“Children who are short because their parents are short (familial short stature) or due to no obvious underlying cause (idiopathic short stature) usually grow at a normal rate for their age, or a slightly slower rate, and they track along a centile line on the growth chart,” says professor Dattani.
Many children who are short for their age will be normal in height as adults and have no disorder other than some delay in the timing of their growth. However, there are a variety of medical conditions that can also stunt growth and result in short stature.
Taking care of himself — eating well, exercising regularly, and getting plenty of rest — is the best way for your son to help his body reach its natural potential. No pill, formula, or nutritional supplement can increase someone's height. Mostly, our genes determine how tall we will be.
“They eventually catch up and reach a normal adult height. They're the kid that goes away over the summer of grade 11 and comes back a foot taller," says Heard.
Many disorders can cause short stature, including achondroplasia, hormone deficiency, delayed puberty, Cushing's disease, malnutrition, malabsorption disorders, such as celiac disease, and others. A child must be examined by a health care provider if short stature is suspected or present.
Though it's probable that your real height is close to your predicted height, this isn't always the case. It's entirely possible for two short parents to have a tall child, and vice versa. It's just more likely that the child of short people will end up vertically challenged.
Treatment for Growth Hormone Deficiency
If it's determined that growth hormone deficiency is the cause of a child's short stature than the child can be treated with growth hormone therapy, which is given by injections 6-7 days a week. A big misconception is that growth hormones can make any child taller.
Changes in Boys
They tend to grow most quickly between ages 12 and 15. The growth spurt of boys is, on average, about 2 years later than that of girls. By age 16, most boys have stopped growing, but their muscles will continue to develop.
However, several formulas can provide a reasonable guess for child growth. Here's a popular example: Add the mother's height to the father's height in either inches or centimeters. Add 5 inches (13 centimeters) for boys or subtract 5 inches (13 centimeters) for girls.
A short child is defined as any child whose height is less than the 3rd percentile for his or her cohort. A quick check with your doctor will let you know if your child's growth and height are acceptable. It is important that you track your child's growth (both height and weight) regularly.
In both sexes, height growth continues until the growth plates close toward the end of puberty. Growth plates usually close at 15–16 years old in girls and at 17–18 years old in boys. However, this period can rarely continue until a person is 19–20 years old.
Slow growth occurs when a child is not growing at the average rate for their age. The delay may be due to an underlying health condition, such as growth hormone deficiency. Some growth problems are genetic. Others are caused by a hormonal disorder or the inadequate absorption of food.
If you are a man with average height, you can expect your son to be a few inches (centimeters) taller than you. This is because the regression line and the SD line both coincide at the average heights. For instance, a father with an average height of 67.7 inches (172cm) will have a 68.7-inch-tall (175cm-tall) son.
Chances are you'll be around the same height as your parents. If one parent is tall and one short, then you're likely to end up somewhere in between. But you could be taller or shorter, too. Boy, there are a lot of "buts" when it comes to height!
Scientists estimate that about 80 percent of an individual's height is determined by the DNA sequence variations they have inherited, but which genes these changes are in and what they do to affect height are only partially understood.
If a mother and father are the same height, their daughters will be roughly the same height, but their sons will be taller. This is because in order for the mother to be the same height as her husband, she must have more of the other 'tall genes' than him, and these get passed onto her sons.
For Boys: Add 5 inches to mom's height and average this with dad's. Ex: if mom is 5'4” you would add 5 inches to make 5'9” and then average with dad's height of 5'11” and your little boy's predicted genetic height is 5'10”
In most cases, teens who are small probably are just physically maturing a little slower than their friends. Or maybe their parents are short and they take after them. Occasionally, though, there's a medical reason why some people grow more slowly than usual.
Firstborn children are taller compared to those born subsequently, and this height advantage increases sharply over the higher order of birth of siblings.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, short stature means an estimated final height below 5 feet 3 inches for boys or 4 feet 11 inches for girls.