Growth

It's pretty safe to say that your son is probably not going to be 8' tall. He will probably be close in height to his father. The best indicator will be when they go through puberty. Girls who go through puberty early are often a little shorter than "average" - remember this could be 5'4 instead of 5'5 - not really a big deal. Boys who go through puberty early are often the tallest and biggest in middle school but then the shorter kids outgrow them later on. It depends on what age their growth plates fuse. If their growth plates fuse early, then they are shorter.

Both my babies were only 6.5 pounds when they were born so birthweight really isnt an indicator of future height. They will probably continue to follow their percentages on the growth charts as they get older.

my dad was 6'3" and my mom is 5'4". my brother and i were taller than most the kids in our class for many years. in our teens many of the kids started to pass us up in height. as adults, i am 5'5" and my brother is 5'10".

My husband was always tall for his age and the doctor told him he'd be at least 6 foot or taller at the rate he was growing.... but he leveled off in junior high and is only 5'10. I know a lot of boys who got their height early, they were the tallest in junior high and then stopped growing, then there are some boys that keep growing till they are in their early 20's.

Hi, D.,

I'm only 5'2". My husband is 5'11". Our youngest daughter was well over 9lbs at birth. She's 6 now and still in the 97 percentile for height. When she was 2, she measured 36in. I asked her doctor about the whole "double the height" thing (which would make her 6ft tall as an adult) and he said "oh, no, no, that's not totally true...she will taper off somewhat as she grows older, so she'll probably be more like 5'10" or 5'11"." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So at some point, my little baby will tower over me. Somewhere waaaay back I think there was a tall person in my family (actually, my parents are both "not tall", but my brother is over 6ft) and my husband comes from a long line of average height people, so it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out as she grows older!

As you know, every kid is different. Look to see how he has tracked along the growth curve thus far. It is possible for shorter parents to have taller kids. My husband is almost 6'5" and his parents were 5'5" and 6'. He said he was always tall for his age. I'm bringing down the average on my own kids, since I'm 5' 3 1/2" on a tall day. They are all about the 75% (daughter is 90%). They have followed the growth curves pretty consistently on height and weight. Just for fun, my husband and I have predicted the final height of each kid. It will be fun to see what they ultimately look like when they are done growing.

Hi D.,
As a baby my first daughter was off of the chart for her age and had to be measured on the older chart. For example, at 2 months she was so long and heavy that she was in the 90 percentile for a 4 month old. This continued until she was about 5. Then things slowed down. She was the tallest in the class until about age 10. Then other kids started to catch up and her growth slowed dramatically. At 12, she is still tall but falls somewhere in the 70 percentile (fairly average).
That was her experience. Time will tell with your son,
Take care,
B.

It kind of depends on when they hit puberty. The earlier they hit that, the sooner they stop growing. My husband is 6'3", and we always figured our son would be at least close to that as he was always on the tall side when he was younger. He was actually keeping pace with how my husband had grown for the most part. But he hit puberty about a year or so earlier than my husband, and while I don't know for sure if he is completely done, he's slowed WAY down. He is 5'11-1/4" and will be 16 in February. He is hoping to hit 6', and he may or may not make it. I'm certain at this point he will not be as tall as his dad! Bear in mind that there were times he was at the 95th percentile in his younger years! Bottom line is, you just never know. Our pediatrician mentioned that kids grow for roughly about a year after puberty, although she was referring specifically to my daughter when she said it so I don't know if she meant boys as well. (P.S.- I was very petite all through elementary school, always the smallest in my class. I am now 5'4" which is not real tall, but taller than anyone would have guessed and taller than the other women in my family!)

I come from 13 kids, I'm the third. My mom is barely 5'2 my dad is 5'7. One of my brothers is 6'2 most of my brothers come in around 6' (there are 7 boys. 2 are not done growing and we'll see where they cap off at...one is already 6'1.) Of the 6 girls, the shortest is 5'1 and the tallest is 5'9 1/2 we have one girl still in jr. high so we don't know where her height will end.
When I started high school I was barely over 5' I stopped growing at 23 and I am 5'6.
so who knows? lol.
I don't know that there is a way to predict how kids will turn out. I was always short short in my classes and now I'm average height. I had a sister who was always tall--and still is.
most of my brothers were small kids through school but now are taller than most of their peers. one just broke a bone last year and found out he was done growing and he was bummed since most of my brothers kept growing until their early 20s and he is just 18.
not much help maybe but those are the facts I know of...lol.

my daughter has always been off the charts since birth. she is now 12 and 5 feet 7 inches tall. I was told by her pediatrician that she will be 6 feet tall. So i guess once your son gets into his teen age years it will eventually tapper off. Its been tough though because people think she is older than she really is.

I have a brother 6'4and 1/2". I have a sister who is crowding 5'. I have kids of all shapes and sizes. I would worry if your son was petite and your daughter was tall! I have heard of it happening!

Be happy the are healthy and growing. My one son was big as a baby and is the tallest in the house.(6'3") Each child is unque and enjoy the surprises as they grow.

C. B

I have 6 siblings, and I have fairly tall parents (6'1" and 5'8"). My mother told me that she always thought that my sister would be the tallest girl in the family, because she was always the tallest out of all of her friends, that is up until Jr. High school when she stopped growing. She is now the shortest girl in the family at about 5'5" (out of 4 girls). My brother, on the other hand, was always on the small side growing up. At a check up when he was young, the doctor told my mother that she didn't think that my brother would be as tall as my father. The doctor predicted that he would grow no taller than 5'11" - 6'. My brother has finished growing in height and he is now 6'4" and taller than anyone else in the family, so you never know what could happen with your children!

You may already know this but on babycenter.com there is a section called "Tools" or "Calculators" where you can predict a child's height. The soonest they will use measurements to plug into their calculator is when the child is 4 years old.

Also, I was told by my pediatrician another way to estimate height. For boys, take the mother's height and add 5 inches and then average that with the father's height. For girls, take the father's height and subtract 5 inches and average that number with the mom's height.

I am sorry I can't comment any more than that, as I don't have any personal experience---my oldest is 8. FWIW, as far as genetics go height or being tall is dominant. So even though your son's parents are average in height, your consideration of the heights of past generations is completely relevant. And lastly, I am the shortest in my tall family at 5'10" and my husband is the tallest in his average sized family at 6'4"---I think those results are very much affected by nutrition because I was a picky eater and my husband eats everything. My husband also heard that if the body undergoes stress (like starving yourself for high school wrestling--that's what he did :0) and then eating again after the season and going through a growth spurt, the growth responds favorably for height to that as well. My meaning---there are so many factors. So for an estimate I would suggest you use the two methods above and then average those and I bet you will come pretty close.

Best wishes.

My hubby is 1 of 6 kids. Their mom is 5'7" and their dad is 5'11". My hubby is 6'6". The shortest of the 5 boys is 6'3" and the girl is 5'10". They don't have height anywhere either - somehow the mix of mom and dad made for some tall kids!

I'm 5'4" and hope my kids are taller than me! So far, my dd is tall for her age, but very slender. My son is average height, but 26 lbs at 1 year. Holy smokes!

Oh, to know the future! Someone once told me that around 1st grade, things even out. Did it work for your daughter?

Hi D.,
Every kid is different, my friend was the tallest kid in class through grade school and Jr. High, he quit growing at 12 and it was high school before anyone else caught up to him. I have another friend that was always the shortest even in high school, at our 10 year class reunion he was the tallest. He grew 6" after high school. My own son was below the 0-100 scale they use for kids until he was 2 1/2, I was really worried, the Dr. said he could take off at some point, others take off early and slow down faster with growth. My son is now the 2nd tallest in his 4th grade class. Don't worry, there is no way to guess what will happen, as long as he is happy, healthy and growing he is fine. If he continues to grow really fast don't be surprised at growing pains, they are real, my step sons both had them as teens.
Have fun,
SarahMM

Hi D., I don't know if there's really a way to tell. My mom is 6', my dad is 5'11. In 7th grade I was 5'9", 104 lbs. By college, I was 6'0" 140 lbs. My brother, was on the taller side but not really tall until high school. He is 6'5". I just don't think that there's any way that you can tell what kids will turn out to be height wise.