Are there any true height predictions for children?

Question

At my son's 6th month appointment the doctor told me that he would only be about 5'7" when he matures into an adult. He's now almost 12 months and I'm concerned about it. That makes no sense to me because I'm 5'8" and my husband is 6"8. We both come from very tall families on our mothers sides but on his father's side they are all short. Is there any true height prediction or can the predicted height be wrong? It just doesn't add up to me! Thanks for your answers!

He eats like crazy. We actually put him on a calcium diet to make sure nothing was wrong with him and when we went back to the doctor's office they said he was just fine. It is just a concern. We feed him lots of fruits, vegetables, dairy, and meat in proportion but I guess it's not doing it. I'm just wondering if there is a way for the doctor to be wrong.

Answer 1

I have been aware of this formula for more than 40 years and have used it with an uncountable number of children and it seems to be a good inticator in general. Measure a child on the second birthday, double it for a girl; double it and add two inches for a boy and that will be pretty close to the full grown height. This has held true over and over in the past years as I watched children grow. Only time I can think of that it did not work was my son, the Dr said he should be 6ft 5in full grown as he was 22 ins at birth, however, when my son was 3 yrs old he was run over by an auto and underwent much surgery and physcial trauma. He is now 35 and only 6 ft even. I think the accident and following problems play a large part.

Answer 2

yes there is a way the doctor can be wrong because it is just a guess based on his growth now. All you can do is what you are doing and wait and see and it won't be the end of the world if he is short.
Also genes are a funny thing you could have another child that is super tall. I am 6'3" my fathers family is all tall and so is most of my mothers but my brother is only 5'8" if that. He and i look very similar and come from the same gene pool but he is just short to average depends on how you look at it.
I also think it is funny you are worried about your son being short and i am worried about my daughter being tall. she is only 7 months but is as long as our friends kids who are 9months to a year. Her height is in like the 95% I am so worried she will be like 6'1.

Answer 3

You can't tell full grown height from childhood measurements until age 2. There have been many recent studies however that do support that you can predict a child's full grown height fairly accurately. (barring accidents and illnesses that can affect height)

Try researching The Multiplier Method for Prediction of Adult Height
By Jonathan Paley, Jonathan Talor, Anna Levin, Anil Bhave, Dror Paley, and John E. Herzenberg
Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics, October 2004


You can do this by using the child's height and weight along with both parent heights (a friend of mine did this for me on some computer program she has)

Like my son @ 2.5 years was 3 ft 4 in and 40 lbs I'm 5'7" my DH 5'10"

His results are as follows:
Your son will likely be 6 feet, 6 inches tall at age 18.

Based on the formula used, there's a 58 percent chance your son's full-grown height will be between 6 feet, 5 inches and 6 feet, 7, an 85 percent chance he will be between 6 feet, 4 inches and 6 feet, 8 inches, and an 96 percent chance he will be between 6 feet, 3 inches and 6 feet, 9 inches.

(I can't wait to try it with his 3 year well child visit measurements to see if I get the same answer!!-I'm hoping not---can you imagine my grocery bill trying to feed that kid!! LOL)

Answer 4

My younger sister was like this; in kindergarten she was a full head taller than the other kids. By 13 or 14 she looked like a model when she wore a swimsuit. But she hit her full height early and is now only a couple of inches taller than I am; she's about 5' 9" I think. And a lot slimmer than I am, too. (I'm the short one in the family.) I know a girl of about 11 who has always been very tall; she now looks 14, but I don't think she's going to turn out to be any taller than her mom, really. One thing to watch out for is that people will tend to treat tall kids as older than they really are. It's hard not to expect maturity out of a kid who looks 3 years older than she really is, because you look at her and subconsciously think 'big kid = older kid.'

Answer 5

My daughter turned two in october. My Doctor said you take their height at their two year check up and multiply it by two. That is said to give you a good idea of their adult height. So if your child is 33 inches tall at the age of two, they should be about 5'6" at adulthood.

Answer 6

We had a two sons -hubby was not tall -boys now 19-20 towers over us both.doc said same prediction. Lucky guess maybe-but right.

Answer 7

Why are you concerned so much about his height? 5'7" is a perfectly normal height, just a couple inches below average. That is Tom Cruise's height. Nobody would think twice about it. You may give him a complex with your attitude. Look at Tadd Fujikawa, the new golf star who is 5'1". He is doing fine because of his good parents.

Answer 8

doctors are humans just like the rest of us,so which means that their predictions can be wrong too.honey who can really say for sure except the lord above.just keep on going him the TLC he needs and he will be OK.

Answer 9

just look at the parents hieghts and useually thats your best clue as to how tall hes gonna be.

Answer 10

it all depends on the nutritions you feed him... my parents arent that tall and my siblings and i all ended up really tall... so... :)

good luck