Ask Dr Hilary Jones your questions about children’s growth

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This Q&A is now closed. You can find answers here.

Children’s growth can be an indicator of health and wellbeing, but it can be confusing to understand and difficult to keep on top of - particularly once your child is no longer a baby or toddler. With this in mind, More Than Height would like to help answer any questions you have about your child’s growth, and have Dr Hilary Jones on hand to help.

Here’s what Dr Hilary Jones has to say: “Regularly measuring your child’s height and weight should be a routine throughout their childhood. It’s a useful way to keep on top of their physical development and if you suspect anything is wrong, for example they’re wearing out their clothes before they’re outgrowing them, then it’s a signal to speak to your doctor to get everything checked out.

For more advice on childhood growth and tips on how to accurately measure your child visit www.morethanheight.com.”

More information on Dr Hilary Jones can be found below:
“Dr Hilary Jones, GP, is a familiar face on TV having served as ITV’s Health Editor on TV a.m., Daybreak and Good Morning Britain since 1989. During his career he has worked as a medical officer on the most isolated island in the world, Tristan da Cunha, and accompanied flying doctor services in the Australian outback and in Lesotho.

He has covered breaking medical news from around the world and been involved many public health campaigns. He loyally supports a host of health charities including London Air Ambulance, Stroke Association, British Heart Foundation, Breakthrough Breast Cancer and Diabetes UK.

He continues to work part time as a GP and remains a passionate advocate of medical education for all.“

So, whether you’d like to know how often you should measure your child’s growth or you have questions on what you should look out for to see if anything could be wrong, post your questions for Dr Hilary Jones below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £150 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list).

We’ll be selecting questions to be answered by by Dr Hilary Jones and posting responses ASAP.

We’ll also be hosting a live Q&A on Facebook ahead of Children’s Growth Awareness Day. Join the live Q&A session with Dr Hilary and The Inspirational Edit’s Angela Milnes, a mum of one and award-winning parenting blogger on 17 September.

Thanks and good luck

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

Do boys tend to put on a bit of weight before their puberty growth spurt

In your opening post you mention that they shouldn't be wearing their clothes out, while my DD isn't she is not in the clothes for her age. She is 3.5 and in 2-3 clothes. However she only went into these roughly a year ago. We tried them on and they either fall off the waist or drown her. Should I be worried? Otherwise she sleeps well, eats well and is happy and active. She was small at birth only 5lb.

My 5 year old has grown taller in the last year but has not gained any weight. She is (just) at the bottom end of healthy weight on the NHS scale for her height. She doesn't look too thin to me but do I need to be concerned?

I didn't realise there was anything that could be done if my child is short (he is shorter than most of his class at 7)

If my son had late puberty. Eg he was nearly 16. At what age will he stop growing?

My ds15 had severe asthma as a child and due to necessary heavy oral steroid use, didn’t grow at all between the age of 3 and 4.
He started puberty relatively early - shaving at 13 - and has reached 1m73 in height. His hands and feet are very large - size 12 and out of proportion to his height. For reference, his older brother is 1m85. I’m 1m72, his father is 1m65.
Although he would seem to have a reached a reasonable height, he is desperate to be taller. Is he likely to grow any further?

@InvernessAdventure I totally agree! Was going to come on and ask about alternatives to BMI. It's such a crude indicator.

@SeekingShade was just looking at my 3 year old and thinking about this. Every time is start to worry about her weight she shoots up and it's not an issue again. Was just wondering if it was actually a thing too :)

is it true that dc grow faster during summer or is that a myth?

I'll be interested to hear the answer to this. I think it's true!

My ds is 22 months and 77 cm which is lower than the 0.4th centile line. We are a short family so I know he won’t be tall but I am concerned that he is not even on the charts. He is otherwise healthy and happy. Should I take him to the GP or is it ok to wait until the 2 year health visitor check and see what they think?

My daughter is 11 years and according to the school nurse she is on the 9th percentile on the height chart and I was told that she is short for her age. Her height history indicates that she has always been in the 9th percentile region ... what are the chances that this will change and she jumps to another percentile (higher) ...? (FYI I am 5"5 and hubby is 5"11)

with all the lactofree products that have been available for over a decade, would lactose intolerance really impede growth?

(speaking as a lactose intolerant 5'4 49yo female mother to a 5'11 lactose intolerant son)

Not many male mothers, admittedly

Can you explain growing pains, and how to tell if it is something I need to go to the doctor with, my son has leg pains mainly in his upper leg which come and go , I can see by his school trousers how much he has grown in the past 3 months (he is 10). Is it worth a trip to the doctors. What are growing pains - do they really exist and how do I help relieve his symptoms. Thank you

My daughter is 13 and 5ft 9. She started puberty age 9. I think she is fully developed. She is the only one of her friends to not have started her periods.

I started mine at just 12. Should l be concerned?

My 6 year old daughter sometimes wakes up ( a few times a year) crying that her legs are hurting. A quick massage and she is back asleep. Could this be growing pains?

My daughter has asthma for which she takes seretide and (when needed) salbutamol. She also takes levothyroxine for hypothyroidism. Can either of these have an impact on her growth. Thank you.

My son is 16 months and his growth has slowed significantly since 8 months (He was 50th centile until then now bottom of the chart). Everyone says if they fall that far it is concerning. His brother is average height, as am I and his dad is over 6ft so it isn't expected.

He has hydrocortisone every day for eczema since about this time, gradually increasing (we cannot have days off and stronger creams don't clear the flares either). Could this be slowing his growth?

He also doesn't really eat, it has to be pureed still and he will only eat a quarter of a meal so i expect nutrition has a big impact on his growth as well. Do you have any suggestions for this (He is already on a lot of vitamins). Also is it possible to catch up growth?

@jacqui5366 hi, my son has just turned 8 and literally have the same concerns as you. He is tall and slim and correct weight for his age, but his shoe size has not altered in at least 18 months, still a size 1. I am not overly worried but was sat thinking about this after my friends daughter who is a year younger, is a size 3 shoe size! I'm sure both of ours will have a massive growth splurge and grow 2 or 3 sizes in one go!

My 1.5 year old soon eats me out of house and home and is quite tall but he is so slender he still wears 9-12 months clothes.
Everybody keeps asking me how old he is and are surprised when I say his age. Should I take him to the doctors or is he just a smaller child?

Will hypermobilty affect my daughters growth? Will it make her taller?
It runs in my family and it looks like my daughter has it. I need to get round to doctors and testing etc.

Very overweight or overfed young children tend to be tall as well as fat. So if a child is chubby but average height, does that mean they’re actually less likely to be obese later on than a tall and fat child is?

Dd 12 has had long/heavy& painful periods since starting a year ago-doctor suggested the contraceptive pill but im worried it could affect her height-shes already 5'7 so wouldnt be a disaster but hesistant as the Inza(Naproxen) tablets she also received from doc seem to be working well controlling pain&lessing bleeding..Dd would like to take the pill to effectively stop having these long heavy cycles-any suggestions please?.

My dd has just turned 14. She started her periods aged 12 1/4. She doesn’t appear to have grown in the last year-18 months. She is still quite short! Is it likely that she won’t grow any more?

My question is we know vitamin D is essential for strong bones and we get this from the sunshine, BUT we are told to apply sunscreen to our children to prevent burning. How do we know we are not blocking vitamin D intake, what is the best advice for a SPF, when to put it on, and what are the signs of vitamin D deficiency. I have used factor 50 on DS1 and 2 (8 and 11) and wonder if applying this during the summer, I may have been overcautious.