Concerned your child is too tall and/or growing too quickly?
If you are worried your child is growing too quickly, has a sudden unexplained growth spurt, or is taller than expected for the family height, the following information will be important to consider:
Growth charts and growth rate
Growth charts are tools used by healthcare professionals to track and assess your child’s growth over time. These charts provide a visual representation of your child’s growth in terms of height, weight, and head circumference, comparing it with typical growth patterns of children of the same age and gender.
Centiles, also known as percentiles, are lines on growth charts that show the distribution of measurements in a population of children. For example, the 50th centile represents the average measurement; half the children of a given age and gender will be above this line and half below. Centiles are important so your child’s growth can be tracked and any deviations from expected growth patterns can be detected.
It’s important to remember that being above or below the 50th centile isn’t inherently good or bad. The key is that they continue to follow their growth curve (centile) over time.
If a child’s growth pattern shows sudden changes or significant deviation from their centile line, healthcare professionals can investigate early and provide necessary interventions.
Depending on the age of your child, there could be differing advice of when to be concerned and who to approach for advice about your concerns. GPs are usually the first healthcare professional parents consult, but you could also approach your health visitor or child’s school nursing team.
Healthcare professionals involved in taking growth measurements should be alerted that further health assessments are needed, if the following growth patterns for a baby or child being taller or bigger than expected occur:
-Crossing two centiles upward in weight.
-Accelerated height increase of over 1 centile space over a year before puberty.
-Any measurement above the 99.6th centile, or height more than the 98th centile.
-Height measurement which is outside the expected range based on parent’s heights (see target height range explanation).
Target height range
Beyond the age of 2 years, height can be measured when standing and the relevance of parental heights in comparison to their child’s is given more consideration. It’s important to remember that a small drop in height measurement can be expected when moving from measuring a length with your child lying down to measuring a height with them standing. Growth charts allow for this adjustment.
A child’s mid parental height (MPH) is used to work out a child’s target height range based on their genetic potential. You may also hear the term mid parental centile (MPC); this refers to one of the printed centiles on your child’s growth chart.
To work out your child’s MPH you can follow the instructions on this short video:
