For those of you who had a tall baby...

[Anonymous]

My DD and DS were both 95-99 percentiles until 2.5 or so. DD has since dropped to 25th and DS has dropped to 50th. I'm fairly short and DH is average. So there you go.

[Anonymous]

It can change. I was 75% percentile for height until I was 14 -- I stopped growing then, at 5'7". My sister was always on the shorter side, 25 or 30%. But she kept growing until about 16, and now she is only 1.5 inches shorter than me.

[Anonymous]

My now 17 year old DS was in the 98th percentile for many, many years. He is now 6'3, an inch taller than his father. During the teen years there have been other kids closer to his height; for many years he towered over all of his classmates.

I remember the pediatrician predicting that DS would be 6'4 or so; I'm not sure exactly what that prediction was based on, but it was made before DS was even in elementary school.

Our other son has always been in the 50th percentile for height.

[Anonymous]

My DD was very long or tall as a baby. She was 95% for height at birth and she still is. Dad is 6'5" and I am 5'6". She is now 9 yrs old and looks like some 11-12 year olds. I am hoping she doesn't go over 5'10.

[Anonymous]

DS was 95 percentile since birth and is holding at age four. Pediatrician said he will be minimum 6 foot but could bery well be 6'4 .he said he knows by age 3 if a child is going to be tall or not and usually gives the low side to parents of potentially tall kids ( why he said minimum 6 foot) so we don't get disapointed if we don't get a ball player as genetics can kick in for little variances.

[Anonymous]

Mine is 6 and has been the same (95%) since birth. I heard that you need to see if it holds steady until 7 or 8 before predicting they'll be a tall adult. But based on our families' heights, my guess is that he'll end up at 6'2", nothing like 6'5".

[Anonymous]

Our pediatrician said that the best predictor of whether a child would be tall was the height of their parents. I point this out because my family's experience has not been the same as other posters -- at least not for boys.

My son was 95 percentile when he was born and kept 80 percent above for height until he was about 9 months old. He's now 2.5 and has ranged from 40-60 percentile in the last year. However, I am certain he will be a tall adult. I am 5'11" and my husband is 6'4". My brothers and brother in law are all 6'4". My sister-in-law is also 5'11". Everyone in our family is tall. I was a tall kid (5'8" at age 12 - tallest in my class all through school) but my brothers, my husband and his brother and my dad were all small to average as kids. They didn't become tall until they hit puberty.


With my brothers it was strange to see all the kids who had towered over them throughout their childhood turn into 5' 8" adults while my brothers became exceptionally tall around 16 or so. My guess is that my average height son will go teh same way -- if not as tall as his dad or uncles he'll certainly top 6'.

[Anonymous]

Can everyone give me an updatae on their child height, i know this is an old post but i am wondering a lot of what was posted then.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

No, I have kids on both ends (one very small, one very tall) and have been seeing an endocrinologist for the small one. The best science they have to predict adult stature is the parents height - average of heights plus or minus 2” - not growth charts, which most endocrinologists and GI doctors will tell you are meaningless for prediction reasons.

[Anonymous]

My very tall baby has held steady at very tall. She was long and skinny as an infant (always 80+ percentile height but about 30th for weight), but at 3 is more proportional at >97th for height and 90th for weight. Her little brother seems to be following the same trend. My family is all tall, though, so I expect my kids will be on the tall side of average. DH's family is shorter, though, so it's possible they'll stop growing early. We'll see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, I have kids on both ends (one very small, one very tall) and have been seeing an endocrinologist for the small one. The best science they have to predict adult stature is the parents height - average of heights plus or minus 2” - not growth charts, which most endocrinologists and GI doctors will tell you are meaningless for prediction reasons.

This is fascinating; thank you for sharing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, I have kids on both ends (one very small, one very tall) and have been seeing an endocrinologist for the small one. The best science they have to predict adult stature is the parents height - average of heights plus or minus 2” - not growth charts, which most endocrinologists and GI doctors will tell you are meaningless for prediction reasons.

How does this work for girls vs boys, particularly if there’s a height discrepancy between the parents?

I agree with others that you need to wait until about 2-3 years old to see where they land on the child percentiles. Then that can shift again with puberty. For girls in particular, getting her period early or late can impact when the growth plates close. My DD was in the 75th percentile until somewhere around 2.5, then shot up to the 98th percentile and is still there at age 7. She towers above most of her classmates and looks a few years older than her actual age. I expect her to be 5’7” to 5’9” depending on how early she hits puberty. There are tall women on both sides of the family, but none above 5’10”.

[Anonymous]

The curve is an average so if you plotted the real data, it would be all over the place. I have a friend whose baby was 50% percentile for height at birth. She is 6’2” and the shortest in her family. Her husband is 6’5”. Her kid was 50% percentile for a few years and then grew and grew and grew. Her mother in law said all then babies in the family were average sized at first. Michael Jordan famously grew 6” after sophomore year of high school.

The opposite happens too -I have another friend whose son was 95% for height at birth. Dad is 5’7” and mom is 5’2”. Their son (now 10) is now several inches shorter than my child, who is 8 months younger.

Does anyone know if foot size is predictive of anything other than… shoe size? I think not, but just wondering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, I have kids on both ends (one very small, one very tall) and have been seeing an endocrinologist for the small one. The best science they have to predict adult stature is the parents height - average of heights plus or minus 2” - not growth charts, which most endocrinologists and GI doctors will tell you are meaningless for prediction reasons.

How does this work for girls vs boys, particularly if there’s a height discrepancy between the parents?

I agree with others that you need to wait until about 2-3 years old to see where they land on the child percentiles. Then that can shift again with puberty. For girls in particular, getting her period early or late can impact when the growth plates close. My DD was in the 75th percentile until somewhere around 2.5, then shot up to the 98th percentile and is still there at age 7. She towers above most of her classmates and looks a few years older than her actual age. I expect her to be 5’7” to 5’9” depending on how early she hits puberty. There are tall women on both sides of the family, but none above 5’10”.

Here is a thread on height of girls based on menarche. I wish I could say it answers your question, but there doesn’t seem to be clear consensus! There are parents saying 2-4 inches after menarche, pediatricians saying 1” and 2-4” and endocrinologists saying none of it is correct.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1094972.page

[Anonymous]

My son was 99% at birth, and has never dropped below 98%. He is 16, still growing slowly, and 6’4”. At his 24 month appointment the ped calculated his height and went “so, he should end up somewhere around 6’6”…” then he looked at is (both 5’10”) and went “no, that can’t be right!”

But it was. Genes are funny!