No growth spurt in 14-year-old: should we worry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If his voice hasn’t changed, then I am guessing his growth spurt is still ahead but I think your plan is good.

The voice change comes before the growth spurt? My 13 1/2 year old still has a high voice, no armpit hair, etc.

Voice change comes after major growth spurt.

[Anonymous]

I’m the poster whose son on GH-
Someone asked what doctor- ours happens to be one in KC because that’s where we lived at time. But the doctor at CHOP we consulted with was a female - has written some studies on growth hormone- can’t remember her name but you can Google her I’m sure. I found her when researching GH.
As mentioned growth hormone impacts many things so if that chemical level is low and your son is falling off or not staying consistent on the growth curve- it is approved to be necessary by insurance and most physicians.
Just being short/ just being late bloomer- not reasons from the doctors we met. It’s parent height, blood test, last year or two of growth and pattern on growth chart, and then final stimulation hospital stay test. All that leads to diagnosis for treatments. We had it all. But if you only are short or late bloomer, I think you’d pass the stim test they do - so don’t think you would get approved.
It’s always up to parent. But we had all factors. Son wasn’t “that short” actually. Just stopped growing.

[Anonymous]

PP- in last sentence I meant - if you are just short or late bloomer- but pass the stim test (we failed it), I don’t think you would get insurance approval.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If his voice hasn’t changed, then I am guessing his growth spurt is still ahead but I think your plan is good.

The voice change comes before the growth spurt? My 13 1/2 year old still has a high voice, no armpit hair, etc.

Voice change comes after major growth spurt.

Nope. Actually, voice changes and then the major growth spurt begins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If his voice hasn’t changed, then I am guessing his growth spurt is still ahead but I think your plan is good.

The voice change comes before the growth spurt? My 13 1/2 year old still has a high voice, no armpit hair, etc.

Voice change comes after major growth spurt.

Nope. Actually, voice changes and then the major growth spurt begins.

https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/changing-voice.html

The voice actually can’t change without the process of growing. Voice change is the larynx also growing bigger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If his voice hasn’t changed, then I am guessing his growth spurt is still ahead but I think your plan is good.

The voice change comes before the growth spurt? My 13 1/2 year old still has a high voice, no armpit hair, etc.

Voice change comes after major growth spurt.

Nope. Actually, voice changes and then the major growth spurt begins.

https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/changing-voice.html

The voice actually can’t change without the process of growing. Voice change is the larynx also growing bigger.

When their voice is done changing the major height growth is done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If his voice hasn’t changed, then I am guessing his growth spurt is still ahead but I think your plan is good.

The voice change comes before the growth spurt? My 13 1/2 year old still has a high voice, no armpit hair, etc.

Voice change comes after major growth spurt.

Nope. Actually, voice changes and then the major growth spurt begins.

https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/changing-voice.html

The voice actually can’t change without the process of growing. Voice change is the larynx also growing bigger.

When their voice is done changing the major height growth is done.

The voice changing can last 2 years.

[Anonymous]

This is OP. A couple of PPs requested I come back to the thread after seeing his doctor, so this is what transpired: she said he's just very short. His growth spurt hasn't happened yet but even when it does he'll probably be small.

I'm sad for him. I don't think anything is wrong with being short, but he does. He's already very shy and prone to depression, and I worry that always being smaller than everyone else will just make him feel worse.

[Anonymous]

This might be a dumb question, but if you are late to start puberty, do you usually end up taller?

The logic being that once you start puberty, there is then an end as well, to growing taller.

So the longer that is delayed, the taller you'll be?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This might be a dumb question, but if you are late to start puberty, do you usually end up taller?

The logic being that once you start puberty, there is then an end as well, to growing taller.

So the longer that is delayed, the taller you'll be?

My understanding is that with boys, they’ll reach their genetic potential the same as everyone else, just later in life.

I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. A couple of PPs requested I come back to the thread after seeing his doctor, so this is what transpired: she said he's just very short. His growth spurt hasn't happened yet but even when it does he'll probably be small.

I'm sad for him. I don't think anything is wrong with being short, but he does. He's already very shy and prone to depression, and I worry that always being smaller than everyone else will just make him feel worse.

How short? My DS is about 5'5" at nearly 17 and is probably done growing. He has always been short so maybe he is just used to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. A couple of PPs requested I come back to the thread after seeing his doctor, so this is what transpired: she said he's just very short. His growth spurt hasn't happened yet but even when it does he'll probably be small.

I'm sad for him. I don't think anything is wrong with being short, but he does. He's already very shy and prone to depression, and I worry that always being smaller than everyone else will just make him feel worse.

OP, I posted on here before...

My DS at 14 was 61.25 in. He grew during the pandemic, and slimmed out -- he was chunky. He is 16.5 now, and about 5'8" or so. He grew 2" in six months in the past seven months. Between his 14 and 16 yr appointment, he grew about 4.25".

I'm super short, but DH is tall. All of us hit puberty late. DH said he grew in college, until about 20 or 21, though between 16 and 20, he didn't grow that much.

I think DS will end at about 5'9 to 5'10". So not tall, but not small, either.

Did they check his growth plates and determine what his bone age is? I had to get a scan on DS' foot, and doctor said he was about 1 to 1.5 years behind in growth at the time (preteen).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. A couple of PPs requested I come back to the thread after seeing his doctor, so this is what transpired: she said he's just very short. His growth spurt hasn't happened yet but even when it does he'll probably be small.

I'm sad for him. I don't think anything is wrong with being short, but he does. He's already very shy and prone to depression, and I worry that always being smaller than everyone else will just make him feel worse.

OP, I posted on here before...

My DS at 14 was 61.25 in. He grew during the pandemic, and slimmed out -- he was chunky. He is 16.5 now, and about 5'8" or so. He grew 2" in six months in the past seven months. Between his 14 and 16 yr appointment, he grew about 4.25".

I'm super short, but DH is tall. All of us hit puberty late. DH said he grew in college, until about 20 or 21, though between 16 and 20, he didn't grow that much.

I think DS will end at about 5'9 to 5'10". So not tall, but not small, either.

Did they check his growth plates and determine what his bone age is? I had to get a scan on DS' foot, and doctor said he was about 1 to 1.5 years behind in growth at the time (preteen).

No, they didn’t do anything except say he’s on his growth curve. Which I don’t understand; he’s dramatically shorter than all his friends and his parents are tall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. A couple of PPs requested I come back to the thread after seeing his doctor, so this is what transpired: she said he's just very short. His growth spurt hasn't happened yet but even when it does he'll probably be small.

I'm sad for him. I don't think anything is wrong with being short, but he does. He's already very shy and prone to depression, and I worry that always being smaller than everyone else will just make him feel worse.

I have a 12 year old son who feels very short but is more or less fine for right now. His father is 6'4" but I'm only 5' so it's a mixed picture. DS is 5' right now.

He's recently gotten into wrestling and I've noticed a real advantage to that. There are a lot of short men in wrestling. These men don't seem remotely insecure or bothered by their height. I'm talking about the dads of current kid wrestlers. They wrestled in MS and HS and feel confident about themselves.

You could lookin into activities where short men are rewarded physically. Wrestling and gymnastics are two of those sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. A couple of PPs requested I come back to the thread after seeing his doctor, so this is what transpired: she said he's just very short. His growth spurt hasn't happened yet but even when it does he'll probably be small.

I'm sad for him. I don't think anything is wrong with being short, but he does. He's already very shy and prone to depression, and I worry that always being smaller than everyone else will just make him feel worse.

I have a 12 year old son who feels very short but is more or less fine for right now. His father is 6'4" but I'm only 5' so it's a mixed picture. DS is 5' right now.

He's recently gotten into wrestling and I've noticed a real advantage to that. There are a lot of short men in wrestling. These men don't seem remotely insecure or bothered by their height. I'm talking about the dads of current kid wrestlers. They wrestled in MS and HS and feel confident about themselves.

You could lookin into activities where short men are rewarded physically. Wrestling and gymnastics are two of those sports.

He only wants to play basketball and has no skill at other sports. Sigh.