It's amazing how at birth most babies are of similar length yet, by the time they reach adulthood the differences in height are considerable.

For curious parents who want to predict their child’s future height, there are two ways you can try to work it out. Professor David Ravine from the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research explains, “As a rough rule, adult height can be estimated pretty well by doubling the height that was achieved at 2 years of age.” The other formula used by endocrinologists to predict the goal height of children is used by our Height Calculator tool.

What Factors Determine Height?

According to the Head of Medical Genetics Professor David Ravine from the University of Western Australia, “There’s a long list of genes which have an influence on our height. Typically a person’s height reflects the heights of their parents. Environment can also have a big influence as well. For example, childhood malnutrition can have a devastating effect on growth and ultimate adult height. Nutrition in-utero and in the first few years of life have an impact on the height a child will grow to.”

In each person there are a mix of genes coded for bone development, growth hormones, and metabolic enzymes that all play a key role in normal growth and development. This accounts for about 70% of the influence on your child’s eventual height.

For the other 30% Professor Ravine warns that, “Nutrition has an effect on how our body forms and grows, so at crucial growing phases in the early years our bodies need the right nutrients to fulfill long-term growth potential.” Mothers-to-be need to ensure their diet is nutritious and supports the growth of their baby in-utero. For toddlers and growing children an adequate diet is equally important.

Your child’s health professional will use a growth chart to track your baby’s growth. This has two advantages: it will show you how your baby is growing compared with other babies of the same age and gender. It will also allow doctors and nurses to see the pattern of height and weight gain over time, and if your baby is developing proportionately.

More about the Height Prediction formula

For boys: Take each parent’s height in centimetres and add them together. Divide that number by 2. Add 6.5 centimetres to the number. This number is the mid-parental height for boys. This number plus or minus 10 centimetres is the range in which you could expect your son to fall.

For Girls: Take each parent’s height using centimetres and add them together. Divide that number by 2. Subtract 6.5 centimetres from the number if using metric. This number is the mid-parental height for girls. This number plus or minus 10 centimetres is the range in which you could expect your daughter to fall.