Weston had his 18 month checkup today, and it seems like he's still at the very very very bottom of the charts - he's still 19 pounds, same as at his 15 month checkup, and 76cm (about 18"), up 1cm from 15 months. This puts him in the 2nd percentile for both height and weight. I'm not worried about weight - B was always super light too - but I'm pretty stressed about his height. We've been referred to a paediatrician to make sure there's nothing else going on, but I'm so worried that he's going to be Seth Green sized. Did anybody have very short babies who caught up? My husband is 5'6" and I'm 5'8" so he was never going to be a giant, but both my dad and my brother are 6'3" so I thought he might get a little of that!
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I'm sorry I don't have a comparable story to help with, but just as a small reassurance maybe, 76 cm is actually almost 30 inches. DD was only slightly taller than that at her 18m visit (77.5 cm) though of course the percentiles are different for girls. We never stressed about it at all. I think if you aren't worried about his weight then it makes sense not to worry about his height either!
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@PawPrints: Whoops, of course it is! As I typed 18 I thought "wait, that sounds very small. Like, newborn small. Oh well." Thank you!
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Yeah at 30 inches I wouldn't worry too much. My son was like 34 inches at that age and deemed extremely tall and really 4 inches is a finger length - so not a big deal if you put our two kids together. And like the percentages and ratios are so weird. They have never made sense to me. At maybe 3 if he's not growing in spurts I would have him checked out but at this age I wouldn't worry as long as he is offered a healthy and nutritious diet.
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I have the exact opposite concern.... my 15 month old is in the 100% for height and weight. I sometimes worry that he's going to be so much bigger than his peers and his older brother. My doctor doesn't seem concerned.
I think as long as they are on the charts and continue to grow, doctors are happy.
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My daughter was pretty small, maybe 20th percentile until about 18 months. Now at almost 4 she’s more like 50th percentile, and she has probably been steadily around the 50th percentile since around 2.
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So I just went and looked at our growth chart. At 18 months DS was 30 inches. DS and I are both about 5'8, so I've always known he probably won't be tall.
DS has always been about average size or a little shorter than the kids in his daycare class. I've never been concerned about his height and neither has his pediatrician.
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My son is 1st percentile weight and 15th height. He's basically tracked the same for 5 years although he might've be 1% in both early on. (He's a preemie also.) My husband is 6'4 and I'm still expecting him to catch up in high school, but not before. As he's gotten older many more kids are similar height. (None weight has little though!) H can still wear 18 mo shorts!
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@erinbaderin: my daughter was a bit shorter than that at 18months and weighed about the same I think. I took her to a pediatrician too, and he ordered some bloodwork (which I haven't done yet) but he was not very concerned. It's hard not to worry but if he's meeting his milestones I bet things are OK. Someone's gotta be the smallest AND the biggest! That's why the growth %iles are the way they are
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I just looked at a chart that showed 5 foot six for an adult male is about the 5th percentile. So maybe he will just be around your husband's height. We are the opposite. My husbands family is tall and my family is short. Seems like it's just a roll of the genetic dice who they will take after.
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My son has never broken double digits for height (maybe once). He's just small. My husband is tall, I am average. But my MIL is short, my sister is short, and my dad is kind of short for a male. I assume he'll hit a growth spurt at some point, but I'm not too concerned about it. As long as he's stayed on his curve and not dropped significantly, I don't think it's anything to worry too much about.
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May I politely point out that it will also be ok if he is small? Which he probably won't be, given his genetics. My baby is small (1% height) and DD is also small (below 10% height) and we are not worried because I am 5'1" and DH is 5'5". Both sides of our families are full of short people. We are Seth Green sized and it is not the end of the world.
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@catlady: Oh man, I'm sorry, I definitely didn't mean to make you feel like it would be a disaster if he was short! I just feel like for boys, in particular, being much shorter than his classmates opens him up to teasing (although obviously, there are a whole world of things that kids will tease other kids about).
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@erinbaderin: Haha, no I get it and no offense taken. I still have hope that my DS will take after his grandfather (the one tall person in our families) and I'm definitely worried about teasing too. I just wanted to give you a different kind of reassurance on the off chance that your son ends up smaller than you expected. DH and I have had a lifetime of being smaller people but we are happy and healthy and successful.
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