Anyone have/had a child with delayed puberty?

[DLgal]

My DH was 5'10" when he graduated high school, wore a size M shirt, no facial hair at all, and voice still hadn't dropped. (sounded like Mickey Mouse with a Southern accent on helium, lol).

We started dating when he was just barely 22. He was 6', wearing a size L-XL shirt. Shaved his face once a month, even though it was all peach fuzz, and forced his voice down an octave when he talked.

Together for almost 27 years. He's now 6'4", 3XLT shirts, a beard down to the middle of his chest, and his voice is deeper.

I used to give him grief that our DD (born when he was 23) would hit puberty before him.

That is super strange. Maybe he should have been studied. That is not at all common. One of my cousins was like that at the end of HS. He was found to have a pretty major hormone issue that needed treatment. If he hadn't done it, he would have ended up infertile.

 

[Lilsia]

My husband was about 5'2" when he graduated HS. That summer, he grew so fast to his now height(5'9") that he got stretch marks on his hips and legs. Boys can still grow up to 19 years old. Girls usually stop about 16. My youngest takes after her dad and had a late growth spurt but it was fast. She grew from her girl body to her woman body just before she hit 16 and it only took her a couple of months. She also has stretch marks all over her body from her rapid body growth. My oldest started puberty at 11 and was done by 14. I know plenty of guys that were still short and small in HS but had their growth spurt after and are perfectly normal size. Everyone is different. Oh, and I wouldn't rely on the "predicted" height. Neither of my kids are what was predicted.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

That is super strange. Maybe he should have been studied. That is not at all common. One of my cousins was like that at the end of HS. He was found to have a pretty major hormone issue that needed treatment. If he hadn't done it, he would have ended up infertile.

His mom didn't care enough to get him in to the doctor when he had pneumonia or to the dentist. I don't think she would have cared to get him to a doctor to be studied. We joke it was the drugs (born in the 60s) she did, or the fact that his mom and bio father met at and worked together at a traveling circus (yeah, seriously).

My brother was short, like 5'6" until his junior year of high school. Shot up to 6' in 3 months. Had an uncle who was tall, all his life. He was 6' at 10 y.o.' 6'2" at his tallest. Weird things happen.

 

[DLgal]

Again, just to reiterate, it's not the HEIGHT we are most concerned with. Its the lack of, to put it bluntly, testicular enlargement (which signals the beginning of puberty) that is most concerning to the doctor. By 15, this is expected to have occurred in males, and it signals the START of puberty, with the main growth spurt happening in the next several years afterwards. When this marker of puberty does not materialize by age 15 in boys, it may be indicative of a problem, especially paired with a normal bone age. He is going to be short, we get that, and we don't care.

The endocrinologist has ordered several blood tests, and looking at the order, wants to measure Testosterone, FSH, LH, TSH, Free T4, conduct a food allergy profile, a childhood allergy profile, an allergy region 13, measure IGF-1 and IGFBP3. So, it appears that either hormonal imbalance or allergies may be the cause. We know he has environmental allergies, for which he is under the treatment of an allergist, and we know that he doesn't have any of the "big 7" food allergies, nor any nut allergies, as he was tested for those already with the skin test. So, I guess we will see.

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

I was kind of a late bloomer, began menstruation around 15.5 and stopped growing right around 16. I was 5'3" when I got my driver's license at 16 and that's been my height ever since. I also was a pretty intense child athlete, primarily gymnastics, so I had a VERY low body fat percentage for a long time, and that is why my doctors suspected I was a late bloomer. Both my sisters went through puberty earlier than me, my older one around 12 and my younger one around 13. Neither were particularly athletic. Height wise, we are all similar. My mom is 5'2", as is my older sister. My younger sister is 5'4".

My husband stopped growing by 17, but he was a slow creeper. He enlisted in the USMC at age 17.5 (with his parents signing a waiver so he could) and he was 5'4" then and never got taller. However, he had "matured" physically by age 14. His younger brother is tall. He is about 5'11" (that's tall for my husband's family). He did the majority of his growth probably between 14 and 18, because he is a lot younger than my husband and was at our wedding at age 13 and was shorter than me. His sister is about 5'7" and I don't know much about her timeline, as we aren't close to her.

So it sounds like there's at least one late bloomer in your immediate family, because of your athletics we can't really say 100% about you, but it may very well be a recessive gene that kicked in for him. If the endocrine balances seem to be normal, then I'd say he's a late bloomer.

 

[DLgal]

So it sounds like there's at least one late bloomer in your immediate family, because of your athletics we can't really say 100% about you, but it may very well be a recessive gene that kicked in for him. If the endocrine balances seem to be normal, then I'd say he's a late bloomer.

Yep, that's what we are trying to determine. The doctor said it's either ISS/Familial Short Stature or a hormonal imbalance. If you read my previous post, it's the lack of sexual maturity at this point that the doctor feels warrants a workup. Boys are expected to BEGIN puberty by 15 at the latest and my son is 15 and 4 months and nothing, not even an armpit hair.

 

[Searc]

Yep, that's what we are trying to determine. The doctor said it's either ISS/Familial Short Stature or a hormonal imbalance. If you read my previous post, it's the lack of sexual maturity at this point that the doctor feels warrants a workup. Boys are expected to BEGIN puberty by 15 at the latest and my son is 15 and 4 months and nothing, not even an armpit hair.

Your son is special needs, right? Does the doctor think there is any connection between that and his developmental delays? Wouldn't it seem normal to have this type of delay in special needs kids (sorry, I don't remember his exact diagnosis and don't want to mislabel him) who are usually developmentally behind in all aspects? Wouldn't this just be another facet of that?

 

[DLgal]

Your son is special needs, right? Does the doctor think there is any connection between that and his developmental delays? Wouldn't it seem normal to have this type of delay in special needs kids (sorry, I don't remember his exact diagnosis and don't want to mislabel him) who are usually developmentally behind in all aspects? Wouldn't this just be another facet of that?

No connection. He is autistic and has ADHD. There are some genetic syndromes that can cause growth/pubertal development issues that are also associated with autism, but when my son was diagnosed at age 2, he underwent genetic testing that ruled out any of those conditions. Autism and ADHD are associated with mental/emotional immaturity, but not typically physical immaturity. In any event, his 13 year old brother is also autistic (more severely so) and he is well into puberty. He needs to shave already, has acne, and is VERY hairy already.

 

[DietCoke18]

My 12 year old. She’s only 4 foot 6 and 66 pounds. But she was a gymnast for years and has more muscle then fat. Her pediatrician says she’s delayed and it’s super common and he’s not worried at all.

 

[DLgal]

My 12 year old. She’s only 4 foot 6 and 66 pounds. But she was a gymnast for years and has more muscle then fat. Her pediatrician says she’s delayed and it’s super common and he’s not worried at all.

Yep, that was me. I was TINY at that age too. 12 is also not really considered delayed puberty for girls. It won't happen until body fat reaches at least 17%. That took a long time for me.

 

[mjkacmom]

My 12 year old. She’s only 4 foot 6 and 66 pounds. But she was a gymnast for years and has more muscle then fat. Her pediatrician says she’s delayed and it’s super common and he’s not worried at all.

Dd18 was the same way, doctor wasn’t concerned because she was usually not even on the charts for weight and very low in height (competitive dancer, xc, track). Right before she turned 16 she had a 2 1/2 hiatus from dance and running over Christmas, hit 100 pounds, and that was that.

 

[DietCoke18]

Yep, that was me. I was TINY at that age too. 12 is also not really considered delayed puberty for girls. It won't happen until body fat reaches at least 17%. That took a long time for me.

he called it a “delayed maturation”. Again said it was common and wasn't concerned I was a late bloomer so I’m not worried either

 

[ColoradoDisneyFreaks]

Yep, that's what we are trying to determine. The doctor said it's either ISS/Familial Short Stature or a hormonal imbalance. If you read my previous post, it's the lack of sexual maturity at this point that the doctor feels warrants a workup. Boys are expected to BEGIN puberty by 15 at the latest and my son is 15 and 4 months and nothing, not even an armpit hair.

If it makes you feel any better, DS had almost no body hair at 15, he's now rocking the lower leg bigfoot impersonation and has to learn to shave his jawline, all in a year!