4 year old boy, what is height and weight?

[MickeyMom]

My son just turned 4 years old and he looks small for his age. He weighs just 15kg and stands at 95cm. I checked the "asian growth chart" that my pedia gave me and for his weight, he is at the 50 percentile range which is ok, but for height, he is only at the 10 percentile range (which of course alarmed me). He is very healthy, active and goes to pre-school (K2 this term). Anyone else in the same boat?

[joannek]

it depends where in the growth chart he's been since birth. if he's always been in the 10%tile at height since he was a baby, then he is fine. besides it also genes, if you & your husband are small, then he'll be small too.

[barbwong_130]

Why are you alarmed about your son being on the 10th percentile?
Do you understand what this means?
If you lined up 100 hundred children your son’s age in order of their height then your son would be 10th in the line, with 9 children shorter than him and 90 children taller than him.

If both you and you husband and ALL your relatives were really tall, say over 6 feet, then this might be worrying. Is this the case?

There could be many reasons why your son is on the 10th percentile at the moment for example,
* He could just be a little on the short side because others in his family are
* He could be expecting a growth spurt and so temporarily be on a low blip in his curve (the growth curves are smooth because of the mathematical way they are formed but real children tend to grow in fits and starts)

If you are really concerned I recommend visiting Dr. Sophie Lenug. She is a paediatrician who has done lots of work on how children growth including a study on the growth of Hong Kong children.

Dr. Sophie Leung
3194-6893
Shop G32, Ground Floor, Metro City, Phase 3, 8 Mau Yip Road, Tseung Kwan O, NT

[Sleuth]

The US recently updated their growth charts, so you might want to find out how old the carts are you are working with.
Unless the doctor thinks there is something wrong, why worry? Everyone can't be above average. And, unless you were banking on an NBA basketball star, I can't see where height really matters. Being tall just means you duck a lot and bang your head more often.

[MickeyMom]

All-
very thankful for your feedback. I am not worried now. Really just happy and thankful that my son is healthy, active and bright. And my friend has told me about growth spurts especially for boys. Weight and his eating habits are well developed so really no need to worry. Those charts can really just trigger temporary panic in parents. My friend has asked me to stay away from them! heheheh

MM

[MickeyMom]

Forgot... we are a family of not very tall but also not very short people. Just average for Asian. I am 5"3 and husband is 5"8.

[joannek]

these charts are weird, by the way.

the chart at the previous ped that i went to, from Chinese University (presumbly done on HK Asian kids), has my daughter in the 25% in height & 95% in weight. the chart that i got from Matilda (done in UK), where i gave birth, has my daughter 50% in height & 80% in weight.

in real life, my daughter is taller than most of the chinese girls & similar in height with caucasian girls her age. me & my husband, more like 40% in height & 80% in weight for grown ups in HK Asians!!!!

[MickeyMom]

i find the charts weird too.
in the kindergarten where my son goes, he is with asians (japanese and singaporeans) as well as caucasians (french, americans and english), he is the same height as the asians and not really significantly smaller than the caucasians. Which is why I wonder what the 10% really means.

Oh well...