Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 13:44     Subject: height issues
I don’t understand why you took him to the doctor in the first place. A 5’3” height is perfectly within normal for a 14 yr old with two slightly shorter than average parents. What’s the problem? No, I don’t think your son is completely done growing, no what endocrinologist projects. He will very likely be somewhere 5’7”-5’9”
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 13:37     Subject: height issues
Anonymous wrote:Did anyone mention ethnicity? Asian men are genetically short. The average height is 5’5” for many Asian countries. Specifically India is 5’6”.



I don't think stating average height in other countries is helpful...presumably OP's son has been raised in the US with some semblance of an American diet.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 13:04     Subject: height issues
Did anyone mention ethnicity? Asian men are genetically short. The average height is 5’5” for many Asian countries. Specifically India is 5’6”.

Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 12:05     Subject: Re:height issues
I have always heard boys take after their mother’s heights. So if the mom is short (and 5’3” is short) then their son has a higher chance of being short.


5'3 is perhaps one inch below average for an adult woman. I'm 5'4 and DH is 5'8, and DS is an average height (between 5'9 and 5'10) while DD is slightly short at 5'3. By your logic, my DS should have been 5'4 but that was never his expected height.

The only man I know who is 5'4 has a mom who is about 4'10.

Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 11:56     Subject: height issues
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It is important to not convey your disappointment to him. He cannot feel like you and your husband view his height as a problem.


How could the kid fail to infer otherwise going to these sorts of doctors, focusing on his height?


Kids have their own opinions on these things and parents want to help them address their concerns. Let’s assume that OP’s DS feels nothing but unconditional love and acceptance from his parents and appreciates their efforts on his behalf. That is the most likely scenario.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 11:15     Subject: height issues
Anonymous wrote:It is important to not convey your disappointment to him. He cannot feel like you and your husband view his height as a problem.


How could the kid fail to infer otherwise going to these sorts of doctors, focusing on his height?
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 08:59     Subject: height issues
Anonymous wrote:Thank you all for your suggestions. We will get a second opinion. We never expected him to be 6ft but thought he would at least be around my husband's height.-OP


Yes to a second opinion.

The endo's interactions with you and how the information is presented absolutely matters, especially when you are discussing a child.

We just had our final visit with the endo yesterday and he was a delight to work with (we aren't in the area.) He's on the shorter side so he could relate to my son and his feelings while not treating the final height my son could possibly achieve as some sort of illness.
I think my kid really like talking to him. Might even be considering medicine as a career
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 08:31     Subject: height issues
Anonymous wrote:Our visit today was that children’s national as well. What a coincidence. We will call Dr Cutriss too. Thank you for the info. My son’s situation seems so similar to your son’s. It is so hard to find a good doctor.

Anonymous wrote:OP we had a very similar office visit with an endocrinologist at Children's National. I asked for labs to be run and was denied that as well, (which is ridiculous IMO) based on an almost closed hand x-ray for my 15 year old. We were also all upset and don't really feel like our son is finished growing. Based on our heights, charts show him growing to 5'10" but he is 5'5". We ended up seeing Dr. Nicolas Cuttriss who is out of network but did put him on an aromatase inhibitor and he ran lots of labs. It has only been 6 months and we need a follow up but at least he didn't completely close the door on things. My son's puberty stage sounds very similar to you sons.


I wonder if we saw the same doctor. We also saw a female doc there. Good luck, I definitely think it makes sense to get another opinion. My son was almost 15 when we went to Children's, his growth took a nosedive on the charts between 14 and 15 but he has always been small. He finally broke the 50th percentile mark at 13 but it went down to maybe 30th at 15 which is why we took him on the later side. Hopefully you can connect with a doctor willing to dig deeper and hopefully your son is feeling ok. Mine was also very upset after his appointment.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 08:23     Subject: Re:height issues
Anonymous wrote:Op - are you sure your husband is actually 5’8” or is that what he says. I tend to find men exaggerate their height when they are short. If he is actually 5’7” or 5’6” then that is pretty short for a man and would also indicate why your son is on the shorter side. Did the doctor measure both of you?


NP- This means absolutely nothing. I have a 5'5 dad and a 6'3 brother. My ds is 5'11 and dh 5'6. I'm 5'1 myself!
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 08:18     Subject: height issues
Anonymous wrote:Thank you all for your suggestions. We will get a second opinion. We never expected him to be 6ft but thought he would at least be around my husband's height.-OP


Why would you expect that given that you are also short? There is around 50/50 chance your kid would be taller/shorter than your husband, but weighted more towards short since you are short.

Either way 14 is young, he will probably grow a few more inches. But you probably would still be writing this question even if he ended up at 5’5” wouldn’t you?

Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 08:14     Subject: Re:height issues
Op - are you sure your husband is actually 5’8” or is that what he says. I tend to find men exaggerate their height when they are short. If he is actually 5’7” or 5’6” then that is pretty short for a man and would also indicate why your son is on the shorter side. Did the doctor measure both of you?
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 08:12     Subject: height issues
Thank you all for your suggestions. We will get a second opinion. We never expected him to be 6ft but thought he would at least be around my husband's height.-OP
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 08:10     Subject: height issues
I’m sorry OP, sounds like you were blindsided bc of pediatrician. But it does seem really weird for a 14 year old boy to be done growing, I sure hope my 14 yr old short son isn’t finished. I’m surprised the endocrinologist didn’t say he’d probably squeak out another 2 inches.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 08:10     Subject: Re:height issues
I'd be surprised if my child was 5" shorter OR taller than his predicted height. I'm 5'3" and do consider that shorter than average but nothing out of the ordinary.

OP, I'm sure you've considered this but is it possible your son just won't have much/any chest or arm hair? My son is also 14 and has very light peach fuzz but due to his racial mix, it's not looking like he'll have much body hair.
Anonymous
Post 01/08/2025 08:06     Subject: height issues
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If short women are so concerned about their child's height why didn't they marry taller? What did you think was going to happen marrying a short man?


+1

Every week we have a post from some DCUM fretting about her short son.

Some men are just short. And they are especially likely to be so if they have short parents.

Are you going to inject him with exogenous hormones because of the genetics with you bequeathed him?


5’3 is not a genetically expected height for a boy with parents who are 5’8 and 5’3 (neither of which are actually short heights). Just because TikTok told you anything below 6’ is “short” doesn’t make it factually true.


Oh please, height is a distribution, the number of people who meet the exact height projection based on parental heights is relatively small.

OP is just mad because her son fell to the short side of the distribution.