Non-dairy diet &height: will my sons growth catch up?

[LKT1]

Hello,

Not sure if anyone can help or advise. My son was thought to have dairy allergy so we removed it from his diet and used Oat milk and soya milk and other dairy alternatives.

After doing this we found his height didn’t increased much at all. He dropped from just under the 98th to 50th percentile. After being concerned I looked online and found some research directly linking dairy-free diets to limiting growth, even if they are fortified with the vitamins and calcium.

I know it may sound silly but I feel awful we have potentially caused this as height can be important to boys confidence. He’s only 16m and we have reintroduced the dairy via dairy ladder and he’s fortunately been fine.

Has anyone else experienced this to or know if he will catch up and be closer to his original percentile? I know that 1st year growth is the most rapid but I’m hoping as he’s under 2 there might be some hope?

Thanks

[Helperplod]

Hi

Both my boys are dairy free ( due to allergies) the oldest is 5 he is on the 98th percentile(pic below!) for his height and my 1yr old is on the 90th percentile both are absolutely thriving I am sure that all the other foods and the vits gave them all they needed some children have their spurts at different times

My strapping 5yr old!!

[LKT1 in reply to Helperplod]

That’s reassuring to hear. Glad they are both doing well. Lovely picture. Fingers crossed he will have a growth spurt soon 🤞🏻

[Bigblueskies]

Hi, I understand your worry but I think children do fluctuate in their growth rate quite significantly and as long as they don’t drop out of the normal range you shouldn’t worry.

We are dairy-free, my daughter was born on the 50th percentile and then dropped right at the bottom of the scale when I was struggling to breastfeed in the first few weeks after birth. Later she shot up to the 70th percentile and she is now almost two years old and on the 95th percentile for height.

It’s been a roller coaster but she is healthy and happy and that’s what’s important. At no point was she given dairy milk.

A lot of children in restricted diets may not have a balanced diet overall so studies so far haven’t been able to be truly objective, as samples are small and skewed. As long as your child feels and looks well, don’t worry too much about their position on growth charts, I learnt this the hard and stressful way.