parents of super short kids

[mistysue]

Does anybody remember if they had a three year old who was 33", and how long it took them to get to 40" or so to ride rides? I guess his lifetime average is a little under 5"/year, but I thought the preschool years they sort of slow down until elementary school.
His older brother was just under 36" at 3 and could get on some 40" rides (some got turned away) at 4 1/2. He was short but at least made the bottom of the growth chart. I'm just being curious if anybody wants to take a guess or knows a kid to compare to. I've determined we have at least another year before he is getting on the kiddie rides at Cedar point, I'm starting to wonder if this kid is going to be 5 or 6 by the time he gets on Soarin'.
He doesn't have any sort of diagnosis, my youngest is just really little with low muscle tone. (he has an indeterminate gene series in his LMNA sequence, so there may or may not be a reason but he started walking which was the doctor's biggest worry)

 

[lanejudy]

My DD was tiny up through preschool (well below the 1st percentile in height -- the dr actually stopped giving me that info). But she started to catch up a bit in preschool and now by elementary school she's at about the 25th percentile at 51 inches and 9 yrs old.

So, I guess my point is, the "norm" is just that -- a norm. There are those whose growth spurts occur early, those whose growth spurts occur later. If your doctor isn't worried, I really wouldn't worry either. If the main concern is that he's not tall enough for amusement park rides, maybe doing some different vacations for a couple of years would be good so as not to call attention to his height challenges.

Enjoy your vacation!

 

[mistysue]

I'm not worried so much as trying to speculate. It was just a thought. That's neat how your daughter shot up so much. His doctor didn't bother trying to show me a growth chart he just told me he is growing at the same rate. I looked it up myself and laughed at how small it makes him seem.

 

[nfceagles]

My July 2005 DS was not on the charts at 1 year old and diagnosed Failure to Thrive. With feeding therapy and food allergy diagnosis he has now moved into the 0-10% range on the charts. I don't know how tall he was at 3, but I do know the following.

Feb 2010 (4.5) he was not able to ride the 40" rides.
January 2012 (6.5) he was able to ride the 40" rides and he rode Space Mountain at 44" (I'm pretty sure he just made the ht requirement.)
Summer (2013) (8) he was just tall enough to ride the 48" rides at our local park, but it must have been close because I remember one time he was not allowed on a ride he had ridden previously.

 

[Aladora]

My July 2005 DS was not on the charts at 1 year old and diagnosed Failure to Thrive. With feeding therapy and food allergy diagnosis he has now moved into the 0-10% range on the charts. I don't know how tall he was at 3, but I do know the following. Feb 2010 (4.5) he was not able to ride the 40" rides. January 2012 (6.5) he was able to ride the 40" rides and he rode Space Mountain at 44" (I'm pretty sure he just made the ht requirement.) Summer (2013) (8) he was just tall enough to ride the 48" rides at our local park, but it must have been close because I remember one time he was not allowed on a ride he had ridden previously.

Funny, I've also got a July 2005 boy and he is as petite as his parents! (I'm not quite 5 ft 2 and DH is only 5 ft 6)

I'll check when we get home but I know that now at 8 yrs, 9 months he is just barely 4 ft 1!

 

[cgncga]

Funny, I've also got a July 2005 boy and he is as petite as his parents! (I'm not quite 5 ft 2 and DH is only 5 ft 6)

I'll check when we get home but I know that now at 8 yrs, 9 months he is just barely 4 ft 1!

That seems tall to me since my daughter is the same height at almost 10 1/2.

Catherine

 

[Aladora]

That seems tall to me since my daughter is the same height at almost 10 1/2.

Catherine

At 8 years and 9 months and 49 inches tall, DS is in the 10th percentile.

Oh, and to the OP, I just checked and at 5 years almost exactly he was 41.5 inches tall.

 

[mistysue]

It's good to hear he won't be the only 4 1/2 year old who likely won't be on the 40" rides. I hadn't thought about how short he was in a while so it was a little bit of a shock this morning to realize that he likely wasn't going to get up to 36" this summer.
We put off Cedar Point last summer because all 3 kids were in different height ranges They have a min and max for kids rides there- DD could only do grown up rides, DS1 could only do kiddie rides and DS2 was too short for all but maybe 5 things in the park. I remember other parents being surprised the year DS1 was 3 and he barely got on the kiddie rides as they were loading their 2 year olds in. Looks like the little guy will be 4 before he even gets on those.
This morning our pediatrician confirmed that he was remembering correctly that DH is about 5'5" and said "well, you don't get great danes from chihuahuas"

 

[megxta]

My girls are both super little the oldest is almost 5 and just hit 34 inches. She was diagnosed as failure to thrive at 13 months until 2.5 yrs. My youngest was born at only 27 wks and is also very little at only 5% of the growth chart. They are just both destined to be little like thier mother (4'11") lol

 

[nfceagles]

Funny, I've also got a July 2005 boy and he is as petite as his parents! (I'm not quite 5 ft 2 and DH is only 5 ft 6)

I'll check when we get home but I know that now at 8 yrs, 9 months he is just barely 4 ft 1!

Wow! They sound almost exactly the same age/size. DS is right around 49" now too. We were just at Universal last weekend and he made the 48" rides without any doubts, but not more than an inch or so over. Meanwhile his little sister is almost 6 and just barely missed getting on the 48" rides. She's almost the same height as him and I frequently get asked if they are twins despite the nearly 3 year age gap. She runs about the 90th percentile. I come from a short family (my DD was 5'6 and my brother is about 5'4), but DH is 6' so I'm waiting and dreading DD outgrowing her big brother.

 

[Jen_in_NH]

My 4 year old has a type if dwarfism , and is about 31 inches. Still not tall enough for the Goofy Rollercoaster , or for the speedway. He was bummed out last time we were there, and I'm hoping by the time we go next fall , he might grow an inch or 2.

 

[Hannathy]

I'm surprised at these failure to thrive diagnosis es. My DS has always been off the charts for weight, extremely skinny but the DR always said as long as he was going up and steadily he had his own chart and that was all that mattered that he was going up at a steady rate. He is now 5'6" and weighs 98 pounds soaking wet on a good day.

My kids were short and were 5 before they could ride the 40 inch rides. My DS was a tiny bit taller and I remember wearing his highest shoes and going first thing in the morning so he could ride Mission Space when it first opened and he was 5 1/2.

 

[mistysue]

Part of failure to thrive depends on if they drop off or are always tiny. My DD was diagnosed failure to thrive because she dropped off the chart and sort of froze in place. She was still never as small as DS whose size has never been a concern, they have done a lot of testing to try to figure out why he is so weak though.

 

[PinkBudgie]

My twin boys were born at 34 weeks. One had a heart defect and was not really growing. After heart surgery at 4 months, he finally began to grow. But both were always very small. The one with heart defect continued to be below the growth charts, his brother was just barely on it. The smaller one was on high calorie formula from the doctor for a long time.

We took them to DL when they were almost 7 years old and at that age they were just barely tall enough to ride everything. So I guess that made them 46" or 48" at age 7 to give you an idea. ( I forget what the tallest rides were back then)
They are 20 now and I don't know exact heights but one is about 5'8" the one with the heart defect is about 5'6". We are not tall people though either- I'm 5'3" and DH is 5'8". BTW- both are doing well and are in college and healthy.

 

[GinnyBear's_mom]

DD is tiny and was around 33 inches at age 3. She was born at 35 weeks and one month after her 5th birthday she was 39 and 3/4 inches. With normal sneakers she was able to go on the 40" height requirement rides. She loves thrill rides and was devastated when her younger cousin was able to ride Everest and she couldn't. We are going again when she is 6 and I have little hope that she will be 44 inches by that time to ride EE, so we may just skip Animal Kingdom to avoid her disappointment. She has grown just under 2 inches in the past year.

 

[mistysue]

DD is tiny and was around 33 inches at age 3. She was born at 35 weeks and one month after her 5th birthday she was 39 and 3/4 inches. With normal sneakers she was able to go on the 40" height requirement rides. She loves thrill rides and was devastated when her younger cousin was able to ride Everest and she couldn't. We are going again when she is 6 and I have little hope that she will be 44 inches by that time to ride EE, so we may just skip Animal Kingdom to avoid her disappointment. She has grown just under 2 inches in the past year.

Aww, it's always sad when they actually want the thrill rides. By the time she was 2 my daughter was very tall and has stayed that way. She is the kid that was getting cut off from the kiddie rides and being upset by it because she doesn't want the thrill rides. Now my youngest is so tiny and he is definitely the dare devil type. At her height your DD is probably a good predictor of his size, maybe it will be easier for him since the rest of us don't go on the big ones anyways. It will be so nice to not need the rider swaps anymore someday.