Predicting kids height

[Anonymous]

The problem with the growth calculators is that they don't factor in genetics beyond the mother and father, which is where things get tricky. I'm average at 5'5"; DH is on the shorter side at 5'9. Our parents were average to short in height as well. Yet his brother is 6"1 and my two brothers are 6"3 and 6'1. I would say my extended family is pretty average in height, yet we have a few randomly tall family members. I have an aunt who is 5'10" and I have a 3 cousins (men and women) who are quite tall despite having average height parents. Clearly there is some DNA circulating in both families that neither DH nor I have (or it's not dominant/expressed since neither of us are tall).

My 8.5yo DS has been in the 90th percentile for height and weight nearly since birth. Perhaps he will take after his uncles on both sides and be tall, but who knows. It's too early to tell.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know — apparently me (5’7”) my niece (6’4”) and my daughter (currently 2) tracked the same growth curves so far. Niece’s dad and my kid’s dad are both 5’9” so I’m really curious to see how my daughter turns out.

[Anonymous]

All the girls in our family are in the bottom 5 percent. We are 4'10' to 5'2''

All the boys are around 5-6 to 5-7.

Why is this a big deal?

With the huge influx of Latino and Asian immigrants the average height of people in the US has dropped dramatically, especially for men.

[Anonymous]

I am 5-2 and husband is 6-3. Our sons are 5-10 and 5-7 at full height now.

[Anonymous]

A former colleague was 6'4" and his wife 5'2". Their now-gown daughter is also 5'2".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - this is all very interesting! DH and I both hit puberty late as well. I didn't get my period until 13 and DH didn't stop growing until he was almost 20. He went to college at 18 at 5'8" and grew another 2" while in college.

That's not late, lol, I was 16! My 14 year old DD still hasn't either.

13 is late. 14 is very late. 16 is extremely late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the girls in our family are in the bottom 5 percent. We are 4'10' to 5'2''

All the boys are around 5-6 to 5-7.

Why is this a big deal?

With the huge influx of Latino and Asian immigrants the average height of people in the US has dropped dramatically, especially for men.

but white people want other tall white people to procreate with, not short Asian or Latinos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a very tall child (96th to 98th percentile consistently). My pediatrician said that the height percentile would be stable from about 2 years old until puberty, then final height could vary depending on when DD hit puberty. I am average height with some tall relatives, but my DH's family is tall though nobody is above 6'4". DD is around 49 inches right at her 6th birthday, and I'm guessing she'll be 5'8" or 5'9", maybe 5'7" if she hits puberty early. The "double height at 2" and mid parental height formulas estimate her at 5'5", but she jumped percentiles between 2 and 2.5 y/o, so I think that's HIGHLY unlikely unless her growth slows way down. OP's kids seem pretty average height now and I doubt they'll end up at 5'8".

The bolded part hasn’t held true for my kids at all. My daughter was tiny (<10% weight, <20% height) until she was about 4, and since then has steadily moved up the charts. Now at 10 she’s 75th percentile for height.
My son was born tall (80%), steadily dropped down to 45-50th over the next few years, and is now back up to 60th percentile at age 7.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a very tall child (96th to 98th percentile consistently). My pediatrician said that the height percentile would be stable from about 2 years old until puberty, then final height could vary depending on when DD hit puberty. I am average height with some tall relatives, but my DH's family is tall though nobody is above 6'4". DD is around 49 inches right at her 6th birthday, and I'm guessing she'll be 5'8" or 5'9", maybe 5'7" if she hits puberty early. The "double height at 2" and mid parental height formulas estimate her at 5'5", but she jumped percentiles between 2 and 2.5 y/o, so I think that's HIGHLY unlikely unless her growth slows way down. OP's kids seem pretty average height now and I doubt they'll end up at 5'8".

The bolded part hasn’t held true for my kids at all. My daughter was tiny (<10% weight, <20% height) until she was about 4, and since then has steadily moved up the charts. Now at 10 she’s 75th percentile for height.
My son was born tall (80%), steadily dropped down to 45-50th over the next few years, and is now back up to 60th percentile at age 7.

People, when doctors say this, it means it's true for the majority. There will always be outliers.

It has held true for my kids.

My kids have/are hitting puberty late so it's hard to tell what their final height will be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the girls in our family are in the bottom 5 percent. We are 4'10' to 5'2''

All the boys are around 5-6 to 5-7.

Why is this a big deal?

With the huge influx of Latino and Asian immigrants the average height of people in the US has dropped dramatically, especially for men.

but white people want other tall white people to procreate with, not short Asian or Latinos.

I am English/Irish and my husband is Middle Eastern. He is very tall for his ethnicity. I got exactly what i wanted!

Agree, not interested in procreating with short Latino men or Asian men. Not that they are not hot. I've had flings with all races and ethnicities before I met my husband. But procreate? No.

[Anonymous]

My first DD was 99th percentile for height through all the little kid checkups. She's 5'4" at age 22. Second DD was 75th percentile for height all along. She's 5'9" at age 17. Go figure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the girls in our family are in the bottom 5 percent. We are 4'10' to 5'2''

All the boys are around 5-6 to 5-7.

Why is this a big deal?

With the huge influx of Latino and Asian immigrants the average height of people in the US has dropped dramatically, especially for men.

but white people want other tall white people to procreate with, not short Asian or Latinos.

I am English/Irish and my husband is Middle Eastern. He is very tall for his ethnicity. I got exactly what i wanted!

Agree, not interested in procreating with short Latino men or Asian men. Not that they are not hot. I've had flings with all races and ethnicities before I met my husband. But procreate? No.

Lol
Tall for his ethnicity.....how short is he?

[Anonymous]

There are calculators that look at current child’s height and weight and parents height.

That being said, they said my daughter who is now 14.5 would be 5’7” and she’s likely stopping at 5’5” (currently 5’4 and hasn’t grown in awhile, assuming she will eck out another inch max as girls gain their height young in my family). So they are the most accurate. I think they overestimate my genetics being 5’8” bc my parents were average height as is everyone else in my family, I am an outlier

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a very tall child (96th to 98th percentile consistently). My pediatrician said that the height percentile would be stable from about 2 years old until puberty, then final height could vary depending on when DD hit puberty. I am average height with some tall relatives, but my DH's family is tall though nobody is above 6'4". DD is around 49 inches right at her 6th birthday, and I'm guessing she'll be 5'8" or 5'9", maybe 5'7" if she hits puberty early. The "double height at 2" and mid parental height formulas estimate her at 5'5", but she jumped percentiles between 2 and 2.5 y/o, so I think that's HIGHLY unlikely unless her growth slows way down. OP's kids seem pretty average height now and I doubt they'll end up at 5'8".

The bolded part hasn’t held true for my kids at all. My daughter was tiny (<10% weight, <20% height) until she was about 4, and since then has steadily moved up the charts. Now at 10 she’s 75th percentile for height.
My son was born tall (80%), steadily dropped down to 45-50th over the next few years, and is now back up to 60th percentile at age 7.

It hasn’t held true for me either. I was in the 99th percentile until age 3-4, then maybe 90th until middle school. Doctors said I would be 6foot which was a bit ridiculous considering my parents are average height. I stopped growing at 13 and am 5’8”

[Anonymous]

Yep look at growth charts. There is variation but kids on average a 50th percentile 10 yo will be a 50th percentile adult. There are individual variations, sometimes people have early or late growth spurts. Parental height is predictor but if you have tall parents and a kid who’s held their curve at 40th percentile… chances are kid is not gonna be a tall adult. Pediatrician here btw