Was your son physically a late bloomer?

[Anonymous]

My thirteen-year-old DS has been in the 25 percentile for height and 10-15 percentile for weight his whole life and does not appear to have entered puberty yet. At his most recent check-up, the doctor said he expected my son would be late to go through his growth spurt, but ultimately would reach at least the 50 percentile for height. (This speculation supposedly is based on the doctor's observation of my son's "build" and his dad's height.) I assumed that having been consistently in the lower percentiles his entire life, it wouldn't really be likely or possible for him to jump to a significantly higher percentile. Anyone have any experience with this? Thanks -- my son has seized on this, and I wonder how realistic it is. . .

[Anonymous]

Not for a boy, but one of my sisters went from the 2nd smallest in her class to one of the tallest (5'7") from the end of 7th through the beginning of 8th. So there is hope.

[Anonymous]

I've often heard that the later a child hits puberty, the later they stop growing. I'm not anybody's son =) but that was me, I was always the smallest girl in my class, but ended up very average.

[Anonymous]

My husband was about average for height but not taller (according to photos) but definitelyreally low weight in his teens and tweens. Ended up just about 6 feet tall, so that's actually a little taller than average, and filled out properly by about 20-22............and was definitely a little awkward in his teens, in his mid-30s, yowza- glad we met relatively young!

[Anonymous]

My scrawny nephew (seriously -- TEENY) grew at least a foot his freshman year of high school. He's now taller than his dad. Started exercising, too, so he's bulking up a bit.

This was a kid who wore pants made for 7 year olds two years ago.

[Anonymous]

I saw this with my nephew. He was skinny,scrawny, short and just tiny. He weighed 50 lbs at age 10 and when he was 13 he looked like he was about 7 or 8. He is adopted so we had no idea of his parents' heights and just assumed he would be a small build, short man. He didn't start to grow until he was about 16 or 17 and then he just kept growing and growing! He is now 24 and is over 6 feet and muscular.

So it is possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband was about average for height but not taller (according to photos) but definitelyreally low weight in his teens and tweens. Ended up just about 6 feet tall, so that's actually a little taller than average, and filled out properly by about 20-22............and was definitely a little awkward in his teens, in his mid-30s, yowza- glad we met relatively young!

My DH was like this too. Now, our DS is also like this. I try to remind him that daddy was the same way but I know it bums him out to be the smallest on every team he's on. Still, he's fast and athletic, so he still manages to make the teams (as of now). I figure he'll hit his stride in his early 20's and the ladies truly won't know what hit them!

[Anonymous]

And my husband was always the tallest kid in class...till sophomore year in highschool, when he quit growing and the other kids really started. He is now average height. You just never know! Our son is now very, very tall for his age and everyone keeps saying he is going to be a giant, but he probably won't be. He's just got his dad's growth pattern.

[Anonymous]

I was one of the shortest girls in my class all through elementary school. I was also one of the youngest. I got my period at age 14. Going into 10th grade I was 5'4", by 12th grade I was 5'6", which is a little taller than average. Some girls stop growing in 6th grade, I stopped in 12th grade.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, PPs -- interesting and helpful posts!

[Anonymous]

There is something called Constitutional Growth Delay. I suspect my son has it. The best way to predict height is to get a bone age test. They x-ray the hand and based on the measurements of the bone they can predict with pretty decent accuracy (or so they claim) the height your child will ultimately reach.

Girls and boys differ in growth patterns. Girls typically will only gain about an inch after the onset of menses whereas boys continue growing much later.

[Anonymous]

I was about 5'3" or so in 9th grade, and definitely one of the shorter girls in my class. I'm 5'8" today, 2 of those inches came after graduating HS. DH was skinny skinny early on, and rather short as well. By college he was playing Div I football--6'2" and close to 200 lbs. Working out when you're older can help fill out a boy/man. (He's not naturally heavy, so very little body fat--lucky him!)

You never know, being small/late into puberty doesn't always mean you're destined to be short. Li

[Anonymous]

I was always 75% for height growing up, and my sister was 25%. Today we are only about 2 inches apart -- I am 5'7", she's 5'5". I stopped growing at 14 or 15, she grew up until 18 or so. Now she makes a point of choosing heels that will make her just a teeny bit taller than me! Compensating, I guess, for all the times I called her shrimp. But in any case, both of us wound up pretty average -- and smack in the middle of the range for our families. (Tall people on mom's side, short people on dad's.)

[Anonymous]

My DH continued to grow in height well into college - adding 2-3 inches ended up at 6'3. He was skinny, scrawny up until that. He has never gained bulk or muscle mass but is very toned and slim. His father was grew early and topped out at 6'2 as a sophmore in high school. Is bulker than his son but they both grew differently - I think my DS will be more like his dad - growing late. At least I hope so - its hard to be a small, scrawny boy.

[Anonymous]

OP, my son is also 15 (just turned last week). At his annual checkup he measured 5'3.25" which puts him in the 5th percentile for height. He has ALWAYS been in the 5th percentile.

When he was younger I asked about growth hormones, but we had his wrists x-rayed and there is no medical issue found so the pediatrician was not in favor of it. Like yours, our pediatrician says she is confident my son will hit a growth spurt based upon his build and how all the other males in our family are over 6' tall.

I am always encouraged when other mothers share stories of how their sons finally shot up after being the shortest one in their class all their lives... I'm sure our sons will get there some day!