Does Anyone Have a Small 5 Year Old?

It will only be a problem in K if you make it one. Kids come in all shapes and sizes. Mine were outrageously tall. We are all very very tall they never even thought about their size. People used to comment about how tall mine were. When someone would comment, I just said yes aren't they lucky to be tall. For you, isn't it great good things come in small packages!

Both my son and dd are the smallest in their class. It bothers both of them even though we have said. Grandfather's on both sides are short. .Dr says you are healthy. ..everyone is made different. ..in kinder it wasn't such a big deal but now th at they are 11 and almost 13 the kids hitting puberty are huge compared to them.

Ds has a summer bday. I'm very glad we waited a year to send him. If you are concerned about confidence. Martial arts would be wonderful...other wise not much to do about it and never let the kids see you worry about it.

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Both my son and dd are the smallest in their class. It bothers both of them even though we have said. Grandfather's on both sides are short. .Dr says you are healthy. ..everyone is made different. ..in kinder it wasn't such a big deal but now th at they are 11 and almost 13 the kids hitting puberty are huge compared to them.

Ds has a summer bday. I'm very glad we waited a year to send him. If you are concerned about confidence. Martial arts would be wonderful...other wise not much to do about it and never let the kids see you worry about it.

My kids were small, tenth percentile. But they were healthy and grew well. Sounds like yours is too, why are you concerned if the doctors have told you he is fine? I don't understand.

If you don't trust your Dr, go find a new one.

MANY children start out on the small side but they even up well in the long run.

Children are very perceptive. If you are exhibiting these concerns and fears, he may begin to feel self conscious or something is wrong with him.

Please don't do that. Love him, feed him and follow your Dr recommendations.

Who cares what people say?? They don't pay your mortgage so don't pay attention to negative comments.

I agree with your doctor. It's if they show growth in both height and weight, and then of course head circumference they usually aren't too concerned provided they are healthy overall.

One of mine wasn't gaining weight but still getting taller, and turned out she had some dietary issues - lactose intolerance, re-flux, etc. So then that was a concern. We just had to try different things and it sorted itself out.

It changes over time. Mine were the opposite to yours. Huge gargantuan babies and toddlers and now totally average.

Oh and I was a tiny child. I was 4 lbs at birth and always the smallest in my class. By grade 3 or 4, I had caught up. I'm average now.

I have big kids but when we moved and I met our neighbors, about 8 years ago, I asked the mom if her daughter was in preschool...she was in 2nd grade! LOL! She is *tiny* for her age but normal health wise. We moved 3 years ago and I just ran into the mom a couple weeks ago. I asked her about the kids and we had a laugh about my comment about her so long ago. She said she just now is starting to catch up to her peers and she is a freshman in high school. So if the doctor says nothing is wrong, I would believe it. Good luck.

My son is small for his age. I don't remember what he weighed at 5 but he was under 45 inches tall, and now at 10 he has just hit 60 pounds and 50 inches. He has followed the same curve on the growth chart and the doctors have never been concerned. He is one of the smallest in his class, but he has never had an issue with the other kids (always has lots of friends) and is a wiz on the soccer field and has never been held back by his size.

If you have not gone to more than one doctor for additional opinions, you might consider that. If there is a children's hospital near you, you might contact the endocrinology department for an evaluation or a verification of the tests your son has undergone.

Another option is to just hold him out of kindergarten for a year to give him more time. My son was small (not as small as yours) and that's what we did. It had nothing to do with his intelligence or academic ability. He is now normal sized - got most of his growth in high school but up through 9th grade he was one of the smaller ones.

A friend has a very, very petite daughter, age 13. She is still perceived as much younger than she is. They are not sure what will happen when she goes through puberty (which she is just starting now).

I do think you will find kids of vastly different sizes in elementary school. They do better when parents are calm about these things. He will likely be assumed to be younger, but the very tall kids are often taken to be much older. I have another friend with a super tall kid, much taller than anyone else on either side of the family, and all the kids his size thought he was immature - when in fact he was years younger. So it happens on both ends of the spectrum.

My older son has always been small for his age and my younger son big for his age. Despite a three year age gap they were the same size for many years. They both grew at a normal rate following their curve on the growth charts. Now the older child has entered puberty and shot up in height, but the younger child still outweighs him. At the age of 5 1/2 my older son was 3'5" and 36lbs. He is still among the smaller guys in high school, but there are quite a few his size.

I just looked at the growth chart and his weight is a little lower than average, but he shows below average in height. Is his height your only concern? Does he have any abnormalities with any of his features? If so, look them up and find a new doctor to discuss your concerns with.

I have a friend with a extremely tall nephew. He had a slightly larger head and his brows were in a slightly raised position. He had a memory like you wouldn't believe. He was tested in grade school and as it turned out he had something called Soto's Syndrome. He has a need to touch anything and everything. So when she has him in the store, she has him push the cart. Unfortunately, people don't understand his need to walk up and touch.

And then, it could be absolutely nothing. In any event, the young man I mention above is healthy and striving. He says, "See, I'm not perfect after all".

My grand has been small like this, too. She is now 11 and weighs about 62 lbs and might be 52" tall. She was small enough that she also got comments - some of which had people thinking she was at least 2 years younger than she was at the time. Once he is in kindergarten, you'll see other small kiddos. She's starting to catch up - and he probably will, too!

My kids are on the tall side. My 4 yr old is 52 inches tall. I get the questions of why isn't he in school. At the school, there are many smaller kids. For the middle school, seriously, some look like they should be in 3rd grade. But by the time they get to HS, they catch up a bit. One of my daughter's friends has a cousin that was tiny until he hit about 10, then he sprouted up. I thought he was only 4 but they told me he was 7 when we met them. That is how their family is.

both of my kids were/are super skinny and shorter than average. My older one is now almost 17, she didn't hit her growth spurt till middle of 8th grade, my younger one still hasn't hit hers and she's about to enter 9th grade. They were both labeled failure to gain weight as infants. My older daughter didn't hit the 3rd percentile till 8th grade and my younger daughter who was always more "chunky", lol, stayed around the 5th percentile all her life and now is up to about 10th percentile.

Neither of them had any issues with being teased until junior high when my older daughter got accused of being anorexic. Which is hilarious cause she can eat so much. Teach your son to say something cute when they comment on his size like "I'm fun sized" or "I may be small but I'm mighty".

Hi! My son will be 5 next month. He is a little over 3 feet tall and is only 31lbs!! He eats incredibly well and has very healthy bathroom visits :) He has great energy, too. His weight is always on my mind, but I just keep reminding myself of how much he eats and of his regular and healthy bowel movements.

My dd has constitutional growth delay which is a fancy and overly complicated way of saying she's a late bloomer....always has been. She only weighed 31 pounds on the first day of kindergarten and was tiny tiny. She is now 12 and still hasn't hit puberty or her growth spurt. Some of her friends are a foot taller. She saw an endocrinologist who just said everything's normal, she's just a couple of years behind the averages. We had her bones checked and her bone age is two years under her chronological age. Some grow fast, some grow slow...it's as simple as that.
I've had to endure all the rude and insensitive comments about how little she is as if she's a freak or something. I don't know why people think they have to state the obvious. But, I would much rather have a smaller kid than one with a weight problem because few kids can overcome being overweight (ie. being able to get back into normal range) and most become obese adults. Just say in an VERY friendly voice, "Yes! he is small!!" as if it's the best thing in the world.

What are his percentiles? Has he been consistently at that percentile for a few years or has he dropped in percentiles? What were his percentiles as a toddler? If he's been consistent, it's normal development; if he dropped in percentiles, that's not normal development. For instance, it's normal development if he's been consistently at the 5th percentile. It's not normal if he was at the 50th percentile consistently in the past, but now he's at 5th percentile.

Is he a good eater? This is obvious, but I've noticed that kids who eat well are definitely bigger/taller. They need adequate calories to grow. Sleep, too, is also important for growth. Is he a good sleeper?

Otherwise, I would take him to a specialist as suggested below.

My son has been one of the 2 smallest kids in his grade since he started K (now in 4th grade). He's very healthy, just not a big kid. He plays sports and has plenty of friends. It's never been a problem.

Our neighbors son is in 4th grade. He is 10. My son is 6 and 1st grade. Both are the same size.
The boy has a great confidenc. Very mature and well rounded. However, people typically think he is 8 but it seems not to bother him. He just says he is growing slower than others and thats how he is made.

He might have received recessive genes from both of you to be small. He might just be one of those kids that don't grow until they're adults.

I had a friend in high school that was about 5' at graduation. He's at 6' now. He grew in college.

My grandson was nearly 5' in 3rd grade. He's been 6' since middle school.

Some kids grow early, some grow right where you think they should be, and some don't.

I was a nanny for a family for several years. Both parents were larger people. Mom was larger and short, dad was larger and tall. Each of their kids were hefty kids except one girl, who was absolutely normal. But mom took her to doctors and worried a lot about her looking like a refugee camp detainee. I sewed girly dresses for the younger girls and this one, only one child, was exactly where kids her age were supposed to be.

Perception is everything but when a doc says there isn't anything to worry about you need to take a breath and consider that you might have a skewed point of view.

I costume a LOT of kids and I can tell you there are a LOT more smallish kids than fat obviously overweight kids. It's not that big of a deal if the doc is okay with where they are. IF the doc is worried then you need to listen to them to see what can be done.

If the doctor isn't concerned, I don't think I would be either.

All 3 of my kids were tiny. 10% for height and weight. We teased them about needing a booster seat when they got their drivers license. My 21 year old daughter is 5'1". My 18 year old son is 5'4" and still growing.