Can you tell me when adolescent girls stop getting taller?

According to my HS health teacher, girls, on average, finish much of their growing by 16–18. Boys, on the other hand, may keep growing until around 21.

Sorry to say it, but you’re probably done growing.

I’m in a very similar boat. I’m 20. My dad is 6’1”. My mom is 5’3”.

Except I made it to 5’5”, which was my goal!

I’ve been the same height since I was 13. :(

My mother continued to grow very, very slowly into her early thirties. She was 5’ 6” when she married at age 25 and ended up being 5’ 8” by the time she was 33. Unfortunately, at age 84 she is now just barely 5’ 1” (osteoporosis sucks!).

OTOH, I got to be 5” 8” tall by the times I was 12 and I stayed at that height until I herniated a disk. At that point I dropped to 5’ 7 1/4”.

My daughter is sixteen, 5’ 8 1/2” tall, and keeps sneaking another half inch in every 6 months or so.

Most girls do stop growing by the end of their teens and many by the time their periods start, but a few don’t. One way to find out is if you need an X-ray that covers the end of one of your long bones your doctor can tell you if the growth plate shows you are still growing or not.

My daughter’s growth plates still aren’t fused so she will grow a bit more.

@Darwin Can I just go make an appointment with a doctor for that? It seems so petty …Although, they’ve wasted much of my time. I wouldn’t feel bad for taking up some of theirs.

@Facade – Maybe if you need a physical for some reason you could ask if it could be done? I suspect insurance wouldn’t pay for it unless you had some possible problem.

My daughter’s X-ray was done because she dislocated her shoulder in a basketball game and since she wants to go to med school doctors tend to give her extra information. The doc pointed out the growth plate on her arm bone and showed her how he could tell it hadn’t fused yet.

When I tore my knee when I was 15 I was told I had to wait until I was at least 20 before they could do a certain type of electro-therapy on it because they had to be sure they weren’t stunting my growing. However, they checked and my growth plates had closed by that time. I think 15–17 is average. Anytime after that is possible, but not too likely.

I kept growing until I believe 21. I was always the same exact height as my husband, but after I gave birth..all my clothes became too short in the torso, and I was then half an inch taller. That wasn’t the case prior to my pregnancy. It was really random, because I thought I was done growing lol

Well ok.. but you’re going to be getting quite a few phone calls.

I reached my full height at about 13 years old: 5 feet 7 and a half inches. Mustn’t forget the half inch. :)

My 14 year old daughter is about an inch taller than that, and seems to be still growing. My 13 year old daughter is many inches shorter, and hopes she is still growing.

@NaturalMineralWater lol huh?

@aviona

I’m 5’5” too! I was happy when I finally crossed that mark.

Well, I only hope my nieces have stopped growing! The 18 yo is 6” 1” and the 15 yo is 5’ 11”. God only knows how tall their 13 yo brother is going to be since he has already hit 6’ even, but his feet are still waaaaayyyyyyy too big for the rest of him.

@Darwin wow! those are some tall genes!

@casheroo – Would you believe their great grandmother was 5’ even and wore a size one shoe? But their father is 6’ 2” and their mom (my ex-SIL) is 6’ 1”.

They make me feel positively petite.

I hit my present height (5’ 7”) when I was 13. My feet seem to be still growing, however.

@Facade You want emails instead? It’s going to be a lot to keep you informed every single time a girl stops growing.. but I’ll do my best. ding there goes another one.

@Dansedescygnes isn’t such a nice even (yet composed of an odd number) height? We’d be at perfect eye level with each other!

@aviona

I know, that would be cool. It was just this school year, too, that I became 5’5”. Before that I was even shorter. Oh well, at least I’m taller than my mom. But she’s definitely whom I get my shortness from. Everyone in my family is short except for my dad.

I stopped growing taller at around 13. I am 5’6. My daughter is 15, and she is 5’10 and growing. This disturbs her father, since he is 5’9. He just realized she was taller than he is, and it really bothered him.

Okay here are the facts as I understand them. The majority of a woman’s growth stops during or immediately following puberty. For girls this is in Junior High. For boys it is typically between their 9th and 10th grade years. So at approximately 9th grade a woman will be her full height. Now there is room for more growth but it is typically quite minimal. Many “shorter” woman hang onto that hope and are proud of every 1/4 inch they grow after Junior High. It really all depends on the woman’s body. But I think it would be safe to say that by the middle of high school (at the
latest) your full height has been reached (spare another 1/2 inch over time).

Now that is just what I learned in health classes and as I am a bit tall I paid attention.

For me personally I was close to my full height by the end of junior high and probably grew a bit more after that. I’m 5’10.

@mzgator My 14 year old is taller than her father, too. hee hee

@MonaeBroo: Only time will tell. Have you reached maturity (breasts, underarm and pubic hair and mentrual period) yet? There’ s genereally not too much growth after that.