Torso height growth question

ebp913

New member
I measured how much torso space my 27 month old daughter has til she outgrows her Peg convertible (at the 7th click on the headrest) and she has 3.75 inches til the top, so 2.75 inches til it's outgrown. She's solidly average for height (55th-60th percentile, 34.5 inches tall now) and tends to have slightly longer legs. On average how long would it take a 2 year old to sprout 2.75 inches in torso growth? Is there some kind of general rule of thumb like 1 inch of overall growth gives about 1/2 of that in the torso? I read than an average 4 year old is 40 inches, so if she grows 5.5 inches in the next 2 years, I guess I'm asking how much of that would be torso. Half? A quarter?

I'm needing to plan ahead a little and we need to move her out of the CCO soon. Whatever I buy will be passed down to brother and then eventually our 3rd too so it's more than just what fits her. Definitely want to rear face until 4 if we can with all the kids.
 
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Keeyamah

Active member
I've always heard that it's about an inch of torso growth a year on average, but some kids go through phases of growing legs instead.

ETA: That's bum to shoulder, for RFing, your worried about seated height, or bum to top of head, I'm not sure if anything is changed by adding the head and neck growth to the equation or no.
 

ebp913

New member
I've always heard that it's about an inch of torso growth a year on average, but some kids go through phases of growing legs instead. ETA: That's bum to shoulder, for RFing, your worried about seated height, or bum to top of head, I'm not sure if anything is changed by adding the head and neck growth to the equation or no.

That's a good number for me. I was measuring bum to head in her seat but I said torso. I'm just crossing words! Still, 2.75 inches should be plenty to get us through rear facing for another 21 months. Thanks!
 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
I swear my 34" kid has either no torso or a super short head! She's got 5.5" above her head in that seat at the 7th click. So 4.5" growing room. She wears same size shirts as pants though so I don't get it.

34.5" is 42nd percentile on WHO charts for a 37 month girl, is she maybe taller than that? Would make a bit more sense for her growth room.

For torso growth, my square child (50th percentile height and weight) grew 1.6" torso in 18 months. That was from around age 3 to 4.5 though. But might give you some idea of what can be typical.
 

Keeks64

New member
My oldest only seems to sprout legs & arm length lol ..... He's had a 14.5" torso for over 18 months. At 2y old his torso was 13.5" & he's now 5. I don't think he is average though & he's always been leggy. He wears 5T pants & now into 5T shirts but only for arms length.
 

RTmom

New member
I feel the same way with my son. He's 3.5 and about 38.5" with a 13.5" torso and 21.5" seated. I measured him yesterday because it seemed like he has tons of room to grow in the radian, he's always been 50% for height, but has a good 3.5 inches of growing room RFing and he's been in the 3rd harness slots forever. It's like all he has done the past year and a half is grow legs! Which is nice of course for keeping him rear facing. He wears the same size tops and bottoms though, just moving into 4T, which suggests to me that kids maybe do tend to grow legs at that age.
 

ebp913

New member
My daughter seems to be leggy too. I am realizing that it's awesome for car seats too. Gives us lots of choices!
 

ebp913

New member
I swear my 34" kid has either no torso or a super short head! She's got 5.5" above her head in that seat at the 7th click. So 4.5" growing room. She wears same size shirts as pants though so I don't get it.

34.5" is 42nd percentile on WHO charts for a 37 month girl, is she maybe taller than that? Would make a bit more sense for her growth room.

For torso growth, my square child (50th percentile height and weight) grew 1.6" torso in 18 months. That was from around age 3 to 4.5 though. But might give you some idea of what can be typical.

It's very interesting how different it is kid to kid. DH and I laugh because our kids have like no necks too. My daughter might even has 4 inches of head space. I estimated a little on the lower side.
 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador
My daughter seems to be leggy too. I am realizing that it's awesome for car seats too. Gives us lots of choices!

If she's a leggy 34.5" child, I'd say she's gotta have more room in the Peg than that. Try measuring with a DVD case putting the short end of the doing on her end and the long end of the spine flat against the back of the seat.
 

ebp913

New member
If she's a leggy 34.5" child, if say she's gotta have more room in the Peg than that. Try measuring with a DVD case putting the short end of the doing on her end and the long end of the spine flat against the back of the seat.

Okay I'll do that. The only thing I had on hand was a Camelbak water bottle so I used that which was probably not the best.
 

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