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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

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Original poster

Boys- when did they stop growing?

49 replies

Shedpaint · 10/08/2020 20:54

DS1 is 15 and seemed to complete puberty quite early by late 14 (needed to shave, hairy legs and body, voice had broken and looks much older) but is desperate to grow taller still.

His growth has definitely slowed and I’m worried he won’t add much more which will devastate him.
His feet haven’t grown for about 18m at least.

Any stories of late spurts I can cheer him up with?

OP posts:

Germolenequeen · 10/08/2020 22:05

Nope - my DS had normal puberty 😏

EwwSprouts · 10/08/2020 22:12

DS has a sports coach who was one of the shortest of his peers all through school. Shot up at age 19/20 and finished at 6'7.

DS is nearly 16 and is still growing upwards though the feet are unchanged from Sept.

longtimecomin · 10/08/2020 22:16

My dad was a slow grower, in his school pictures at 16 he was tiny 5'3" but by 20 was a more normal 5'10". I inherited his slow growing bones, many a school chum has been surprised at the adult me being 5'8" when I was nicknamed 'titch' at school.

LynetteScavo · 10/08/2020 22:22

Are you tracking him
In his red book? Both mine ended up pretty much where predicted, despite me being worried one might be as short as on if his GFs.

titchy · 10/08/2020 22:24

Blimey 5' 9 is fine! You should be encouraging him to be happy with that. Mine's 5' 6 and fully grown!

Helpimfalling · 10/08/2020 22:28

@Madhairday

DS, not dad!🤣

I actually laughed so loud.

Thank you for that, well needed.
The film big sprung to mind straight away

DramaAlpaca · 10/08/2020 22:30

@Germolenequeen

Nope - my DS had normal puberty 😏

So did mine. They weren't late to puberty, their voices broke around 13 or 14, but continued growing. All overtook me (I'm 5'10) by the age of 14, reached their full adult heights of 6', 6'2 and 6'3 around 20 or 21.

Augustseemsbetter · 10/08/2020 22:35

"Normal" puberty in boys seems to have growth in height afterwards for a while (like a few years) ime and from reading this thread.

I do think asking round in the wider family is a good indicator though.

Original poster

Shedpaint · 10/08/2020 22:40

@DramaAlpaca @Germolenequeen sorry I wasn’t meaning to offend!

I didn’t mean a later puberty than DS wasn’t normal or typical more that his seems to have been early and rapid so that would affect his growth velocity and when he stops.

Thanks everyone- certainly a wide variation.
I’d be very very surprised if he grew into his 20s given his history so far but it sounds like he might eek out another inch or two as yet.

I do of course reassure him he’s perfect already. But the men in our wider family are on the whole really tall (which doesn’t translate to DS as not blood related or tempered by super short females!) which does make him feel he stands out for being shorter so I can see why it’s on his mind.

Appreciate everyone taking the time to answer

OP posts:

DramaAlpaca · 10/08/2020 23:06

@Shedpaint oh gosh, you didn't offend me at all! I hope I didn't upset you, I was trying to agree with @Germolenequeen but it ended up sounding a bit critical of you. That was clumsy of me, sorry.

All mine ended up similar to their Red Book predictions, so 5'10 could well be about right for your lad. That's a fine height, above average for a man.

I still think he'll surprise you and still keep growing until he's 20

caringcarer · 10/08/2020 23:13

I have 2 adult sons. Both carried on growing until about 19. child just turned 14 year grows a lot every year and has disproportionately long legs which I am very envious of. He is in size 9 feet. He is 5' 5" and still growing. Growth happens most in summertime.

Gingaaarghpussy · 11/08/2020 00:11

Both my boys are taller than me, both out grew me at 15, but then I'm only 5'3 so its not impossible.
Ds1 is 23 and stopped growing at 6'. I wait with vsited breath with ds2.

foofooyeah · 11/08/2020 00:15

DS is 16 1/2. He has grown 2 inches during lockdown. I think it’s all the extra sleep. He is now a foot taller than me.

Germolenequeen · 11/08/2020 01:08

@Shedpaint

No offence taken here either 😊

BeBraveAndBeKind · 14/08/2020 10:24

I'm so glad you posted this @Shedpaint, I was going to post the same thing.

DS is 17 next month and is 5'6". He's also desperate to grow taller but hit puberty earlier than his brother who is 20 months older (and is now 18 and 6'3").

My dad was only 5'3" and my mum is 5" so he's really worried he's inherited his height from my side of the family. I'm 5'4" and DH is 6'1". He will be crushed if doesn't grow any taller.

hungrywalrus · 14/08/2020 10:30

Like others have said, you’ll need to see what’s typical in your family. In my family, quite a few of the boys take after my grandfather ( albeit not to extreme) whose voice broke at 16. He was so short that apparently they tried using monkey hormones to make him grow a bit more

Original poster

Shedpaint · 14/08/2020 17:22

Looking at family doesn’t always tell you though does it?
I know we can work out mean parental height which we have done but if you get more than one male child of the same parents they aren’t always exactly the same height by a long shot so variation does occur.

I not sure he has really grown much this summer. Well he’s filled out more but not height that I can notice. If so 15 does seem young to have reached final height but this thread has certainly shown how much variation there is.

OP posts:

JudgeRindersMinder · 14/08/2020 17:28

My ds didn’t really start growing till he was about 16...He’s 18 now and still growing...and eating like a horse

TalbotAMan · 14/08/2020 17:33

Never. It's just that somewhere between 16 and 20 they stop growing lengthways and start growing sideways.

LadyPeterWimsey · 14/08/2020 17:38

I could have written your post, shedpaint - DS2 (almost 16) is 5'9" (just!) and is desperate to grow taller but has hardly grown in the last year. We always thought he would be the tallest of our three boys because he has been big for his age since birth. DH is the shortest boy in his family at 6'2", DS1 has just cracked 6' and DS3 is just starting his growth spurt at 13. DS2 started puberty at 11/12 and I think it is right that early puberty means a shorter adult height. Having said that DS1 started quite early too.

I'm 5'3" which obviously lowers our mean parental height, but I think our three boys will be quite different.

I think he'll feel a bit

LadyPeterWimsey · 14/08/2020 17:41

Whoops!

I think he'll feel a bit different when he fills out but at the moment he is muscly but slim.

CommonCarder · 14/08/2020 17:50

The other way looking at the family can be indicative is the age and length of the growing. So my family grow late as a rule.

BikeRunSki · 14/08/2020 17:57

DBro kept growing until he was 21, and has size 13 feet. He is 6'4", so it must take a while to get there.
I know this because DM likes to tell me at every opportunity, as DS is also looking to be very tall.

CharlieBoo · 03/10/2020 23:33

My ds is 15 and in the last year has grown around 4 inches!! He has always been so small for his age but he went back to school in September and everyone saying how much he’s gown! He’s around 5ft 9 now, his dad is 6ft 2in and he is desperate to be 6ft!! We will see! I have friends with tiny 10 year old boys and I say to them just wait and see they will shoot up!

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