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We know that Hobbits were 3 to 3.5 feet tall, Bandobras Took almost 4. But how big were hobbit children (relative to their age, of course)?

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    They were about this tall.
    – Xantec
    May 7, 2013 at 17:30
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    This is a good counterpart to this question about the Elves.
    – Solemnity
    May 8, 2013 at 0:52
  • Did we see any in the movies? If so that should be a good guide, because they stuck pretty close to the books in virtually all aspects. Feb 16, 2015 at 13:48

2 Answers 2

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For they are a little people, smaller than Dwarves: less stout and stocky, that is, even when they are not actually much shorter. Their height is variable, ranging between two and four feet of our measure.

-The Fellowship of the Ring

Since Tolkien says here that Hobbits aren't particularly out of whack in terms of their proportions, unlike Dwarves, I think we can assume that they have human or near-human proportions, just shrunk down to about 3/5 of our size.

If they have human proportions, then you can assume their children would also be 3/5 the size of human children at their respective stage in development (keeping in mind the average lifespan of a Hobbit is longer than a human's.)

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    Agreed, yes. Sam was able to take Elanor in his lap at the end of RotK, and Hobbit children are described as "small" in FotR chapter 1, both of which support this interpretation.
    – user8719
    May 7, 2013 at 22:52
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Hobbits: 3' - 3'6" Humans: 6' - 7' Human babies: 1'7" - 1'9"..

Since hobbits are virtually identical in anatomy to humans (only smaller), I think it's safe to assume, hobbit babies would be roughly 10" (edit my typos, if you must, but don't change the values I provide!!!), a little more than half the value. Is there any canon reference to this?

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    Most humans are closer to 5-6' than 6-7'.
    – Dronz
    Jan 13, 2015 at 2:30
  • My apologies. I honestly don't remember what I was changing there.
    – FuzzyBoots
    Feb 16, 2015 at 13:46

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