Tall 12 year old girl

[Bordador]

Hello ... am looking for some advise and/or perspective.

My daughter turned 12 yesterday and is currently 1 m 66 cm (5 ft 4.5 inches). I have checked on the national statistics growth charts and she is above the 99th percentile. She is the tallest in her class and is beginning to feel very self-conscious as it's all anyone ever mentions when they see her. In theory she has another two or three years of growth ahead of her.
I've also noticed she has really fallen arches and her feet and ankles hurt her.

Would you ask the GP to measure her and keep an eye on progress? I know there is nothing you can do about tallness but I worry there may be some underlying pituitairy gland issue (my cousin had this when he was young and he is now a strapping 6 ft 8-er - but easier to carry that off on a boy).

In covid times I don't want to waste their time - but equally I can't let it go! For perspectibe, I am 5 ft 7 and her father 6 ft - so fairly standard.

[stillcrazyafterall]

Blimey I was 5'8 at that age, my best friend taller and that was in the 70s!

[MsTSwift]

My 12 year old is slightly taller than me and I am 5 6. She also has size 8 feet. Girls tend to grow earlier my elder dd didn’t grow much over the age of 13. Certainly not worried about it! It’s great being tall and willowy all her clothes look lovely on her.

[MsTSwift]

She does often get told off by teachers for being in the wrong place they don’t believe she’s year 7 if they don’t know her 😁

[BikeRunSki]

I was 5’2 at 11, 5’7 at 12 and 5’8 at 13 where I stopped. My dad was 6’3”.
DS is 5’7. He’ll be 13 in September. I know he’s a boy, but there are girls in his class not much smaller than him.

[ApolloandDaphne]

My DD2 was about the same height at that age and had some issues with her arches too. She went to a physio and got insoles for her shoes. She is aged 23 about 5"10 now and her feet are fine!

[AutumnLeafDance]

I was one of the tallest girls in my year at 12 years old, but by 18 I was pretty average as others had shot up. Try to get family and friends not to make a big deal about it. I hated it when people would say 'my goodness, you're so tall!' As it was completely beyond my control I didn't know how to respond and just felt self-conscious.

[WhenZoomWasJustAnIceLolly]

My 11 year old dd is 5ft 7. I wouldn’t think your dd is unusually tall.

[Beardie03]

@Cacacoisfarraige

Dd used to be tall amongst her friends but many of her class mates have had puberty growth spurts and have started menstruating while she hasn’t .

Age of menstruating is important in final height apparently - rushing so can’t link an article

Yes that's interesting. My dd has hit puberty in every way apart from her periods, she's 4ft 11. I guess she may not grow too much after that? Whereas a girl who doesn't hit puberty 13 is likely to be much taller in the end?

[LunaTheTuna]

166cm is tall for a 12 year old girl.

www.onaverage.co.uk/body-averages/average-child-height

https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Girls2-188yearsgrowthhchart.pdf

[PurpleMustang]

If you look online there is mention of girls growing faster and stopping younger than boys. There is also an online guide for guessing height via the parents. About her ankles etc I would go to the doctors and have them checked over. My son was found to have an arch issue and has had insoles via the NHS for several years now. It could be that her arches are causing her ankles to hurt. I have found for children the doctors are usually great with kids. My son also has knee and ankle locking issues and they happily referred him for that too. I think its better to start there in case there is an obvious fix rather than leave it/brush off as growing and find it worsens.

[Bordador]

Thank you thank you thank you all. Reassuring and sensible help - thanks so much! I think i will go an ask for a GP opinion on the arches.

[DNTSleepingDragons]

My daughter is just 12, year seven. She give hoot five and a half inches. There’s at least six girls taller than her in just her class. Her dad and I are only 5ft 7”

[DNTSleepingDragons]

5ft 5.5” sorry

[Iwant2move]

I was 5'7" in Year 8. My final height was 5'10" with size 7 feet.

[Sunnyfreezesushi]

Could be Severs disease - quite common in children’s feet and they normally grown out of it when their feet are fully grown. Insoles can help a lot.

[ThisMarleyIsNotALabrador]

I was 5’7” in year 8. I’m still 5’7” in my 50’s. My DC’s father was 6’1”.

MyDD was the tallest in her class all through primary school. She was 5’7” in year 7. My boys were quite short all through school until year 11. Then they shot up.

DD is still 5’7” as an adult. The boys are now 6’2”.

I wouldn’t worry that your dd is overly tall at this ade. She is more than likely going to end up around the same height as you. She has my sympathy though. The teenage years can be hell especially if you are a bit “different”. 💐

[ChocolateHelps]

Look up MARFANS syndrome

A podiatrist can correctly assess fallen arches and prescribe bespoke orthopaedic inserts for shoes. You can ask this privately or GP can refer but might be slower. We pay £40 for appointment and £200 for inserts.

[SoupDragon]

DD was about 5'6" at 12 and seems to have stopped at 5'8" at 15. She was not the tallest in her year group at secondary.

[bubblebath62636]

I was that height aged 11, then i stopped 😂

[messybun101]

My step sister is 5'8". She's twelve.

[ethelredonagoodday]

I have to say it doesn't seem that big to me? My DD is a similar height, and she is only 11, and she isn't the tallest in her year!

[DoubleTweenQueen]

My 11.5 yr old is 167cm and has reached puberty. She is healthy and I'm not concerned.
She is in demand for the netball team :D

[DoubleTweenQueen]

I should add, her friends in her year seem to look up to her like a big sister! Quite sweet really.

[hazelnutcrackers]

Really surprised that that's 99th percentile. All but one of the 12 year olds I know are huge - we seem to be growing giants nowadays! Mine's 5'3 and gets teased by all of her friends who are literally a head taller, and sometimes more. They tower over me and are reaching my 5'9 husband's height!
It's a modern thing and I really wouldn't worry.
As for ankle and foot pain, physios are often a lot better than GPs on that kind of thing. Maybe try that first.

[HPandTheNeverEndingBedtime]

DD is 5ft 6, size 10 and is in year 6, from the back she could be mistaken for her shorter friend's mum. She's always towered above her peers and she has always had problems with her feet. We are a tall family apart from me (also 5ft 6) all of my dad's siblings of both sexes and both parents were 6 ft+ as is most of DDs dad's family.

She was diagnosed with Severs disease about 4 years ago, I'd always shrugged off her foot pain as we walked everywhere because I didn't drive at the time and assumed she was tired instead. It flares up badly around growth spurts and she has to avoid all high impact activities around those times and manages the pain with paracetomal and ibuprofen. She had to give up dance and switched to swimming instead. When she saw the Dr one of the things he looked at was with she could flex her feet, I was surprised she struggled with this and explains not being very flexible despite years of dancing. The Dr said it was very common in tall and active children and is linked with the growth plates in the heel not growing as fast as the leg during growth spurts or something I can't quite remember now.

In terms of comparing her height to her peers the boys tend to shoot up in the summers between Yr 8-9 and 9-10 and often come back from the summer taller than me, her height won't be so noticeable then