Not gaining height

[Mrsboyko]

My DD will be 3 in November. From birth till about 18 months, she was riding the 70% curve for height pretty consistently. From 18 months till now, she has been dropping in height %tiles. She is currently 35" which puts her at about the 15%. In the last 18 months she has gained about 6 lbs (putting her at a whopping 28 lbs), but only 2" in height. During this period she also weaned from BF'ing. She has a bunch of allergies (dairy included) so we do give her vitamin supplaments to make up for what she is lacking, hopefully.

Bigger picture, I am small-ish too, 5'3" but DH is tall, 6'. Do you think she could have taken this long to find her true growth curve, or is it due to not nursing and only getting rice or hemp milk for "milk"? I just hope she is gearing up for big growth spurt soon. She really hasn't grown in height in so long.

[tankgirl73]

Growth isn't continuous. They'll grow a lot, then plateau for ages. While they're not physically growing, they're often developing more rapidly in other areas, such as motor development or mental development.

My son didn't grow an inch or gain an ounce from his first to his second birthday. But in that time, he gained close to 200 spoken words and was FAR ahead of the curve in mental development.

Just remember that the charts are averages of thousands of kids, so it makes a smooth curve overall. An individual kid will follow their own curve which will bump up and down a lot less smoothly! And their rate of growth early on is not necessarily an indicator of their eventual height either.

At 15th percentile, that means that she's still taller than 15% of kids her age. That's a lot of kids. I wouldn't worry.

[~Charlie's~Angel~]

My Aunt and uncle are both about 5'4", and thier only son is 6'2". He takes after his grandfather, who was 6'4". Its possible shes just taking after her mama.

[calgal1111]

My dd took 4 months to gain half an inch then in one month she gained another I agree with tankgirl. DD pudges up right before a growth spurt, she is tiny so I am happy if it is half an inch.

[WyattsMom2008]

It could just be her growth pattern; it could also indicate her body is not absorbing nutrients as well as it could.

My ds was in the 90th percentile but then dropped to the 50th for a while when he was around 15 mo. Then he went up to the 95th percentile after I addressed his food intolerances by putting him on a special diet (SCD). He was showing other signs of food intolerance. For example, removal of all dairy from his diet resulted in better sleep. He was slow to take to solids and was a very picky eater. He was constipated. He had reflux as a baby. He has a problem with low muscle tone which makes his feet turn in when he walks and his stomach protrude more than is normal for a toddler. He has always been a very poor sleeper, but his sleep improved upon changing his diet. So it wasn't just his growth pattern.

You know your daughter best. Does her GI tract seem healthy? Does she have constipation or gas? Does she have good muscle tone - did she hit her gross motor milestones within the normal range? Was she colicky or fussy as a baby? Was she a good eater when you introduced solids? Is she a good sleeper?

[wearebothlost]

Around 70% of height is based on genetics while 30% is based on environmental factors, so if her mum and her dad are taller than average then so will the baby :) . If you want her to grow Inches then make sure she has a decent diet (plenty of amino acids and calcium - some vitamins can benefit height) at this stage it's the only thing to do. Bare in mind that some babies grow more at a later stage then other babies. I hope i helped :)