Height for 12 yo

[minkydog]

Christian was about 5'0" at age 12 and he's about 5"10"+ now at age 16. DS24 was shorter than that by at least 2-3". In fact, when DS24 started 9th grade he was shorter than me (I'm 5'3") and easily the shortest boy in his class. I kept telling him not to worry, his legs would come in--all the men in my family are over 6'2". And they did. He was a shorty for about another year, then shot up 6" in his junior year. Today, DS24 is *only* 6'1" so he gets ribbed by some of the other guys in the family.

I don't think I'd be too worried. Twelve is still pretty young as far as growth goes. Boys seem to go about it in one of two ways. Either they go through puberty early and grow at a steady pace until they reach about 17, or they save it all up, blast through puberty and shoot up in about 6 months.

 

[divabydisney]

I can tell you I'm right around 5'6" and when I went to buy hockey gear a few years ago, the guy at the store said I could buy intermediate goalie gear because I was the height/weight of an average 12-13 year old which it was designed for. So take that for what it's worth.

LOL!


Well I won't panic yet I suppose. He asked to be measured quite often. But will definitely be mentioning it at his next appointment. Yes, they are all very tall which is why I was a little concerned last year. Like pp, DS has always been in the 90th-95th percentile for both weight and height, he's always been extremely well proportioned and this past year, not any movement. His day will come, and they say it all comes at once. One things for sure, his feet don't have a problem growing.

 

[MomofKatie]

The disparity in height/weight at that age (12-14, middle school age) is amazing. We attended DD's 7th grade honors night a few weeks ago- there were kids that were well under 4'6" and boys and girls over 6'! One of DD's friends, a boy, is probably 4'4" and 60lbs soaking wet. Another boy in her class is over 6'2" and wrestles in the heavyweight class (over 215lbs).

DD is in the 50th %ile for height for her age and in the 25th for weight (5', 85lbs). She had always been one of the shortest in class, but once she started 7th grade, she really caught up with most of her friends. Her expected final height has been predicted at around 5'2", so I guess most everyone will pass her up again soon.

I wouldn't worry about it- soon enough, you will be marveling over having to buy new jeans every other month because he is growing so fast.

 

[Ceila]

I work in a middle school (and have a 12-year-old DS myself) and the differences in height are amazing. My son has always been the tallest in his class, but in the past year several have finally caught up with him. It makes it look like his growth has slowed, but it really hasn't. If you are really worried, a call to the doctor would probably put your mind at ease.

 

[goofy!]

How tall is your 12 yo son? I am a little concerned that my son isn't growing. He hasn't grown any since last summer. He always grew steadily and was always one of the tallest in his class and on sports teams. A lot of kids have passed him up now and even the younger neighbor boy is taller than him. He takes a few medications but neither are known to stunt growth. He eats well and active so pretty healthy. He has always been one of the tallest and is now benched a lot because all the other kids have surpassed him by like 6 inches. He has not shown any signs of puberty and all the other boys are going through it now. I know not all kids are the same and go through things differently but he feels bad. No matter how many times I tell him it's ok, in the back of my mind I'm questioning it to. His last physical was about 9 months ago. So we will go to the dr soon. It's really taken a toll on his esteem and he is starting to gain a little weight since he isn't growing like he used to. We also think some of the medication is affecting that.

Sounds very much like my son at that age. He was always in the 99% of height as a baby, toddler and early years. Then, as middle school hit, his growth plateaued, he dropped on the charts and his friends grew much, much taller than him. I just came across his freshman homecoming picture. He is at least 6" shorter than his friends.

One of his best friends teased him that he would be taller than him. He got his adult height of 5' 9" early in high school. I reassured my son (not that he would believe me) that the guys on my side of the family and some on his father's side didn't finish growing until mid-college.

He graduated high school at 5'10", still disappointed he didn't make 6' like every one of his uncles and grandfathers.

I told him to just be patient.

He came home from his freshman year of college at 6 ft.
Came home from his sophomore year of college at 6'1"
Came home from his junior year of college at over 6'2".

And he is still growing.

And he was the shortest in his class from about 6th grade and then about average upon graduation of high school.

Unless the doctor uncovers some growth hormone issues, guys can grow until their 20's. Mine certainly did. And he now towers over the guy that relentlessly put him down for being short in high school.

 

[Debbie7452]

I could have written your post. I am 5'8 and DH is 6'3". Our son turns 13 on Tues. and puberty is NOWHERE in sight.He is just under 5'. In fact, he just had a sports physical (for football,LOL). and the Dr. told me he is still far away from puberty. He checked "something" in private...not sure exactly what he did.

Dr. had reassured me many times that this is very normal for the boys who will be very tall. My DH didn't hit his growth spurt until 9th grade! DS has a 5 yo. brother who is 49" so they don't look so different in size and it makes DS#1 crazy so I totally get it. DS tells everybody towering over him that someday he will be taller than them and they scoff at him. It makes Middle School "interesting" for them. My son gets picked on sometimes, poor kid. But there's nothing you can do to rush naturally late puberty!

 

[indimom]

Sounds very much like my son at that age. He was always in the 99% of height as a baby, toddler and early years. Then, as middle school hit, his growth plateaued, he dropped on the charts and his friends grew much, much taller than him. I just came across his freshman homecoming picture. He is at least 6" shorter than his friends.

One of his best friends teased him that he would be taller than him. He got his adult height of 5' 9" early in high school. I reassured my son (not that he would believe me) that the guys on my side of the family and some on his father's side didn't finish growing until mid-college.

He graduated high school at 5'10", still disappointed he didn't make 6' like every one of his uncles and grandfathers.

I told him to just be patient.

He came home from his freshman year of college at 6 ft.
Came home from his sophomore year of college at 6'1"
Came home from his junior year of college at over 6'2".

And he is still growing.

And he was the shortest in his class from about 6th grade and then about average upon graduation of high school.

Unless the doctor uncovers some growth hormone issues, guys can grow until their 20's. Mine certainly did. And he now towers over the guy that relentlessly put him down for being short in high school.

My husband and I just went to our 20th year class reunion and were amazed by how many classmates grew considerable following graduation. They definitely were not that tall in high school.

I could have written your post. I am 5'8 and DH is 6'3". Our son turns 13 on Tues. and puberty is NOWHERE in sight.He is just under 5'. In fact, he just had a sports physical (for football,LOL). and the Dr. told me he is still far away from puberty. He checked "something" in private...not sure exactly what he did.

Dr. had reassured me many times that this is very normal for the boys who will be very tall. My DH didn't hit his growth spurt until 9th grade! DS has a 5 yo. brother who is 49" so they don't look so different in size and it makes DS#1 crazy so I totally get it. DS tells everybody towering over him that someday he will be taller than them and they scoff at him. It makes Middle School "interesting" for them. My son gets picked on sometimes, poor kid. But there's nothing you can do to rush naturally late puberty!

My BIL is 6'3" and his brother is 6'5". Their mother said they did the same thing. BIL remembers hitting his growth spurt the summer between 10th and 11th grade, he was growing so fast that summer he couldn't anticipate his size and was constantly knocking things over and just overall clutzy.

 

[A4Disney]

My ds just turned 12 and he is 5' 6". He has always been tall. I'm 5' 10" and dh is 6'. His ped projected that he'd end up around 6' 2". My dd is 16 and has hovered around 5' 6" since 7th grade. The ped projected her at 5' 10", but I think she's done growing.

It seems to me that many boys don't hit their growth spurt until 14-15 years old. I work at the middle school and it seems like I say good bye to boys in the spring and they turn into men over the summer. I'll see boys who were shorter than me in middle school and they tower over me in high school.

Years ago, I was told the average height for women was 5' 3" and the average for men was 5' 7". I don't know if that has changed.

My son was 5' 6" at 12. He's now 14 (he'll be 15 in September) and he's 6" feet tall . I'm 5' 3 and my dh is 6 '3". The Dr thinks he'll end up being at least 6' 3".

 

[momof5boys]

Ohhhh... I know the answer! You won't know how tall he will be until he is done growing! Sorry, I'm teasing but based on my siggy I have tons of experience with this topic! I'm an ER nurse and can guess the ages of boys just by talking to them, which thrills the shorter ones because they are used to being thought of as much younger because of their height. I am 5'8" and my ex and current husbands are 6'2". But you can't look at just the immediate family. I am the tallest in my family and DH is as tall as his brother but no one else in the family is even close to 6'!. My DSS is 20, he was done growing at 19 (found that out when he hurt his knee, grow plate was fused, so he's done) he topped out at 5' 6ish. His mother's family is all around that size. The 2 16yo's are right now looking me in the eye, very slow growth up to this point, just inching up, but both started puberty around 15, still in the middle of it, not much facial hair, still very skinny, not much muscle mass, etc. The 14yo is just starting, he got alittle taller, but his voice is still high pitched (I still confuse him and his 9yo brother if I hear them talking in the other room!) I do think the 14yo may be the tallest, because he's about 5'6" now and hasn't even hit hard into puberty. My older kids were tallest in elementary school, short in middle school and short-average in high school. I think it's fun to watch how they grow! Definately interesting!
Now as an aside my nephew hit puberty hard at 12 and got taller than all of his cousins! That really annoyed my kids but they caught up to him now 3 years later!
Your son will get as tall as he's supposed to, I know it's hard especially with boys if they're shorter than most (been there, done that) but he will eventually catch up and either average out or be taller than most I'm sure. My 16yo didn't believe it, but now that he's 5'8" he feels differently and knows he may still have a few inches to go. Good luck.
Oh and for the people who were wondering how the doctor can tell how far into puberty a boy is when doing their physicials, they can tell by testicle size (sorry if that's TMI, but it's the way it is!)

 

[njmom47]

Ds was always one of the tallest (if not the tallest) of his friends and on his baseball team. When they were 12 and 13, he was about 5'5 and some of the kids were catching up to him. Now at 15 1/2 he is 6'3 but he did grow steadily. DH is 6'2 and I'm 5'9 1/2 so we figured ds would be tall. DH says he was a "short" kid at the end of freshman year and grew 5" over the summer! So you just never know. I have a friend who took her son to a growth specialist and they did the growth hormone. Her son is now about 5'7at 19. I don't know if she will take that route with her other son who is small in height and build.

 

[divabydisney]

Well in light of our discussion, I came across some startling info for me. I went to fill my son's medication and as I was looking at the side effects noticed that one of them now listed is stunted growth. I am so frustrated at this. I have asked his doctors for the past 9 mo and they always assured me that the medicine doesn't cause stunted growth and delayed puberty. Well all of them are now saying that they do. I feel TERRIBLE. I was so against meds at first. And I know having a shorter kid isn't the end of the world. But I just can't help feeling bad about it. I'm going to call his dr tomorrow and see what I can do. He is taking Concerta for ADHD and have read that all of the stimulant drugs show this now. With this medicine being relatively new this information is just now coming out. Maybe it has impacted him, maybe not but there's a lot of info out there that this has done this to other kids.

 

[PeterPan&Wendy1970]

My almost 12 year old boy is 5 feet even. He's pretty average. I have noticed from other friends kids that right before a growth spurt at age 12 or 13, they tend to get a little chunky and then shoot up. When I was 11 I was the same height as my 13 year old brother - you can imagine how that went over. Then he shot up 5 inches in one year. My 7 year old dd was in the 10th for height and 85th for weight last year. She grew 3 1/2 inches in height and is now 75th height, 50 weight.
Try not to worry! I'm sure he'll sprout up soon, especially since you said he is gaining weight (so next comes the spurt!)
Me dh ds 11 ds 9 dd 7

 

[MamaLema]

DS14 - the tallest in his class
DS12 - the smallest in his class
DS 7 - the tallest in his class

I also worry a lot for my DS12. The doctor told me not to worry, even though he is the 20th percentile for height. I think I worry even more because his siblings are so tall for their age. Actually DS7 is catching up to him in height He is very upset about this, which makes me upset too

I am 5'9 and DH is 5'4 so I'm not really sure how kids turn out when mom is much taller than dad

 

[lori123]

I have short kiddos - so that doesn't alarm me on it's own. What the pediatrician does watch it the growth chart. It should curve along the "path" - meaning that if they were in the 50% for height one year, they should still be about the 50% the next. What they look for is a drop in what it typical for your specific child. I have one who is in the 2% for height and weight - and several inches shorter than her twin. But she is normal for her and still growing at a steady rate. Here is a link where you can find the growth chart for your son's age. If you know what he was a year ago (earlier than that even better) you can see if there is a huge "fall" from his natural curve.
http://www.healthychildren.org/english/tips-tools/pages/default.aspx

 

[Debbie7452]

I don't think you should panic and decide your boy will be short based on that side effect warning. There are a million possible side effects listed on every medicine. If it's any consolation I have a relative9female) who has taken boatloads of those kinds of medicines and she had EARLY puberty issues. Tall boys mature later. Your son will get there!

 

[3boymthr]

I would definitely not start worrying too much yet. But do mention it to your Dr. at his next appointment.

I worry about my oldest DS too. He is 15 and only 5'4". My DS' dr. is not concerned because she said he is growing, slowly but growing, and he has gained weight. But because while his grandfathers, father and uncles are above average height he has a great grandfather who is only 5'4" I find myself constantly thinking oh please please don't let him have stopped growing.

I console myself with the fact that as some PP have noted some men don't hit their height at an early age, and unlike girls, men can continue to grow for years past when they hit puberty. Case in point, DH was 5'4 when he started HS, 5'8 when he finished his JR year in HS. He was 5'10 at age 18 when he entered the navy shortly after he graduated. He was 20 when he suddenly had a growth spurt. He'd grown 2 inches in the matter of a couple of weeks. He didn't even know he had grown until his shop supervisor told him that he needed to get new pants as high water pants weren't regulation.

 

[3boymthr]

Well in light of our discussion, I came across some startling info for me. I went to fill my son's medication and as I was looking at the side effects noticed that one of them now listed is stunted growth. I am so frustrated at this. I have asked his doctors for the past 9 mo and they always assured me that the medicine doesn't cause stunted growth and delayed puberty. Well all of them are now saying that they do. I feel TERRIBLE. I was so against meds at first. And I know having a shorter kid isn't the end of the world. But I just can't help feeling bad about it. I'm going to call his dr tomorrow and see what I can do. He is taking Concerta for ADHD and have read that all of the stimulant drugs show this now. With this medicine being relatively new this information is just now coming out. Maybe it has impacted him, maybe not but there's a lot of info out there that this has done this to other kids.

Oldest DS also takes Concerta. This has been a side effect listed on the product since DS started taking it - for a good 7 years. We were advised that stunted growth was a side effect of all these medications when we first considered them - again 7 years ago. In fact DS went for a growth check every 6 months for several years to make sure that the meds weren't stunting his growth. I was told that if they appeared to be stunting his growth it would show up fairly quickly and that they'd take him off the meds at the first sign he wasn't growing. I'm surprised your Drs. didn't tell you this when you first put him on them.

 

[divabydisney]

I was told that if they appeared to be stunting his growth it would show up fairly quickly and that they'd take him off the meds at the first sign he wasn't growing. I'm surprised your Drs. didn't tell you this when you first put him on them.

This is why I'm frustrated. They haven't said anything, and when I talked to the pharmacist today, she said that it came out in 2007. I have asked them at his check ups everytime when the do the height/weight check. They always would say the same thing, "kids growth tends to slow down as they get older." I am going to call tomorrow. I think always being in the same spot and then going down and down and down to at the 50% mark is a little extreme but what do I know. I'm sure it happens. He has been on it since about 1st grade. I have talked to my son as he doesn't like taking it anyway but he is afraid he will lose control of his behavior. I want to get this all figured out this summer. We will talk to the dr and see if they will allow us to go off of them for awhile and see how he does. Of course this can all be unrelated and was also told that it's possible once he goes off it that his height will catch up. He has gained 8lbs in the past 2 months.

 

[powellrj]

I am 5ft 1, DH is 6ft 4. Our kids are all somewhere in between.

With my middle DS he was always average. When he got to middle/high school his friends were always taller than he was. He is now going into his Jr year in college and came home and went to church with me where he saw his 2 best friends from HS. When they graduated both these boys were taller than DS, now he TOWERS over them. I mean they are both under 6 ft and he is around 6ft 3 and still growing!

DH was 5ft 6 when he got his drivers license and graduated and now he is 6ft 4, so we are just a family of late bloomers!

 

[disneylovin24]

I can't believe how many 6+ 12 year olds you know....most of the 17 year old boys I know are under 6 foot

And I am actually not even kidding! I don't know if they are still waiting to hit their final growth spurt or if this generation of males is going to be a short one I'm 5'10 and taller then probably 75% of the boys in my Senior Class.