slow down in height growth rate for 7yo boy

[Doodle]

Let me start by saying that I have an advanced degree in Worry...

 

Yesterday was Doodle's annual check up. He is now 7 years old. He is a healthy little boy, but I was surprised when the pediatrician said his current height puts him in the 40% range. He has always been on the taller side for his age. Sometimes in the 70% range and several times in the 90% range. In April of last year, he was measured at being 47". Yesterday she measured him at 47.5. Is a slow down normal?

[ktgrok]

Yes, it is normal. He is at the age where some boys will be hitting growth spurts early, messing up the curve. If it helps, my ped has told me that the later they get their big growth spurts the taller and healthier they end up. Honestly, growth charts will mean little for the rest of this adolescents, because kids are all over the place with growth spurts. He would only grow .5 one year, then 4 inches the next. It's crazy. My ex had stretch marks, like tiger stripes, across his back where he grew 4 inches in one summer!

 

don't worry.

[Sasharowan]

It's possible. My ds10 lost .5 pound between 7 & 8 year checkups and he wasn't sick either. If the dr. didn't seem worried, then I would watch for a growth spurt in the next 3-6 mos. and have him rechecked if you don't see one.

[Momling]

Yes, it is normal. He is at the age where some boys will be hitting growth spurts early, messing up the curve. If it helps, my ped has told me that the later they get their big growth spurts the taller and healthier they end up. Honestly, growth charts will mean little for the rest of this adolescents, because kids are all over the place with growth spurts. He would only grow .5 one year, then 4 inches the next. It's crazy. My ex had stretch marks, like tiger stripes, across his back where he grew 4 inches in one summer!

 

don't worry.

:iagree:

[texasmama]

How tall are you and your dh? So much of growth/eventual adult height is about genetics. My kids have mostly followed a similar percentile pattern as they grew, but they are also very, very tall because dh and I are.

[Lolly]

You know, I really hate those growth charts. In my experience, kids do not grow properly according to them. My kids were all very small until the age of 3 (think below 5th percentile). From around 3-7 they are tall (90% and above). From 7-12 or so the girls have been pretty average to shortish. Two remained average. One is tall. My boy was on the larger side of average from 7-12 (The ped. warned me at 2yo that he might not make it to 5'5" as an adult. I laughed at her. Literally. She was a brand new doctor in the practice.). At 14, he is almost 6' tall and still growing. They make these nice charts. The thing is that the kids don't know they are supposed to stay on that nice curve. They just grow randomly and at will. If your ds is healthy and happy, don't worry about it.

[Mommy22alyns]

If your ds is healthy and happy, don't worry about it.

 

 

:iagree: And I don't have any boys, but Rebecca took over a year to go from 49 to 50 lbs. Slowdown isn't uncommon.

[Snickerdoodle]

You know, I really hate those growth charts.

 

At my kid's last physical the doctor said such a dumb thing to me about these growth charts it was really hard to take him seriously for anything else he said.

[Susan in TN]

My dd was always one of the taller ones in her ballet classes, but around that age, she started gradually becoming the shortest one in her classes. She turned 13 today and is still the shortest in her class. Over the past 4 years she's grown 1/2-1" per year. But honestly, that's probably just going to be normal for her - both her grandmothers are on the short side (5'2" and 5'4").

 

I remember hearing a mother stress out about her 18mo son, who was born in the 80% in height and was now in the 30%. Despite the fact that she and her husband were very short people, she was harassing her pediatrician to start growth hormone therapy on the poor kid. :tongue_smilie: I sure hope that doctor refused.

[eschuetter]

just another data point... my 95 percentile babies end up at the 75th and 50th percentiles usually... Everyone seems to grow at their own rate, with their own unique timing for growth spurts, etc.