Son not growing - really worried.

[ParkMaiden]

name changed because bunch of reasons.. my son is 12 and half. he has always been on the short side but from about year 3 erring on being the shortest boy in class and then just the shortest kid overall. He isn't growing. he is currently 148.3cm and pretty much the shortest boy in his secondary. I feel like almost every second day we run into a kid he went to primary school with and havent seen for a year and they have shot up.
I've been keeping track and for example he grew 1.3cm in the last 6 months (since April) The thing is (name change...) he has very very small private parts. and small feet. I couldn't care less how big his privates or his feet are but I know height especially for men is really important and linked to future success. So im wondering if the small privates is somehow indicative of a problem? my partner took him to an nhs growth specialist about a year ago and the doctor said 'don't worry come see me if things haven't changed by the time he's 14. '
It just seems so unlikely I'm tall for a woman (176cm) and my husband is average (I think 177cm) Any advice or information or experience? he is definitely not started puberty. oh also he wasn't a small baby I think 9 pounds 9oz if I can remember. TIA

Have you looked at centile charts?
148 at 12 and a half isn’t really short, it’s about 25th centile.

At this stage I really wouldn’t be worrying at all.

My younger son was really small too. It was tough as his older brother was always tall for his age.
I think my younger son started to grow at about 14.5.
He is 5ft 11 now, size 9 feet. Older son is 6ft 1 size 14 feet!

Wouldn’t he have presented with some sort of food intolerance if he had this? Genuinely interesting and I will google
further thank you.

He hasn’t hit puberty that’s all. You seem to keep ignoring the posters pointing that out. Why?

This is probably way off but my brother stopped growing when he started highschool but he also had significant bowel issues. It turned out he had chrohns disease and his body wasn’t able to absorb anything he ate which stopped him growing. I shot passed him in height during this time but he is 6’3 now. I hope this doesn’t alarm you but I can understand why you are worried. I personally would go back to the doctor

My children didn’t. 0 Interestingly neither has an official coeliac diagnosis either, but both fell off the growth chart pretty much (0.4 percentile and 2 percentile) and since going gluten free they’re now in 25th. You have to be careful because they need to eat gluten for the test! I just mention it here because I had no idea it could affect growth so just in case.

I think it's just that he hasn't started puberty yet and that's not surprising at 12 and a half. You see quite a few very short boys at that age, not many at 17 or 18. I know you're worried but I think focusing on a healthy diet and good self exteem is sensible.

No ginormous reason why, it’s not a conspiracy.

My son started to grow at 16/17. Before then I was worried. Just arrived at puberty a bit later than his peers.

We have Chrons in the family. That’s not a drip feed, I’d never even considered that before. Obviously will be booking an appointment to look into this

thanks for the info

Is he eating enough? My DS was very small at age 14 and I had a very hard talk with him about his eating - he was very picky and never very hungry and he would just pick. I told him, honestly, if he doesn't eat enough to build muscle and bone and kickstart puberty properly then he'll be short all his life. I read somewhere that if boys miss the window for growth they can never catch up. He took it seriously, started making a real effort to eat more and better and had a growth spurt and within 6 months he was taller than me with a deep voice and a jawline.
i know it's odd to ask your DS about his balls but genital growth is the first sign of puberty in boys. If that hasn't started yet then he's just not hit puberty yet.

Yeah I don’t think he eats enough!

He genuinely doesn't sound unusually small, though? A bit smaller than average, sure, but if puberty hasn't hit, that'll probably be why.

My DS is about the same height, and with slightly smaller feet. And taller-than-average parents (although DH also has smallish feet). It hasn't occurred to us to be worried...

He might have Hypopituitarism - a condition where the pituitary gland doesn't develop properly causing a lack or delay of normal growth hormones (including the ones for puberty).

My friend's son had this and it was only when she saw his final year school photo (so he was around 15/16) that she realised he still looked like a child in comparison to his classmates. He also hadn't started growing any facial or pubic hair and his voice wasn't showing any signs of breaking. For all intents and purposes, he seemed stuck at around 7 years old even though he was in his mid teens.

Prior to this my friend was also advised by her GP (when her son was around 14) to see if puberty kicks in before they would intervene in case it was just delayed development. She was told to monitor his behaviour too.

He is now a fully functioning adult male but did need hormone treatment to kick start his pituitary gland into action (he started that at 17 after many tests).

OP, your son isn’t even that small!!

My son has just turned 14, so 18 months older than yours and is about the same height as yours with the same size feet. Yes it bothers him but there’s quite a few small boys at his school, he’s not alone.

DH was apparently tiny until he was 16 and grew to be 5’10” so I try and be relaxed about it.

My son is nearly 14 and the same size as your son. I went to the GP for a check up. She did a really thorough check and has recommended blood tests. This is also because we're figuring out ADHD medication so there's an added complication of whether it's a good time for medication that stunts appetite. She said it could even be 4th/5th year before the big growth spurt hits (I'm in Ireland so that's the third last and second last year's of school). My husband and brothers are tall but were late growers, so that's probably what's going on, but no harm to check.

This is DS (left) at 11 with a friend. DS is now 18 and 5foot 11.
Try not to worry.
I teach and the height differences in the same year group are massive. It depends on the start of puberty.

Oh well that is something to look into more for sure. Hopefully it isn’t I remember at the time the doctors didn’t take my mum seriously because my brother was quite young to be diagnosed with it.

My nephew was the smallest in his year all through primary and up to age 14 when between 14 and 17 he ended up the tallest and is now 6 foot 5. Which is baffling as our family is all below average height and his other side of family are tiny.
The dr cant have been that worried as he would have made a referral but you could get a second opinion I suppose. A friend of mine was precribed growth hormones as an early teen as there was an actual issue with her growth and she ended up being short but not unusually short by taking them.

My cousin was the smallest boy in his year, smaller than his little sister even, and presented as much younger than his age. He just had comparatively late puberty at 14/15 and is now taller than his 6’1 father (who had experienced the same issues in his own teens). I’d say wait another year for puberty to start and in the meantime make sure he eats well.

FFS - the kid hasn’t hit puberty. That’s why he’s small. Pre-pubescent kids are small. It would be medical investigations if he was tall
pre-puberty not the other way round!

He’s not abnormally small - more than quarter of all boys his age are smaller. See here: https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Boys_2-18_years_growth_chart.pdf

My youngest son ( now 34) was always the tiniest - about same as yours at 12 - for the first 15 years of his life he had what is now called ARFID, although it was just “ reluctant eater in the 90’s. He didn’t get any second teeth til he was 12 either.
Me and his dad are short ( 5’2 and 5’6 ) so he was never going to be tall but after puberty he finally reached the height of 5’7 which he’s happy with.
My main concern was that he wouldn’t get past 5’4 which I think would have been a worry for him ( and me) Growing up he was not at all worried about his height and I never drew attention to it.
One of my grandsons ( 6 years old) has been having growth hormone injections for 2 years as he was so short ( overseas living though ) - not the son of youngest though. His dad my eldest son is 5’10 and his wife is 5’4

12 1/2? He's not unusually short or small for that age at all and lots of boys don't hit puberty until much later. My DS didn't really grow or develop until he was nearly 15 and then suddenly everything changed very quickly. There were lots of boys like him at his school, just late developers. One of my DS's best friends was a very early developer and next to him my DS looked like his DS for years! My DS is now taller and broader than his friend.

He’s seen a specialist and you’ve been told not to worry for at least another 18 months but he’s constantly being measured. You’re going to give him an inferiority complex at this rate! I’m not sure there are many 12 year old boys out there whose mum knows the size of his penis! At his age, he’s very average height.