How can I tell if my child is on the short side?

What we often hear

• "When they line up by height, my child is always near the front."
• "Last year's clothes still fit."
• "I'm not sure whether my child is shorter than others their age or not."

How can I tell if my child is on the short side?

How many centimeters your child grew over the past year matters more than where their current height falls among peers. We look at whether their growth rate is slowing down.

Being shorter than peers alone is hard to judge. A child who was born small and has steadily grown along that same line is a completely different story from a child who was growing well and recently slowed down.

What do you measure, and what do you look at?

We measure height and weight to see where your child falls among peers, then connect this with past records to draw a growth curve. The slope of that curve is the key.

It helps to bring school health checkup records or a vaccination booklet if you have them. A curve can only be drawn when several years of records connect. A single measurement taken today can't tell us the growth rate.

We also look at both parents' heights. There's an expected range based on inborn factors, and whether your child's current growth is heading within that range is one of the standards for judging.

Why do a bone age test?

It's a test that uses an X-ray of the wrist to see how mature the bones are. If bone age is ahead of actual age, the remaining growing period is that much shorter.

At the same height, a younger bone age means more room left to grow, and an older bone age means less. It's a value worth checking before feeling relieved or worried based only on current height.

When should we see another doctor?

If your child grows less than 4 centimeters a year, drops noticeably on the growth curve, or is very much shorter than peers, please see a pediatrician first.

In these cases, hormones or another condition may be the cause. That's not something we check. If tests find a cause, treating it comes first, and there's a role for us after that.

What are the limits of this assessment?

Growth rate naturally rises and falls at different times. Judging only by changes over a short period makes it easy to misread.

One more note. What we do is look at the conditions of eating, sleeping, and moving, and at posture. We have no numbers on how much this changes height. We don't promise to add a certain number of centimeters to your child's height.

Summary for parents

1. How many centimeters your child grew in the past year matters more than their current height.
2. Several years of records are needed to know the growth rate.
3. Bone age gives an idea of how much room is left to grow.
4. If your child grows less than 4 centimeters a year, see a pediatrician first.
5. We don't promise to add a certain number of centimeters to your child's height.

We start by checking where your child is right now. We won't rush you, and we'll tell you, based on evidence, whether it's fine to wait or not.

If you're not sure whether to wait or act now, come see us. We'll check where your child is right now, and we won't rush you.

Results differ from child to child depending on inborn factors and the remaining growing period.