They say no two kids are alike, and that?s especially apparent in Catherine Dollemont?s home in Trent Lakes, Ont. ?I have two kids who are off-the-charts tall and a third who?s always been third percentile,? says Dollemont.
Their doctor has never been worried about the height of Dollemont?s youngest, who is now five. ?They said from the beginning that she was following her own curve, so as long as she didn?t drop lower, they weren?t concerned.?
For many parents, though, having a child on the smaller side can be unnerving. ?It?s a very common concern that parents have, especially if their family is on the taller side,? says Janice Heard, a Calgary paediatrician and a member of the Canadian Paediatric Society?s Public Education Advisory Committee. While being on the shorter side is usually nothing to worry about, it can sometimes be a sign of an underlying problem, so it?s always worth getting checked out.
When being short is normal
Take a peek into a preschool class and you?ll see a wide range of heights, but chances are, most children are perfectly within normal range. ?When you look at a growth curve, the 50th percentile means if you have 100 kids, 50 kids would be taller than that line and 50 kids would be shorter,? explains Preetha Krishnamoorthy, a paediatric endocrinologist at Montreal Children?s Hospital.
According to the World Health Organization growth chart, which has been adapted for Canada, the range between a four-year-old boy at the third percentile and...