# Child tall for their age?



## Heavenly (Nov 21, 2001)

My 4 year old is quite tall, much taller than her sister was at her age. She is wearing clothes her sister wore when she was 6 (size 5/6)! She is currently 3'6.5" tall and 47 lbs in weight. Both of those measurements put her at the 97th percentile. Is it likely that she will maintain this growth pattern and be a taller girl when she is older? Basically what I am asking is is childhood height a good indicator of adult height? To provide some perspective my husband is 6'1" and his sister is 5'9". My family is short - I am 5'2", my sister is 5'1", my mom is 5'1" and my dad is 5'9". All of my dad's sisters were under 5'0" tall. My middle child, Olivia, is 7.5 years old and is average size, wearing size 7 clothes. My son, Elijah, is 9 years old and he is average size as well, maybe a bit on the smaller side. He wears size 8 clothes. It doesn't matter to me either way what size any of my kids are, I am just wondering for interest sake! I am constantly being asked why she's not in school and I have to answer, "She's only 4!" Oh, another tidbit of info about my little (big!) girl - she was born at 36 weeks gestation and was 8 lbs 4 oz! Dates were 100% correct (I had an ultrasound at 6 weeks and also was charting) and they said she would have been 10.5-11 lbs if she had gone full term!


----------



## pbjmama (Sep 20, 2007)

My 4 year old is 45 inches and over 50 lbs, he just turned 4. He was born at 9 lbs 5 oz and over 22 inches, he is going to be a big guy. Sometimes I think he might be professional athlete big. He eats like a teenager! I'm 5' 10" and was always taller than my peers, I'm taller than both my parents. My sisters are both pretty short...maybe 5' 1" and 5' 3"? I remember my sister was about 8 and she was being measured for her birthday at our family measuring wall. She was very upset she was the same height I was when I was 5! FYI, my husband is average.


----------



## 34me (Oct 2, 2006)

Aren't genetics a wonderous thing?! I think it could run either way. My dd was always tall as a kiddo but I'm pretty sure she is now topped out at 16 at only 5'6", we always thought ds#1 would be a shorty but he's 5'9" at 13 with no signs of slowing down. And ds#2 is the tallest kid in 6th grade (he's in 5th







).

Then there is my ds's friends family. There kids get their height really early. The youngest is 5'2" in second grade! But the friend was the same way but 5'10 now, so pretty on track.

My parents are 5'4" and 5'8", my sister is 5'1", I'm 5'6" and my neice who turned 15 last week 4'10" and been declared done.


----------



## Gal (May 13, 2010)

At 4, DD had a growth spurt, and was around 45-46 inches, I don't remember her weight but she's not skinny, she's normal weight. Now at 6 it seems that she grows slowly, she's 51 inches.
SO and I are tall, he's 6'2 and I'm 5'9. I don't know how tall SO's parents are, but mine are around 6' and 5'5. My sisters are all shorter than me and my brother is taller than SO, so I guess he's 6'4.

I was pretty short when I was kid, my sister at 6 was the same height I was at 9! But I ended up being taller than her. And SO tells me he had his browth spurt during his teens as well, I hope DD stays on the short side for a while


----------



## Alyantavid (Sep 10, 2004)

I posted a thread about this recently.

My son will be 4 next month and he's around 44 inches and weighs 45 pounds. Everyone thinks he's older. I don't notice how big he is until I see him around other kids. I don't normally pick him up at daycare, but I did the other day and he just towers over the other kids.

Dh and I are average, but my brother and uncles are all really tall. My older son, who's 8, is pretty average height but is skinny and only weighs 55 pounds.


----------



## lyterae (Jul 10, 2005)

My dd is also 4 and is 42" tall and 42 lbs. She wears between a size 5-7 (depending on what it is and if I still want it to fit in 2 months  )

Our ped told us that based on our height (DH is 5'9 and I am 5'3) that she would most likely be about 5'6. The tallest female on either side of our immediate family is 5'5 (my grandma). My mom is 5'4 and my sister is 5'2, his mom is 5'4 and his sister is 5'0.

She has slimmed down a lot in the past year and has been the same weight for almost 2 years now.


----------



## MJB (Nov 28, 2009)

My 4 yr. old is also 42" and he seems to be pretty normal sized relative to his classmates (although to be fair, half of them are already 5). He wears a size 5 in pants and a 5 or 6 in shirts. I think kids these days are just bigger!


----------



## Hey Mama! (Dec 27, 2003)

My youngest dd is 4, will be 5 in July. She is 45" tall and weighs 50lbs. She is currently wearing size 5-6x depending on the brand. Her sister who is two years older is 48" and weighs 50lbs. She wears a sometimes 6x but mostly 7. The youngest towers over her peers. Dh and I are both tall people, I'm 5'9" and dh is 6'2" so I expect to have taller then average kids. Although, I was a shorty until I was 14 then grew 8" in 18 months. But, my oldest had the same growth pattern (not quite as heavy but close) and was also one of the taller kids in her class until this year. Her growth has slowed down allowing her peers to catch up.


----------



## nextcommercial (Nov 8, 2005)

I am five foot ten inches. I was a very small child for my age. I didn't grow until 8th grade.

My daughter was a large toddler. Not chubby. Just big. By first grade, she only weighed 40lbs. She's always been average to small, and she's done growing now. She's almost 18, and weighs 110, and five foot five-ish.

My neice was incredibly small as a child. She was the cutest elfen looking child you have ever seen. At birth, my daughter's hands were bigger than my niece's hands and she was 18 months old. But, now, she's five foot ten inches. You would have never guessed she was going to be the tall one in the family when they were little.

In fact, if you go by that chart where you take their height at two, then add or multilpy whatever, it tells you their adult height... none of us are what we calculated at two.

My husband is six foot four inches, his brother was about the same height. Both parents are just under five feet. (they are some kind of freak of nature though)


----------



## LizLizard (Jul 16, 2007)

My oldest will be 4 next month, and last I measured she was 43 inches tall. She's only 34 pounds though, very skinny for her height but I think that makes her look even older (no baby fat). We were at Costco the other day, an older man came up to her and with a gruff voice said "Shouldn't you be in school??" I said uh no, she's only 3.







He immediately apologized and said he figured she was 6. We get "Is she 5/6" a LOT. At least next month we can say she's 4 and feel closer to the curve.

I'm 5'9", and my husband is 5'11". I was always tall and skinny, the gangly kid in class photos standing behind everyone else because I was a head taller, LOL. I imagine she'll be the same way.


----------

