For parents of children diagnosed with short stature, the biggest concern is the emotional toll on their loved ones. 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.
Short stature refers to any child who has a height well below what is typical for that child's age and sex. The term is most commonly applied to children whose height, when plotted on a growth curve in the pediatrician's office, is below the line marking the third or fifth percentile.
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.
How Tall Should a 12-Year-Old Be? We can only speak to national average heights here in North America, whereby a 12-year-old girl would be between 137 cm to 162 cm tall (4-1/2 to 5-1/3 feet). A 12-year-old boy should be between 137 cm to 160 cm tall (4-1/2 to 5-1/4 feet).
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.
What is the average height for a 12 year old? The average height of a 12-year-old boy is 148.3 cm (4 ft 10 in), while for a 12-year-old girl, it is 150.0 cm (4 ft 11 in). The reason girls are slightly taller at this age is that, on average, they go through puberty earlier than boys.
In the latest available data, the global mean height for men was 171 cm, versus 159 cm for women.
What can I do to become taller? Taking good care of yourself — eating well, exercising regularly, and getting plenty of rest — is the best way to stay healthy and help your body reach its natural potential. There's no magic pill for increasing height. In fact, your genes are the major determinant of how tall you'll be.
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.
“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.
“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 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.
A common reason is familial short stature, which means the parents are short. Constitutional delay in growth and puberty is another cause, which means the child is a late bloomer. It's not unusual for someone who has been small all their life to suddenly have a growth spurt late in high school.
Tall parents have short children because the traits are controlled by alleles of a particular gene. Alleles are variant forms of a gene present on homologous chromosomes and the parents are heterozygous for the height phenotype.
A major growth spurt happens at the time of puberty, usually between 8 to 13 years of age in girls and 10 to 15 years in boys. Puberty lasts about 2 to 5 years.
The average for males is considered to be 5.8 feet or 177 cm. Factors that may influence your height include the following: DNA: Your genetic make-up influences your height, growth plates, and hormones.
“Around 68% of the adult male population are within 3 inches of that height, so 5'7"falls within that majority range. That's pretty "normal" (i.e. common, typical) for men. So 5'7" is a little bit shorter than average, but falls within the typical range for an adult male. It is not exceptionally short.”
The Netherlands
Dutch people are the tallest people in the world. They have an average height of 175.62 cm (5 feet 7.96 inches). The Netherlands' King Willem-Alexander is 183 cm tall and Queen Maxim is 178 cm tall.
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. Divide by 2.
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.