He should maybe be checked out. DH had been told his entire life that ‘he came from a short family’. His mother was the tall one in her birth family at 5’, if she stretched. DH’s uncle was 4’7". He was happy when a bunch of boat kids entered his elementary school when he was in 3rd grade because that meant he was no longer the shortest kid at school. (which had K) DD didn’t grow from 6 - 9 months and didn’t get back on the growth chart until after treatment. Eventually she was tested and she wasn’t making enough growth hormone.
The treatment isn’t about height, that is just the easy test of a problem. Kids with this problem are like a cake baked at too low of a temp, then taken out at the normal time. It will look like a normal cake, just shorter. But the problem is that the insides aren’t done. The kids have underdeveloped heart/lungs/bones.
Yes, mine are all tiny. DH & I are both 5’4”, and my MIL is 5’ even. Definitely not winners of the genetic pool for height! My children have all gotten progressively smaller as well. My oldest is ~10% for height and weight. My middle is 1%. My youngest is not even on the chart. She was a preemie & had some IUGR. Hopefully she will hit a growth spurt at some point or she is not going to hit 5’ tall.
Been through this! My middle has been tested for type 1 diabetes, autoimmune disease, celiac, thyroid dysfunction, growth hormone deficiency, and who knows what else. $2000 in bloodwork later we have a diagnosis of small stature
My sister and her DH are short. I think my sister barely makes 5 feet. Their parents are short as well (our dad was 5’4".) Their daughter - now 10 - has always been very short for her age. Like a full head shorter. She was full term. Still, early on, pediatricians wanted to run lots of tests. Upshot, just short. Still, every time there was a new pediatrician, more concern about her height.
My sister happened on an older old school pediatric guy who said, she’s short. So what.
Such a relief to be able to move on from, she’s short, we must run tests.
He retired but my sister was lucky enough to find another older doctor.
My dad was 6’2", mom was 5’5", younger sister is 5’11", younger brother is 6’2". When they (not mom) used to tell me I was short, I always replied that I was a perfectly normal height for an average woman and they were all freakishly tall! Mom used to stand on the steps to yell at my brother so she could look him in the eye w/o breaking her neck!
MIL was 5’10" and FIL is 5’9".
My dd20 is 5’5". Apparently it is MY fault that she is “short.” Her 15yo brother passed dh in height this past spring and is still growing (he is also really skinny …so difficult to buy pants with a boy’s waist and a men’s length!)
I was 6 foot at age 12. My shoe size was the same as my age until I was 11 . I like being tall for a lot of things, but I was denied entrance to the ball pit play area at 7!!
One suggestion is to make sure your child walks up to each ride with a height requirement on her own; if you are carrying her they will always ask you to set the child down and measure. We had this with my DD4 even on rides she was well over tall enough for.
When we had a child close to or at the cutoff I always made sure to find shoes with thick soles to bring on the trip….not cheating, just using every bit of help .
When my daughter was about 48.5" measured barefoot at home, she was just barely able to ride all the 48" requirement rides. I think Everest was the closest call. So I think their rulers factor in shoe height. She passed all the checks the whole trip thankfully.
All of my kids have been below the 5th percentile, the youngest is the smallest at less than 1.
My oldest (22) is the tallest in our house at 5’5. Middle child (17) is 4’10. Youngest (6) is almost 40in.
DH and I are both in the 5’1- 5’2 range.
So you have any idea how hard it is to buy men’s clothes with a 27 in inseam?!?
I know the pain! I sometimes find that boys clothing is cheaper and a better fit, though thankfully I’ve found some brands of men’s clothing that fit me well.
I’m 5’4" and DH is 5’5"; both girls are consistently ~12-15%ile height and weight their whole lives. DD5 finally hit a growth spurt about 6 months ago and is consistently measuring 42" in shoes, so I’ve felt pretty safe telling her she’ll be able to ride the things she wants to. But we live in the land of giants in the South. Every time we get a photo or video from daycare with the whole class, she’s a head shorter than almost every other kid, and usually a full two heads shorter than the tallest!
Now head circumference? 95th+ percentile! We specialize in tiny kids with giant heads!
My kids are the ones who tower over everyone (they’re all 95-100% in height). I was a tall kid (I’m 5’8" so not extremely tall) and I hated it - I’m okay with it now, though! I think everyone has insecurities about their height at some point.
Having big kids can be challenging at times because strangers think they’re older than they are and expect them to respond/behave different. We had several CMs ask my then 16-month old to wear a mask On the bright side they get to ride the big rides earlier!
For some reason, most of DD’s friends are giants. They’ve all had the same problem. Now it has mostly evened out because lack of puberty is used instead of height. But, the poor dears had a hard time of it earlier. I got so used to telling strangers their age. With DD during toddler/preschool/early elem. years, when it was strangers she tended to play with the Asian kids, just because the size/maturity level matched. I learned to recognize the signs of a Tiger Mom preparing for overdrive caused by the thought of a child either younger & equal or same age & more advanced as their child. So I’d tell DD’s age to stop the tiger overdrive.
I think it depends a bit on the CM working as well. Two years ago they did just about everything they could to get my son to stand just right so he barely brushed the 38" marker to get on Slinky Dog. The girl working probably took 2 minutes to get him to stand just still enough and just right so that he made it.
Since Disney measures at each ride and does not do any sort of wristbands, my best advice would be to go on any rides that may be questionable in the morning. Practice having them stand straight, if you get a good CM they will try to help them stand correctly but not all do.
Make sure they understand their head needs to touch the stick. Sometimes kids shrink down a little so they don’t bump their heads but then they don’t meet the height.
Mom used to stand on the steps to yell at my brother so she could look him in the eye w/o breaking her neck! 
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We specialize in tiny kids with giant heads!
On the bright side they get to ride the big rides earlier!