Late blooming 14 year old boy - visit to the pediatrician

[Anonymous]

My DS is 14.5 and also a rising freshman. He is a bit taller (5’4.5”, maybe 5’5”) and also looks very much like a kid. Weighs around 105, maybe a little more- is super skinny.

Per our ped, he has started puberty but isn’t very far along. I don’t know his Tanner stage but he has no underarm hair, voice change or anything yet. He has grown 3-3.5 inches in the past year so that is a good sign. DH and I are average height (5’11” and 5”5”). DS is definitely one of the smaller and younger looking boys his age, but there are lots of boys his size, still. Doesn’t seem super unusual and our ped is not concerned at all.

Has your son been growing, height-wise? How tall are you and DH?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of people in this world sweating their son’s height. One thing I’ve learned from DCUM.

It's more than height. It's all the other things that come with puberty. Looking and sounding like a teen. Putting on some muscle. Attempting to keep up in sports.

I'm not sweating my son's final adult height. I want him to get through the next few years until it gets here.

Is sports the main concern at the moment? There was a great thread about that on this board awhile back, if you do a search. Lots of us in the same boat.

[Anonymous]

Mine is old for his class (July birthday) and was about 5’7” when he graduated from 8th grade so not super short but shorter than most of his friends. He’s now a rising junior and 6’4” tall. He hit full on puberty the summer between freshman and junior year. Went to the pediatrician recently and she said he still has some growth left.

Most of his friends hit their growth spurts in 7th/8th grades.

[Anonymous]

^sorry. I meant summer between freshman and sophomore year. That’s also when his voice changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of people in this world sweating their son’s height. One thing I’ve learned from DCUM.

It's more than height. It's all the other things that come with puberty. Looking and sounding like a teen. Putting on some muscle. Attempting to keep up in sports.

I'm not sweating my son's final adult height. I want him to get through the next few years until it gets here.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of people in this world sweating their son’s height. One thing I’ve learned from DCUM.

It's more than height. It's all the other things that come with puberty. Looking and sounding like a teen. Putting on some muscle. Attempting to keep up in sports.

I'm not sweating my son's final adult height. I want him to get through the next few years until it gets here.

+1. As a parent of a son who was late to puberty and slow to start growing, it wasn't so much height as it was appearing to be a "little boy" compared to his peers, as well as keeping up on the sports field/court. Some of his friends weren't particularly tall either, but looked more like men, having put on muscle, bodies broadening.

[Anonymous]

My don did not start puberty until Sophomore year of HS, which was very hard because he wanted to be a recruited athlete.

He did hit puberty but it wasn’t until senior year that he didn’t resemble a middle school child.

He did get recruited though and the change from freshman year to senior year was remarkable.

Of course he had a trainer working him out.

He was 5’4” 105 freshman year, he is 6’1” 180 as a senior in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Search this forum - lots of stories (including mine about my son).

OP here. There is some great information on this forum and I've probably read all of it. I definitely appreciate the stories! I guess I'm engaging in magical thinking. Like "my DS went from Tanner stage 1 to a growth spurt in 8 months" or something silly like that.

It's not that he's shorter than other kids in his grade. It's mainly that he's preadolescent. He's dealing with it but is ready to get the show on the road.

NP.. I hear ya. My now 18 yr old DS was a very late bloomer. He was 5'1" going into freshman year, and not only did he still look younger, but he packed on the pounds, too. So, short and chunky. He hated it.

During virtual learning, he hit tanner stage 2 and started to grow and slim out. He went back to school the following year and people didn't recognize him. They all said he had the most amazing "glow up".

He is now 5'10.5" and has surpassed all his friends in height. Pediatrician thinks he will hit 6'.

Both my spouse and I were late bloomers. Our younger DC is also a late bloomer -- almost 15.

It's tough for the kids when they are so different from their peers, but I always tell them that hitting puberty later means you have more time to grow, which is certainly the case for my kids.

If you are that worried, you can also get a bone scan. We did that with DS for another reason, and they found that DS was about 2 years behind in bone growth.

[Anonymous]

My issue with these threads is they often draw stories of...and then my son grew and was taller than all the other boys in the land!

Some boys are just short. 50 percent of them won't hit 5-9. Different issue than late puberty of course, but even some of the late puberty boys will just be short. And yes, this will affect many sports. I think it's so important to help boys know this is both possible and perfectly fine and they will thrive. There are many things to do other than competitive sports in high school and beyond and sports can be enjoyed at a recreational level too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My issue with these threads is they often draw stories of...and then my son grew and was taller than all the other boys in the land!

Some boys are just short. 50 percent of them won't hit 5-9. Different issue than late puberty of course, but even some of the late puberty boys will just be short. And yes, this will affect many sports. I think it's so important to help boys know this is both possible and perfectly fine and they will thrive. There are many things to do other than competitive sports in high school and beyond and sports can be enjoyed at a recreational level too.

OP here.

I get this but it's not about final adult height but really about late puberty. Personally, I think he looks fine for his age. Sure, maybe a little young and small but not dramatically so. It's my DS who is having the problems with it. There has been a lot of ink spilled over the impact of boys and late puberty.

I'm average height for a woman and DH is 6'4". We have zero illusions about DS being 6' or taller and that's certainly not an interest or concern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS was in the same situation and approximately same timing as your DS.

We did a a few bone age scans (a year apart) and the Endo ran bloodwork coupled with the first scan. Everything pointed to very late bloomer. Bones were measuring approximately 2 years younger than age for both scans.

DS is now 15.5 and absolutely hit noticeable puberty (appetite, etc) around 15th birthday. His growth is on the move. We didn’t end up doing any kick start or hormones and trusted the bone scans and plenty of room to grow. It wasn’t fun for DS who struggled with being short compared to the majority of his classmates but I suspect they’ve all plateaued and he will end up shooting past them. His dad and myself are tall, endo projected DS height over 6’.

Same for both of my boys. The older one is now a rising Senior and just about 6 feet tall. He was 5'4" at almost 15 start of Freshmen year.

My rising Sophomore turned 15 in April and just started changing/growing last month (a few months after turning 15). He looked like a much younger child--baby face, very skinny short. He's probably around 5'6"ish now and just started to grow. He has really lanky long legs and arms. He still was losing baby teeth.

We are late growers. They both had x-rays for sports injuries as pre-teens/teens and growth plates were open so I never investigated further. My brother was 5'10" when he left high school and 6'3" when he finished college. I grew from 5'4" to 5'5" in college (female).

[Anonymous]

^ and younger one was about 5'3.5-5'4" at start of Freshmen year. There were extremes in his Freshmen class and on his sports team. Many boys that looked like him and many that looked 18 and everything in between. It never has seemed to really bother him.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t place any emphasis on this matter or even devote any time worrying about it. Everyone grows on their own timeline.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My issue with these threads is they often draw stories of...and then my son grew and was taller than all the other boys in the land!

Some boys are just short. 50 percent of them won't hit 5-9. Different issue than late puberty of course, but even some of the late puberty boys will just be short. And yes, this will affect many sports. I think it's so important to help boys know this is both possible and perfectly fine and they will thrive. There are many things to do other than competitive sports in high school and beyond and sports can be enjoyed at a recreational level too.

OP here.

I get this but it's not about final adult height but really about late puberty. Personally, I think he looks fine for his age. Sure, maybe a little young and small but not dramatically so. It's my DS who is having the problems with it. There has been a lot of ink spilled over the impact of boys and late puberty.

I'm average height for a woman and DH is 6'4". We have zero illusions about DS being 6' or taller and that's certainly not an interest or concern.

Not saying it's you OP, but of course the bias against short men is the underlying theme of all this. Why are they panicked about late puberty? Because for that brief moment in time, they are the short boy. And yes, I understand puberty is also about them filling out, voice change, etc. so more than just about height but it's a big factor. Please note there are very few threads with people wringing their hands about girls late to puberty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My issue with these threads is they often draw stories of...and then my son grew and was taller than all the other boys in the land!

Some boys are just short. 50 percent of them won't hit 5-9. Different issue than late puberty of course, but even some of the late puberty boys will just be short. And yes, this will affect many sports. I think it's so important to help boys know this is both possible and perfectly fine and they will thrive. There are many things to do other than competitive sports in high school and beyond and sports can be enjoyed at a recreational level too.

OP here.

I get this but it's not about final adult height but really about late puberty. Personally, I think he looks fine for his age. Sure, maybe a little young and small but not dramatically so. It's my DS who is having the problems with it. There has been a lot of ink spilled over the impact of boys and late puberty.

I'm average height for a woman and DH is 6'4". We have zero illusions about DS being 6' or taller and that's certainly not an interest or concern.

Not saying it's you OP, but of course the bias against short men is the underlying theme of all this. Why are they panicked about late puberty? Because for that brief moment in time, they are the short boy. And yes, I understand puberty is also about them filling out, voice change, etc. so more than just about height but it's a big factor. Please note there are very few threads with people wringing their hands about girls late to puberty.

The comparison between boys and girls here isn’t late puberty for both. It’s actually early puberty for girls and late puberty for boys. Both boys and girls can struggle with those respective time frames. Of course not always. Some kids roll with whatever is in front on them. Some need some extra support.