snowbell · 24/06/2013 10:18

My DD is now 11.7 and in Year 6. She is 150cm tall and has started puberty. I am 5'6" and her dad is 6'1". I was expecting her to end up about an inch taller than me, considering her dad's height. I know she is not small for her age but quite a few of the year 6 girls are now nearly as tall as me.

Just wondering when she is going to start shooting upwards and reach my height as she is only growing slowly. For those of you with girls a bit older, when did your girls do most of their growing upwards?

OP posts:

DownstairsMixUp · 24/06/2013 10:20

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

absentmindeddooooodles · 24/06/2013 10:23

^^ ill second that. I shot up that summer.

Mumzy · 29/06/2013 13:53

You only grow extra 2 inches once your periods start

PareyMortas · 29/06/2013 13:55

Really Mumzy? where did you hear that? My goodness that means that my dd1 is going to be a shorty, when she was tall throughout her younger years.

bigTillyMint · 29/06/2013 13:58

Really, mumzy? Not sure that DD(nearly14) has only grown 2 more inches since she started

Either way, she's still a shorty! DH and I are 5'8" and she is 5'3" or thereabouts.

basildonbond · 29/06/2013 14:31

That might be a rough rule of thumb but I only had my main growth spurt about 2 years after my periods started - I grew about 6 inches between 15 and 16

bigTillyMint · 29/06/2013 16:01

Basildon, there's hope for my DD yet

ragged · 29/06/2013 16:10

Seems to me I was about 5'1" when they started and I'm almost 5'8" now. I can judge thinking how tall I was compared to my mother when I started, and when I overtook her.

Mumzy · 29/06/2013 16:14

Once periods start the hormonal changes causes the bones to start fusing together and eventually stop height growth. There are exceptions but most girls will have their main growth spurt just prior to starting their periods.

MrsGSR · 29/06/2013 16:55

My school nurse told me that girls tend to stop growing about 2 years after starting their period. This was about 10 years ago so they might have disapproved it since, but it was accurate for me and most of my friends.

frissonpink · 29/06/2013 17:02

Sounds accurate to me. I was tall all the way through primary - tallest girl. Started periods at 10/11. Stopped growing at 13. 5'3. still am.

Oh. And mum is 5'6 and dad is 6ft so I don't believe the hype about being able to work out your kids height by dividing this and that either! It's all luck imo! (and genes from all over your family, if that makes sense!)

cece · 29/06/2013 17:04

I grew 3 more inches after my periods started.

DD is just finishing year 7 and has had an enormous growth spurt this year. I have had to rebuy a lot of uniform in a bigger size half way through the year. I have never had to do this. Normally what I buy in August lasts the whole school year, including shoes.

SoggySummer · 29/06/2013 17:08

I am 5ft nothing. I was always short - the shortest in the class etc etc but I know for a fact I became very self concious at how short I was at 11yo and started to measure regulary. I didnt grow anymore once I was 12 and half yeats old. I didn start my periods until 13 and a half - a whole year after I stopped growing.

piratecat · 29/06/2013 17:15

dd started her periods at 9 and ten months old. In the year running up she grew so fast, 4 inches, I couldn't keep up.
I remember there being these few months when she outgrew everything, including knickers and socks. She must have gone from about a size 2 shoe to a four in six months at one point.

I am 5ft3, her dad is 6ft 1. She is 11 now and 5ft2, the growth slowed down a bit, but she has still grown another 3.5 inches in the last 16months.

We have doorframe notches to substantiate (I'm not that pfb!)

Hulababy · 29/06/2013 17:18

DD is 11y (Y6) and 150cm. She is one of the taller in her class, though a couple are much taller. DD started her periods at Christmas, and she has already grown a little since then. I don't think she has stopped growing yet.

Most people I know continued to grew after starting their periods, especially those who started earlier.

morethanpotatoprints · 29/06/2013 17:21

Hi OP.

I am 4ft11 and ever since I can remember an average size y6 is as tall as me. I have 2 older ds and they also noticed this around y6, which quite amused them. The girls were usually well past my height around y7/8 and by y9 most were their full adult size. I can remember a friend (girl) of ds1 during summer holidays grew 4" and was massive on going into secondary school.

ArthurCucumber · 29/06/2013 17:40

I don't remember for myself, but my 14 yr old has stopped growing now (confirmed by xray for another reason) at 5'3. She was the same height as me - 5'1 - just as she left primary, aged 11, and started her periods around the same time. So the 2" guidelines do seem to apply to her.

Dd1 is 11 and 5'1 just now but no periods yet. Will be interested to see what happens with her. I had expected that dd1 would be slightly taller than she's turned out to be, as although I'm short, dh is 6'1.

MrsGSR · 29/06/2013 18:33

I got really interested in the topic and have done some research on Google!
Apparently the 2 inch thing is a myth, girls grow 3 inches more on average and can grow 8 inches. Most girls stop growing around 2 years after their first period, but can keep growing for up to 4 years, especially if they stated puberty early. So it looks like for the most part you just have to wait and see!

nooka · 29/06/2013 18:56

I've done a few height predictory things for dd over the years, and they've been fairly consistent that she will top out at about 6' give or take. She started her periods about six months ago and her growth doesn't seem to have noticeably slowed down as of yet, but I am expecting it to (well I hope it will really as she is already 5'10" at 12).

The only thing I have noticed is that for the first time ds is growing faster than she is (he is 14) which does suggest that she is slowing down now.

dh is 6'4" and I'm 5'10" so we always knew we'd have tall children (I'm not so keen on being the smallest now though!)

Tigerblue · 30/06/2013 21:13

My daughter is 11.10 months and has grown 12cm since September. She has always been small though and is still is now only 140cm. She had a tiny amount of spotting in the week, so I'm well on alert for periods - maybe the growth spurt and periods being imminent which MrsGSR could well be the case for my daughter.

Original poster

Snowbell · 01/07/2013 21:33

Thanks for all your replies. It seems they are all different really! DD's feet have grown enormously just recently - we had a footwear crisis at the weekend as only 1 pair of school shoes and one pair of sandals still fit. Trainers and crocs too small. She is now size 6 and 150cm tall. Bought her new trainers which look enormous on her. Maybe her feet have grown in readiness for a big growth spurt, so she doesn't fall over!

Apparently doctors know exactly how tall a child is going to be by x-raying their hands. There is a growth plate at each joint which fuses onto the adjacent bone when they have finished growing. Doctors can tell from the size of the growth plates, etc, exactly how tall your child is going to be. This is what they look at if a child is very small, in determining whether they need growth hormone.

I started my periods at 12.9 and don't think I grew in height after that. If I did, it couldn't have been much.

OP posts:

Pythonesque · 05/07/2013 07:43

The hand xray stuff is more about judging how long a child is likely to still grow for, by seeing whether their bone maturity is in line with their actual age, or ahead or behind.

I was always very tall; and would have been in my final growth spurt from 12 to 13 I think - I remember a school skirt had a huge hem turned up when new and the whole lot let down the following year. Certainly when I was in year 6, older girls and earlier maturers caught me up and a few overtook me for a bit. By year 8 half the class were much taller than some of our teachers.

My daughter (10.5) is maturing earlier than I did and I think may be in her growth spurt already. She's roughly 5'3", size 7 feet (last I looked), but I expect another 6" growth at least, maybe quite a bit more (I'm 5'11", dad is 6'3" or more). As she's in a co-ed prep (ie till year 8), I'm starting to prepare her for possibly sticking out as one of the tallest for a while ...

ishy12 · 04/12/2017 16:26

Hi All,

Saw some posts from 2013 about kids and their heights at time of getting period. Wondering in 2017 what height your daughters ended up at? After starting their period, how much more did they grow?

I'm in a similar case right now, daughter who is almost 10 got her period and is 4'11". Worried about how much taller she will be, hoping she reaches 5'4" (docs are saying 5'2" or 5'3").

Thanks!

Celina12 · 07/12/2017 15:44

Hi Ishy12 , I also have same query , as my daughter also had periods at 11yrs and has grown only 3 cm as of now. I am expecting her to be atleast 5'4" as her feet size is already very big but most people say that girls do not grow much after periods , so i am also confused.

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