When did your kids fall into their natural growth percentile?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought I read somewhere (DCUM, probably) that children tend to take after the parent who is an outlier in some way for their sex- so a short man or a tall woman.

One of my children was adopted and her birth parents are short, but it’s her birth dad who is very short at 5’4”, while her birth mom is 5’2.” DD is 5’1”- her percentiles as a baby/young kid were like 10th percentile height and 95% for weight, but at 16, she is now like 25% height and 50th for weight.

My son rose to percentiles in the 90s as a toddler and has hovered between 90-95th percentile now at 14. While I’m not tall at 5’3”, there’s height on his dad side with almost all close male relatives and one woman.

I'm off the bottom of the charts, to the point where I was tested for growth hormone issues (I'm fine) and one of my kids has always been tall, one of my kids is average, and one is short-ish but not as short as me. All girls.

For every tendency you can find counter-examples.

PP here. Well, yes, of course. That’s why I said “tend,” not “will” or “must.” But as I also said (or maybe implied), I don’t know if that theory is correct…just repeating what I had read here.

And yeah…my husband is his own counter-example. He is 6’1” and his mom is 4’11.” I guess genetics are funny like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD sees a pediatric endocrinologist. Per the endo, there are three stages of child height development: (1) infancy - birth to around age 2 (which is determined primarily by uterine factors); (2) childhood - age 2-3 to puberty (which is determined primarily by nutritional and environmental factors); (3) adolescence - puberty to adulthood.

Every child has a "genetic height potential," which assuming normal nutrition and developmental conditions, most kids reach within around 3 inches. Early or late puberty can change that, as can other health and environmental conditions. A 4 year old is on their childhood growth trajectory and should remain on it until they hit puberty. Assuming normal puberty, they'll end up roughly around their genetic potential.

Op - this is very interesting! Thanks! I have been somewhat surprised that my 4 year old has stayed on this height/weight percentile his whole life. Seems like it is just how he is built. He is not chunky at all. Very lean. At 4 he wears a size 13 shoe and is growing out of 6T clothes.

You're welcome! Yeah, it is a mystery when they're outside what you expect given your family history. Do you have any particularly tall people on either side of your family? We're not short people (5'7" and 6'2"), but have "very tall" genes on both sides of our family. Likely our "abnormally" (from a medical standpoint) tall child just got recessive tall genes from both of us, and may end up a very tall adult. Or may end up going through puberty earlier and ending up a taller, but not very tall adult. As long as yours is staying on his growth chart and doesn't have any other red flags for endo issues, he's just a tall kid that may or may not end up as a tall adult. Only time will tell!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD sees a pediatric endocrinologist. Per the endo, there are three stages of child height development: (1) infancy - birth to around age 2 (which is determined primarily by uterine factors); (2) childhood - age 2-3 to puberty (which is determined primarily by nutritional and environmental factors); (3) adolescence - puberty to adulthood.

Every child has a "genetic height potential," which assuming normal nutrition and developmental conditions, most kids reach within around 3 inches. Early or late puberty can change that, as can other health and environmental conditions. A 4 year old is on their childhood growth trajectory and should remain on it until they hit puberty. Assuming normal puberty, they'll end up roughly around their genetic potential.

Op - this is very interesting! Thanks! I have been somewhat surprised that my 4 year old has stayed on this height/weight percentile his whole life. Seems like it is just how he is built. He is not chunky at all. Very lean. At 4 he wears a size 13 shoe and is growing out of 6T clothes.

You're welcome! Yeah, it is a mystery when they're outside what you expect given your family history. Do you have any particularly tall people on either side of your family? We're not short people (5'7" and 6'2"), but have "very tall" genes on both sides of our family. Likely our "abnormally" (from a medical standpoint) tall child just got recessive tall genes from both of us, and may end up a very tall adult. Or may end up going through puberty earlier and ending up a taller, but not very tall adult. As long as yours is staying on his growth chart and doesn't have any other red flags for endo issues, he's just a tall kid that may or may not end up as a tall adult. Only time will tell!

Op - both DH and I have family members (male) who are over 6’2”. Which I guess you would consider tall. Especially given that I am Asian.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hard to know. I have a son who was always off the growth chart (99+) and at 18 is 6-5. We are tall though. While it's not all about parental height, it's a lot about parental height. But your kid could be an outlier and much taller in the end than your own heights would have predicted. Your height of 5-7 also indicates some height somewhere in your family.

The general thing I have seen with families I know is if there is a short mom, the sons typically don't get that tall even if dad is tall. I think maternal height and maternal family height is more of a predictor of a potentially super tall boy.

Cue the stories of 5-1 mom with 6-4 son.

I think this is largely true.

I'm super short, like 5'; DH is tall 6'3", and DS is ~5'11", while DD is ~5'6". Both are still growing (due to late puberty), but DD will probably be a lot taller than average compared to DS.

DH's dad is average height, but his mom is tall, as was his maternal grandfather.

My dad is "tallish" for our ethnicity, while my mom is super short. My brother is super short.

This is BS. There is no way mom’s height is related to sons’s height more so than dad’s or daughters’.

You can find examples of everything, but it does not make it true. If your son is 5’11” he is tall and definitely took after your husband and not you (since you are super short). Both your kids seem to have taken from both of you and ended up somewhere in the middle (closer to dad maybe).

Not really, particuarly if white. Average height for a white guy.

Average male height in the US is 5’9.5”. So 5’11” is on the tall side. Anything below 6’2” does not look tall to me in DC. It seems most men are over 6’, but clearly there are many below.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am wondering if my 4 year old will be destined to be super tall or this is just a weird fluke and he will fall back into a normal height (based on his parents heights).

I have two girls who started off in the 90th percentile for height and weight but fell into their normal 50th and 75th percentile by around 2 years old. They have stayed there ever since.

DS has been in the 99th percentile for height and weight since he was born. Has never deviated. He is now 4 and is still in the 99th percentile. He is 48 pounds and about 48" tall.

Should I just assume this is his natural grown percentile? Or will he more than likely fall back down into a more normal range? DH is 5'10" and I (DW) am 5'7" tall.

Asians obsessed with height

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 9 year old has been 95% since birth for height and weight. He dropped some weight but kept growing taller so is probably about 85% weight now. I would be concerned if thr trajectory changed. I think by age 4 you kind of know.

I disagree with knowing your child’s height and weight by 4 years old. It could have been right after some growth when he was measured or he grew an inch after being measured. An inch is a lot when talking about a 4 year old.