The doctor said my 4 1/2 year old son is too short at 41 inches. Is that true???

Question

The doctor said my 4 1/2 year old son is too short at 41 inches. Is that true???

Answer 1

Its not terribly short, below the 50th but not by so much.  My son will be 3 in a few months and is 38 inches.  Kids grow 3-5 inches a year.  I do have a friend who is not worried, but her daughter is 41 inches, she turned 6 in June and is not even on the growth chart, she is below the 3rd percentile.  For her, I would worry, her son is also 4.5 yrs and 41 inches, she thinks he is tall, in reality he will be lucky to reach 5'9" as an adult, likely to be 5'7" - 5'8".  The daughter, I would be taking to a specialist.  At her growth rate, she is looking at being 4'10" to maybe 5'0.  My friend who seems a bit delusional about this thinks her daughter will be 5'6" and her son will be 6'0".   I am just hoping that my 38 inch son will make it over 5'7", he will be my shortest child, the other 2 have more height.

My kids are 7.5 yrs 52 inches, 50 lbs

34 months 38 inches, 33 lbs

22 months 34.5 inches, 28 lbs

I am 5'10"  my father is 6'2", gf is 6'4"

                  but my mothers father was 5'3" and my brother is 5'7"

DH is 5'7"

Answer 2

If your son is consistently growing at the same pace in his growth chart then he is fine. all children grow at different rates so do not get too caught up in height issues. the only time to worry is if your son has suddenly had a steep drop in his growth chart and that can be a sign of a problem. Your doctor should be comparing your sons overall progress not to other children.

Answer 3

Doesn't sound right to me.  My son is 4 yrs. and 10 months & he's only a little taller than that.  We just took him to the Doctor a few months ago and he was in the 60th percentile for height.  Those other people who say their not even 2 year olds are over 3 ft. tall are either lying or are giants.

Answer 4

i know all kids are diff but my son is 22 months and he's 42" tall...

Answer 5

My daughter is 19 months and is 34 inches tall... and ive been told that is short. so i hate to say it but that does sound short for a 4 and half year old.

EDIT- I think my doctor was wrong when he told me that my daughter was short....or pulling my leg and i took him seriously i just looked at this site and it said your son is in the 34 percentile so i guess that's not super short.

Answer 6

I am looking at the height and weight charts in my sons health record. The best way to describe it is to imagine 100 4 1/2 year old boys lined up from tallest to shortest, the tallest (98-99th percentile) would be 118 cm (46.5 inches) and the shortest (0.4-2nd percentile) would be 94 cm (37 inches). At 5 these measurements  increase to 97cm - 122 cm or 38.2 - 48 inches. My son is 4 years and 10 months, he is 44 1/2 inches tall. I am 5ft 8" and my husband is 6ft 2" so he is the joint second tallest boy in his class. He is not only a few months older but is also not significantly taller than your son.

Are you tall, is his father tall? Has he been 41 inches for sometime, or was he one of the tallest toddlers? Did the doctor give you any reason for this assessment? In my opinion this wasn't a fair thing to do and I think you need to go back and ask the doctor if they are concerned? What it means? And  can you do anything about it?

Answer 7

my nephew is 40 inches 4 1/2 and 38 pounds

the doctors don't say he is short so i think your toddler is fine

Answer 8

so what....he's just a little shorter. If you're worried about him getting made fun of don't worry. My best friend is short but we "playfully" make fun of her. She understands it and doesn't care.  

Answer 9

MY GUY IS 40 INCHES 3.5 YRS OLD AND 45LBS, MUSCLE TODDLER