11 month old not growing since 3.5 months

[AlCookie]

Hey...sorry for starting a new thread - i started a thread this morning with the sane concern but i can no longer reply to it!

Ok...so whats happening is that my 11.5 months old son has not grown in weight or height since he was 8 months old. Its been 3.5 months and NO GROWTH. He was always a slow gainer - born at 25th centile and fell to 2nd and still falling. But my new concern is not slow growth, its no growth!

I just feel something inside me telling that there should be a reason for his growth to have practically stopped. Neither me nor my husband are huge people but then babies of small parents do grow!!! He eats good and is a very happy n content baby otherwise.

I m trying to get the doctor to b concerned about it but they keep telling 'he seems ok'. I read that a child with things like growth hormone disorder will be developing normally other than 'growing physically'. So that means my son may be all happy , intelligent n crawling etc normally but could still have a problem.

I dont want to sound paranoid but i m a mother n like every other mum i take great pains to feed him right (feeding an almost toddler is never easy) n choose the best for him - if after all this effort i see absolutely no result, i will feel bogged down :-( but why would any doctor care about this. I will shut up if the doc can run some tests and tell me they r all ok instead of just saying 'he seems fine'.

Its been 11 months of stress for me because he has always been growing slow (before now when he stopped growing all together). It may be that he is ok but its just the 'peace of mind' - i just want that!

For 11 months i have heard :

1. 'u r so tiny, so ur baby MAYBE genetically small'
   
2. he is so active, he SEEMS just fine
   
3. he is crawling at 7 months, he Is PROBABLY just be a small baby
   
4. DONT WORRY
   
   But u know what...after 11 months doubtful words like maybe, seems, probably - they only irritate me! The worst of all is DONT WORRY- for god sake its MY child - if i dont worry for him , who will?????
   
   Its very easy to label a mum paranoid....but u guys please think about it for a minute n tell me whether i m paranoid - my son has not grown AT ALL, not in height, not in weight - for 3.5 months now. Anybody give me one reason why i shud ignore this and not worry. Babies have tye highest growth rate in the first year of life....so?!?!???!
   Am i a paranoid mum or m i just a mum!!!!!!
   
   I hate everybody who gives me the 'awww dont worry u paranoid mum' look!!!!!
   
   Please please somebody help me!!! I have been crying hours n hours together n i m just too stressed to do anything else in life (still on my maternity leave so i have absolutely no other distraction to take my mind off)

[Pozzled]

I would be pushing for a referral to a paediatrician. I don't think you are paranoid, I would be concerned too. I would want to know that the the very least the doctor was monitoring and had a plan for when/what to investigate further.

I take it you can't identify any possible reasons for the lack of growth e.g no illness? Could he have gained weight and then lost it, or are you sure it's just stayed stable?

[LeiaOrganaSolo]

I would also push for a referral to a paediatrician. I had a very similar situation with my DD. Neither the health visitor or the GP took it seriously but in the end I did get a referral. After lots of test it turned out the only problem was iron deficiency and after this was addressed she started gaining weight again normally. I very much wish I'd pushed for a referral earlier rather than spending ages trying to 'up the calorie intake' on the advice of my HV...

[AlCookie]

Thankfully he has not been ill ever expect for seasonal runny nose!! I so thank god for that.

Thats a good point about 'gaining n then losing'. But thats again the weight...why has he not grown even a little tall also, true that i didnt visit the doctor for about 2 months (courtesy my family people who kept telling me he seems to be doing so well, why r u concerned about weight, forget about going to the doc - and i hate myself for listening to that rubbish now) . i kept monitoring his weight at home and for the 3.5 months it been in a 100 gm range - 7.5 to 7.6 kgs.
Yup yup...he is almost a year old and just weighs this much

[Zavi]

If your baby hasn't grown at all in the last 3.5 months I would have thought he definitely needs some preliminary investigations if not a referral to a paediatrician.

Don't be fobbed off by your GP saying "don't worry, he seems fine". Some doctors poo-pah parents when they don't know what's wrong - or they put it down to a virus or post-viral syndrome

I would be pressing for a referral now. They often take a while to come through and if your DS does need any treatment then you want to get the ball rolling asap. And if your son starts growing again in the meantime, well, you've got nothing to lose.

Wish you all the best.

[ZuleikaD]

I'm sure you'll be referred to a paed, but fwiw my own DD's weight pretty much stalled for about three months after she stopped breastfeeding. Don't worry about trying to measure height - until they can stand up steadily there's no point trying to measure.

[Lotta1234]

Have you seen the health visitor about this? We were worried about our daughter last month and the health visitor came to see her two times a month apart to investigate. Was really helpful. Ask for a health visitor home visit and share all your worries.

[MammaCici]

I think the advice you've gotten already is very good. Insist you see a specialist.
Where I live in Stockholm all babies are given vitamin D every day from birth. UK is also quite northerly so kids aren't getting enough vitamin from the sun during winter months. Darker skinned children are effected most from lack of vitamin D in the winter. It might be worth checking out.
If I was you I wouldn't be content with "probably"s either. It's normal to worry and to seek out definitive answers for your precious child. Best of luck.

[Bumpsadaisie]

You need to see a specialist, if your 11 month old hasn't grown at all in 3.5 months, then how could anyone think things are all fine without wanting to just get things checked out? What a silly doctor!

An acquaintance of mine had a child with growth hormone disorder. Its easy to sort out - changing diet and using supplements makes a big difference. So no need to worry too much if it is that. But of course it needs checking out!

[AlCookie]

Exactly Bumpsadaise!!! That is what i m concerned about. I read about the growth hormone deficiency and it seems in this case all else will seem normal with the kid - like mental development and motor skills. And thats exactly whats happening here - all is normal except his growth.

If its the growth hormone thing then sitting n thinking all is well will not help. I know its not serious so long as it is detected and resolved. I just hope someone listens to me!! Otherwise i will just put my foot down and demand that i want an investigation NOW!

[Dulra]

Alcookie I am also quite surprised that you haven't been referred or even that they aren't monitoring his growth fortnightly. I would also be demanding a referral for a paed and also continuous monitoring of his growth from your gp/ HV. My dd1 was very slow to gain weight and I was driven demented by my hv wanting to weigh her constantly and map her growth she was nearly the opposite to what you are experiencing. On that occasion my dd1 was growing seadily all be it slowly but no weight gain in 3.5months is concerning. So go back to gp and demand referral he will have to refer if you request it.
Mammcica I live in Ireland and here we are told to give vit D drops to our babies until they are one because of the lack of sunlight and also because when there is sun we tend to slap on the factor 50 so they get no Vit D from it. they recognised there was a deficiancy in babies so advice is now to give the drops.
Good Luck and try to stop worrying I know easier said then done xx

[hopehopehope]

Hiya, my 7 year old too didn't grow from 9 months, both in height and weight. It was initially put down to prematurity and reflux. Eventually after a lot of pushing from us and tests, she was diagnosed with a growth hormone insufficiency and at the age of three started on daily injections. She began growing straight away and while she is still at the bottom of the growth charts, she is following a line whereas before she was off the page! Hopefully it would be nothing like that but I would ask for a hospital check up to rule out a medical cause. Hopefully he'll have a massive growth spurt soon!

[3nationsfamily]

We had a similar situation with my DD when she was about 18 mths old. She had been consistently at the 75th centile then stopped growing and dropped to the 25th over a 6 month period. She also had digestive problems resulting in a swollen tummy, runny nappies and lack of energy although in all cognitave development ways was fine. It turned out she was Ceoliac- an intolerance of wheat / gluten so everything she was eating was just going right through her and not being absorbed so she wasn't growing. After many repeat hassling visits to the doctors, we got her tested and within 4 weeks on the new diet she was a different child. She is now 13, taller than me and swimming at county level training 17 hours a week in the pool and the healthiest teenager you can imagine! Just maybe worth thinking about.

[AlCookie]

Thank u so much all u guys! First thing i will do is get my family members to read your replies and bring them to the fact that there COULD be a problem. All they tell me now is that i m being paranoid!!!

I dont feel like talking to anyone because all i can talk about is the one thing thats eating the life out of me - my son and his well being and why would anyone else care

Hopehopehope....i so hope that growth spurt comes along right about NOW....before i slip into the abyss of anti socialism and extreme paranoia!!!

[Brtny]

Hi - I know this was years ago, but I just read through all the responses because I am experiencing the same thing. What was causing the this or was he fine?? Fingers crossed he was ok and got that growth spurt! I really hope you get this message and are able to reply. Thank you!

[tree77]

Hi I am going through this now did you find out if anything was wrong xx

[KerriSykes]

Hi

Also going through something similar. What was the outcome for your baby in the end?

We have an appt but depending on the covid situation it may or may not go ahead.

I always wake up in the hope that my baby would have tripled in size by some miracle growth spurt

So heartbreaking to think that something may be wrong with him. Everyone can’t believe he is eight months I get comments like he must be really hungry or get told that he looks three months old.

[BaskaM]

Hi there. I can see it was quite a few of you with the same issue. What is the reason of baby not growing? Can you share your experience please? I am losing my mind. I have 8months old who stopped gaining weight. She was always very small, but growing fine and putting weight flowing her own growth chart line. Suddenly after 6months she was only gaining very little for couple of weeks and then stopped growing weight and height wise.