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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to an endocrinologist. My cousin's son is 16 and 5'3" it isn't looking like he'll grow more. They regret not seeing a doctor about it.

Poor kid! That is so short for a man. Agree, OP needs to take DS to endocrinologist ASAP.

What can an endocrinologist do?

An endocrinologist can do a lot if there is a treatable issue, like a growth hormone deficiency, for example.

Signed, mom of a kid with a growth disorder who is now on treatment and likely to reach a normal adult height because we started treatment while growth plates were still open

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where the hell did you read that? Boys grow beyond 16. Its girls who stop growing at 16.

2nd. My brother was short in middle school then grew to 6'4 in high school and college.

OP here; that's reassuring to hear, and thank you.

I was also taking with my MIL's son and he told me he was 5'8 at 15 when he went for his learner permit license and 6'4 when he got his permanent one.

[Anonymous]

18 y/o DS is still very much growing...he was a very late bloomer and just really getting heavier facial hair his first semester at college. I was the same: 88 pounds on my first driver's license, 100 pounds off to college, very late puberty also. Kids are different. I can think of so many kids friends (boys) who left for college and came home at Christmas inches taller and filled out. Not weird at all.

Also my 6'1" ds had a straight line in his growth chart at the dr's after being over 100% in the charts at birth and for years. It's odd to look at, but he's fine.

[Anonymous]

My cousin was 5'1" and 100 lbs. at age 15. Grew to 5'10" by senior year, ended up at 6'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP What is above average height to you. I find people on this forum have varying ideas of what average height is.


Also, feel free to bring it up with your pediatrician, but more than likely if there was an actual concern with your son's height it would have been flagged by now.

Not everyone ends up 6'2".

Op here. I’m 5’8”; his dad is 6’2”. So we are somewhat taller than average but not much.

Actually, you are much taller than average-- you are both 90th+ percentile for height. Less than 10% of American women are taller than 5'8" and less than 10% of men are taller than 6'2".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to an endocrinologist. My cousin's son is 16 and 5'3" it isn't looking like he'll grow more. They regret not seeing a doctor about it.

why, was there anything medically wrong with him? What could the dr have done?

Prescribe human growth hormone injections if there's a deficiency. I agree, I'd get a screening just to rule that out.

[Anonymous]

DS was way under 5'3 at 14y. On his 15th birthday he and I were the same height - 5'1. He is now 2 months from his 16th birthday he's at least 5'6 and clearly still growing and really hasn't hit puberty yet - has underarm hair, but no facial hair. His twin brother has a full on goatee and is 5'9.

[Anonymous]

Worth checking out medically. And, it sucks to be short as others grow.

1. Right now - get him involved in wrestling. Big demand for small guys in the 120-130 range. It will give him a high school athletic group. If you can swing it, get him weightlifting now and working with a coach. Seriously. Wrestling teams hunt down small kids to join. A kid who has been lifting and learning will be very much included and for a small freshman guy that is a big thing.

2. Expect late growth (though do consult medical specialist too). Lots of guys do not hit their big growth spurts until later.
Story: We have good friends whose kids paired up with a couple of ours. They have an older kid though. He was a good high school athlete but really hoped to play big college basketball. He was a 6’ to 6’1” point guard in high school on a good high school team and a good AAU team. But - just could not get D1 school interest. So - went to a D3 basketball school. Freshman year he grew 4 inches. As a now 6’5” good ball handling and shooting swing man he was in very big demand for good D1 programs and he transferred to a top 20 BB school. Ask around a bit - you willhave lots of friends and acquaintances who have adult kids who grew late.

But - the fact that your kid may grow when he is 18-19 is no help right now to him. So - do look for activities where he can excel as a small kid. In school sports though the biggest benefit is in wrestling.

[Anonymous]

I’m 5’5” and have been my height since 13. I was taller than the majority of boys until probably 10th grade. Boys grow late and for sure grow past age 16

[Anonymous]

take him to an endicrinologist. i would be concerned because you and DH are very tall.

[Anonymous]

My son is 15 1/2 and a late bloomer, but is already over 6’. My husband and his brother were the same way in HS and are now both 6’3”.

He has some peach fuzz on his upper lip and 4-5 hairs under each armpit and his voice is just starting to crack. He had his physical in late August this year and measured 5’11”. Our pediatrician told us he was just starting his growth spurt and to expect that he will end up around 6’5”.

My son is very aware that he is behind the others as far as puberty goes. There was an end of year pool party last June and he didn’t want to go because he had no armpit hair and everyone else does.

I am 5’6” (but adopted), so may have some height on my side. Lots of height on my husband’s side- both sides. His tallest uncle was 6’7”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is 15 1/2 and a late bloomer, but is already over 6’. My husband and his brother were the same way in HS and are now both 6’3”.

He has some peach fuzz on his upper lip and 4-5 hairs under each armpit and his voice is just starting to crack. He had his physical in late August this year and measured 5’11”. Our pediatrician told us he was just starting his growth spurt and to expect that he will end up around 6’5”.

My son is very aware that he is behind the others as far as puberty goes. There was an end of year pool party last June and he didn’t want to go because he had no armpit hair and everyone else does.

I am 5’6” (but adopted), so may have some height on my side. Lots of height on my husband’s side- both sides. His tallest uncle was 6’7”.

How is this post about your amazon son helpful to the OP?

[Anonymous]

OP, my son is nearly 15 and just started a growth spurt in the last two or three months. His pediatrician said not to worry as he was only in the very early stages of puberty. He's grown about two inches in the last two or three months and his voice has suddenly deepened. He was only about 5'2 at his 14 year old appointment, and the doctor told me that he'd probably end up being taller than my husband (who is 5'9") given how late he was starting puberty. I wouldn't worry at 14.

[Anonymous]

OP, when my DS was at his 13 year check up, the pediatrician noted that his growth was virtually nothing from the previous year's check-up, as well as he had dropped quite a bit in the growth percentiles. She recommended we visit a pediatric endocrinologist. She felt it was better to have things checked out sooner rather than later, just in case there was an issue to be addressed. And the window for possible treatment does close at a certain point in growth plate status. DS also had no signs of puberty and was one of the shortest kids in his grade.

We followed her advice and the endocrinologist experience was a good one. He was very conservative and reassuring. At the first visit he did a physical exam, took history, family history, heights, and ordered a wrist bone x-ray. That showed DS's bone age was 18-24 months behind. Endocrinologist said he was pretty sure DS was just a late bloomer (which we neither DH nor I were) but followed him for a year and a half. We only had to visit him every 6 months. At the second visit, DS had grown some more, and exhibited the first sign of puberty. Our third visit DS was well on his way, had grown more, and endocrinologist said we didn't need to come back unless we felt there was an issue.

DS ended up growing 12" (around average) from the start of puberty to where he is now, at 18. Interestingly, the endo predicted DS would grow to be about 5'10". Now at 18 he's 5' 10 1/2".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to an endocrinologist. My cousin's son is 16 and 5'3" it isn't looking like he'll grow more. They regret not seeing a doctor about it.

Poor kid! That is so short for a man. Agree, OP needs to take DS to endocrinologist ASAP.

What can an endocrinologist do?

An endocrinologist can do a lot if there is a treatable issue, like a growth hormone deficiency, for example.

Signed, mom of a kid with a growth disorder who is now on treatment and likely to reach a normal adult height because we started treatment while growth plates were still open

It's better to get it checked. As these PP point out, once the growth plates close, there will be many fewer options. OP's son may very well naturally grow, have a later growth spurt, etc. But I don't see any harm in checking now while you have the most options _if_ something is wrong. And clearly one of those options is to do nothing because I agree that pathologizing human differences in height is not good. That said, it is a conversation to have and a deliberate choice to make, not something to wake up "late" and then find out you have very few options.