11yo with a very small penis

[LostInTranslations]

I have namechanged for this.

My 11yo, who will be 12 in the summer, has a very small penis. It doesn't look as though it has grown since he was a baby.

Generally he is quite tall for his age and well built, he has always been on the 95th centile for height and weight, so this just makes it all the more apparent.

He has started getting some public hairs, but no testicular growth or underarm hair or voice deepening etc.

I'm starting to wonder if this is normal and I should just leave it, or if it's something that I should get checked, and if the latter, by who? The GP? Does he need a specialist?

He has noticed too (the joys of having an older brother!) and has voiced concern, but I'm not sure what to say as I don't know if it's normal or not!

Any help appreciated please, especially if anyone has a son who has experienced the same thing.

@NurseCranesRolodex
Thank you.
Unfortunately it's a life long diagnosis. There will always be challenges.
It is really hard work.
The mood swings are awful once the testosterone starts wearing off are hard.
I can't really see him being a fully dependent adult.
Also lack of support. Not a lot of people have heard of it.

At 12 I was also worried about ds.. At 13 def not so...
No details except oh my days.
I make sure he keeps the bathroom door shut now.
I have older ds's and was just him the late developer..

I’d been following your thread @YoungWild , I hope your DS is getting better. I’d be interested to hear what the specialist says about it, that’s a lot to be dealing with on top of the torsion and sepsis. Hope you are doing ok x

Thanks for your posts and I’m sorry your DS has had such a difficult time.

I don’t think my DS has any other difficulties, but I can only compare him to my older son who has ASD so he seems NT compared to his brother and seems to be doing ok at school.

What do the testosterone injections do?

Thank you for all of the replies. I am really glad I posted. I had been worried about what people would think but it’s a relief to know that others are in the same boat and that there is a route forward if needed.

@LostInTranslations
He has very low testosterone. He does not produce it naturally hence puberty not happening.
The injections just give him a normal level. He now has some pubic hair and facial hair.
Also with klinefelters it's hard to build muscle so it helps that too.
I think it helps with mood a bit like HRT.
Not all boys with klinefelters have the associated problems my son has. Some men don't find out they have it until trying to start a family.

I really hope with your son it's just a case of waiting for puberty. Boys go through this at a range of ages. My oldest didn't start until he was 14.

I'm so glad I read this post. I was worried last year as my then 12 year old had pubic and armpit hair from age 9 but his penis didn't seem to be growing. He is still very much like a little boy and doesn't care if anyone in the family sees it!

He is autistic and is also dyslexic and dyspraxic. He is also very tall (people mistake him for a 16 year old) but has not much muscle and rather large breast tissue. He has always been at the very top for weight and height.

I too stumbled across Kleinfelter Syndrome. He had genetic testing last year but we still haven't had any results.

That said, I've noticed that his penis has recently changed.

I'd be grateful for any advice. I don't know if I'm worrying over nothing. My son is now 13.

Ah I see, thank you for explaining.

I think I am comparing him to his older brother who started getting pubic hair and then other signs of puberty happened quite quickly afterwards (testicles growing etc) but no such changes have happened with this DS.

I was worried that if I didn’t take him to the GP quickly enough then I would miss the opportunity for them to be able to do anything, but if nothing else this thread has reassured me that if anything I am being a bit premature about what might be completely normal development.

I have 3 sons.
Oldest NT hit puberty at 14 and was slow and steady until about 16.
Middle son ASD hit puberty at 12 almost overnight. Body hair deep voice body odour. Reached maximum height at 15.
Youngest is my son with klinefelters. His height kept going until 18.

All kids are different and develop at different ages. I'd say 12 is still well within normal range.

I'd say the biggest give away for my youngest was the lack of fluff on the top lip and his voice.

Just hopping on here as I have read this on MN before - that it is not normal for there to be pretty much no growth between babyhood and puberty starting. So is this wrong and actually it's fine for there to be very little in the way of growth because it will all happen very quickly once puberty hits?

@PurplePlayhouse
With klinefelters there are associated disabilities such as ASD and ADHD.
My son is tall and slender and lacks natural muscle tone.
Also speech problems lower than average IQ and learning difficulties and emotional immaturity.

He first developed breast tissue at about 14.
He started going to the gym and wearing layers of clothing to hide it.
He finally plucked up the courage to go to the Gp at about 24.
They diagnosed him with gynecomastia and then did further tests which showed he had Klinefelters.

I definitely recommend chasing up those blood tests or get a referral to endocrinology.

I felt a lot of my sons difficulties are due to late diagnosis. I feel awful his teenage years were spent dealing with this on his own and he was too embarrassed to confide in me.

Yep one of my boys was similar. Like a baby's, as the OP described. Then puberty happened. I've not seen the end result but he is very happy with himself.

Thank you. My son has was I would call a mild speech impediment. Not enough for the professionals to be concerned but he can't say some words properly, even now al though it's getting better the older he gets.

This is extremely disturbing. You and your teens are happy to walk around naked in front of each other and you discuss genital sizes with your male teen? I genuinely feel nauseous after reading that.

@SchoolTripDrama
To be fair we didn't walk around naked and I certainly didn't discuss penis size with my sons.
But on the flip side if perhaps I had been a bit more open my son might of come to me sooner instead of suffering with his condition for 10 years on his own.

My ds also has asd.. His armpit hair is his pride and joy.. Could be worse I tell myself when he insists we see it regularly!!

Agree, also one of mine is that age and I would say the same about him but he hasn't noticed anything or said anything but his much older brother was similar and is the opposite now 😬

Mine is showing absolutely no sign of puberty yet

I'm sat here STUNNED at the amount of people on this thread who say either their sons walk around nude or they all do - WTAF? What about spontaneous erections? Apparently males get that from a young age. Surely that's not 'welcomed' as well?

I grew up with an older brother and I can assure you there was NO nudity in our house in front of either my brother or my Dad after I'd passed the toddler years. I most certainly never saw my brother nude once we'd passed the stage of sharing a bath as very young children!
If my DD was a boy I'd have ZERO wish to see him nude once he'd no longer required help in the shower. My DD is 8 and is given privacy when she's nude. It's been a good couple of years since I last saw her naked and it shall remain that way, as it should!

Sorry I feel like I'm taking over the thread a bit.

I think this is a good discussion to have as it seems such a taboo subject talking about or worrying about the size of your sons penis.

No one would bat an eye if you posted about your teenage daughter not having periods or not developing breasts.

The fact is this could be a medical condition like my son has that cannot be left untreated.

Hormonal and endocrine conditions are often not discussed and they should be.

@SchoolTripDrama

I strongly suggest you never take a holiday to Germany, whole families swimming nude in the pool! Nudity isn't shameful, I don't understand why so many people get hung up on others seeing their body. (Full disclosure, I'm happy to swim naked in the ocean when on holiday, I wear a wetsuit in the U.K. for obvious reasons!)

You sound pleased with yourself.

I remember my eldest having a spontaneous erection too once aged around 5, I just told him it was having a stretch. Why would he be embarrassed?

8 ds's here. Never seen any spontaneous erections! Not seeing an 8 year old naked for 2 years is worrying.. Best time of my week is chatting to ds8 on bath night whilst I face pack /brows / nails in the bathroom too!

@PurplePlayhouse i think your right to have it on your radar. Was your son effected by the early start to puberty while at swimming or other activities when changing was needed?

As @xxymum has said my son too has dyslexia but no other diagnoses. Would it be worth maybe start a new threat around the potential for our boys to have genetic issues so to avoid hijacking’s Op@LostInTranslations threat?

Thank you he is on the way up thankfully and I hope he continues to go in that direction. It has honestly been such a stressful time. I have dropped you a detailed message about the outcome of the specialist today. I think we will be okay in the end thank you @LostInTranslations x

Hi OP, sorry that your thread is getting slightly de-railed by the "no nudity we're British!" brigade :) Hope you are still reading and haven't given up!

I don't have experience of delayed puberty, my sons are both very young, but my 5yo has had 2 orchidopexy surgeries for mal-descended testicles so I have some experience supporting my child through medical interventions in his genital region...

From that perspective I wanted to pick up on the fact that your DS raised it with you. He is concerned. Therefore in your shoes I'd open a conversation with him, something like:
"I've been thinking about what you said, and I think if you're concerned I'd like to book you a doctor's appointment and go with you to see what they say. I think the most likely outcome would be that they will say everything is fine and that you will keep growing as you get older. But if it's worrying you then I want to support you to get the opinion of a doctor. Shall we go ahead and call the GP now?"

So many men suffer their whole lives because of (a) embarrassment about seeing a doctor; and (b) internalised shame about their genitals. It's actually a great testament to your relationship with him that he's shared his concerns with you - please model to him that you support him and that seeing a GP about that worries you is never a bad idea.

Wish you and your DS all the best.