Ds 15 is very small and doesn't seem to be growing.

[Lilyana]

DS 15 is 5ft 3, by far the smallest boy in his class/year. I'm 5ft 6 and they always say boys are taller than their mums. He hasn't grown since last November. Is there a chance he will have a growth spurt later on even though he seems to have stopped for a while?

Genetics not on his side
GP will zone in on his diet
but really… sadly nothing a GP can do

You daughter is pretty much bang on average for her age
is she a vegan?

My son whose now 18 was also quite short at 15 too... he grew so much between 16-17 and is still growing!

I wouldn't worry too much

If you still have his red book you can check whether he's grown a long a line and also what he expected height should be. It's something like the average of you and your DH's height and then plus or minus so many inches/cms (can't quite remember how many - sorry!) if he's outside of his expected height then definitely the GP will refer for tests. If he's within expected growth I suspect they won't do anything But definitely get him checked if only to put your mind at rest!

Hi OP, my ds1 turned 15 in feb. He’s always been one of the shorter ones throughout school. He’s grown an inch a month this year and is currently 5’6”. Up till now he’s never had a growth spurt. Even in primary I’d notice some of his peers would have shot up from one year to the next. But ds never seemed to out grow shoes / clothes over night, his growth has always seemed very slow and steady until this year.
However, he is very sporty and does go the gym 3/4 times a week and has started taking his diet very seriously, so packs in the protein when he can. He has his 3 main meals, a snack after school (handful of nuts / couple of boiled eggs / oatcakes with some fruit or veg sticks) and usually a cereal for supper too. (Porridge or weetabix or a granola type which tends to be higher in cals).
I can’t remember if you said your ds eats supper, but adding in an extra snack meal might help.

DS1 is by no means the smallest in his year, there are boys smaller than him, who I see at pick up, but equally ds wouldn’t look out of place in a year 8 classroom either. His sis is 13 and the same height as him. I’m 5’4” DH is 6’. I’m not at all concerned, but will be more so with ds2 who is 7 but dairy intolerant. He’s always been between 4th and 9th centile for height and weight. We’ve only last year been finally discharged from 6 monthly consultant reviews at the children’s unit.

My husband was apparently about this height until after he left school.When he started driving he was regularly pulled over as he looked like a child! He grew between the ages of 16 and 18 while not massive (5ft 10 and slim build), he is definitely adult man sized now.

My eldest had such a growth spurt at 16 that he ended up with stretch marks

To add to this I am only 5ft7 (& a 1/2😂) & our DC are positively lanky, so I have no idea what happened with DH, just a late bloomer I guess

@DialsMavis you are very significantly taller than the average female height

Yep I am, but DC are 6'2 (late teen) & DD11 is about 5'3 & shooting up v fast. I assumed that DHs genes would make them average height.

@Lilyana *A typical diet is
Porridge, nuts, seeds, fruit
Lunch
Homous, falafel, spinach wraps x2
Crisps, malt loaf, fruit salad

Tea massive amounts of lentil curry, rice etc..or massive tofu stirfry
He also ate 3 bananas, 2 oranges, and 3 bowls of cereal yesterday..

As u can see it doesn't eat meat but still eating extremely well for a teen..I also give him a multi vit, B12 and Omega supplement*

I eat a similar diet to that ( not the 3 bowls of cereal and 3 bananas though) but I’m a very petite borderline underweight adult woman. However, I have more protein (fish, eggs etc) and calcium.

His dad is tiny. He’s not eating enough food with vitamin b and calcium.

Also get him checked for celiac disease.

My husband was 5ft 3 until college when we met and then suddenly shot up to 5ft10! He has the tiger stretch marks on his legs to show it as well!

My DS (just 17) received treatment for growth hormone deficiency. It was picked up about age 7. The barrage of testing etc took about 18 months and then he had daily injections from around 9. He did grow a little but refused treatment from around 13. There is only a certain timeframe that treatment is successful for and when I consulted endocrinologist about 6 months ago as to whether he could recommence they said no as it would be extremely limited benefit. He's currently about 5'3 and I don't think he'll get much taller although from memory his bone age at about 8 years was approx 3 years behind chronological age so there may be some hope

Yes but the average height is really low! You wouldn't look at someone 5'7 and think wow you're tall. I'm almost 5'10, people think I'm tall 😂

@ShammyJammy

a mother that is above average at 5.7 (1/2)
and a father that is average or fractionally above at 5.10 is no a “really low” average height

No personal experience I'm afraid... but I do know boys continue to grow until about 20 while girls it's around 16.

As others have said, diet is probably a factor. Very interesting study on children adopted to US (American diet) from China (similar diet to your son) and how the adopted children had grown much taller than they would have had they not been adopted. This was attributed to the increased protein in their diets. If son is vegan (good on him) it might be that the supplements he's getting aren't enough to counterbalance his diet. The GP can do a full blood count but actually you'll probably need more specific counts on hormones / vitamin levels etc. likely he's still to grow some xx

This thread is depressing! So what if he’s not the tallest guy, I’m sure he has plenty of other characteristics he can bring to the table.

FWIW my DP is 5’6 and has never had any trouble getting a girlfriend, on holiday two months ago he had two separate women as if he was single so plenty of women clearly aren’t bothered by height. Many women prefer a shorter guy with a good physique to a lanky bean pole.

I’d rather be with someone shorter than a guy who thinks being tall is a personality trait, and believe me there are plenty of them!

That’s the beauty of human beings
we all find different things attractive
by the sounds of it- your DP sounds just amazing!!

Getoffmyshoes · 24/04/2022 11:02
I think some people are deluded in how attractive their husbands are to be quite honest! It’s nice for them to live in that little bubble but it does make me eye roll when they bang on about how well they’ve done for themselves to bag the catch that is Dave from accounts, 45 with pot belly and thinning on top!

but you have a problem with thinning hair and weight gain?! 😂

A gastroenterologist told me that a boy should be at least as tall as his father and a girl as tall as her mother and if that wasn't the case there was likely to be an underlying condition. Any coeliacs or suspected in the family? There is still plenty of time to grow at just turned 15. My very late teen DS is still growing as is his cousin and they are both already giants.

Yes? To quote your own post, we all find different things attractive? I was reassuring the OP that her sons height won’t be a barrier to all women. As I’m sure thinning hair and weight gain also won’t be a problem to some women.

Weird of you to advanced search me to point out something irrelevant when I’m posting to reassure the OP and her son who’s clearly worrying.

I'm a man. At that age I was 5'2" and my younger brother was taller than me. I topped out a little under 6'0".

His dad is 5'5" and he has a severely restricted diet.

I don't think he'll grow much more. 5'3" is small for a man but not unheard of.

oh I love a bit of advanced searching when I’m in sainsburys queue!

yes but to be so open minded and passionate about height being unimportant on this thread but so patently finding thinning hair something to find very unappealing is an interesting contradiction