Stopped growing

[none1000]

My son is 151/2 and is midway through puberty.  He was growing in the 25th% and this past year he stopped growing.  He is 65" tall.  Ped did blood work and checked thyroid and everything was fine.  Parents are 5'3" and 5'10".  From the growth chart he should be around 5'9".  Ped and Endo talked and they feel that this may be his final height and that's why he stopped growing.  Does this sound right or is there other tests that should be completed?

[Deanna L Aftab Guy, MD]

igf-1 is a blood test and if bone age has 17 months left maybe he has a little growth left, he probably finished growing as puberty entered and matured the growth plate, completing his growth spurt

[none1000]

They did a bone age test and said that his hands are done growing but he still has about 17 months left in the growth plate, but that doesnt explain why he stopped growing for the last year (14.5- 15.5 years old).  How do you test for igf-1?  Is this done with the blood test workup?

[Deanna L Aftab Guy, MD]

The midparental height for a boy whose mom is 5'3 and Dad is 5'10 is indeed 5'9 but 2 full standard deviations below is 5'5 and 2 full standard deviations above is 6'1, that means if the two parents mentioned had 100 boys they would be spread across this height range. so when we have two boys and one falls one place and the other falls at another place on the genetic range it really perplexes us! He is just at - 2 SD for his genetic potential. A bone age will help determine if he has any growth left-if his bones on an xray compare to the standard for someone 16 or older, chances are he is just fine where he is and if his bones are a little younger he may squeak out a little more height.
If he is healthy in everyway you have a perfect son! The most important things have been looked at, thyroid, cbc, electrolytes and perhaps celiac antibodies and a bone age and also an igf-1 or what is often called somatomedin C level to let us know that growth hormone is indeed signalling to the liver to make its hormone so they both can work together at the bones.
Hope this reassures you!