Faltering height/length following failure to thrive - any experience?

[KatyH]

Good evening!

Apologies if this has been done before, I can only seem to find threads on weight gain but not very many about height.

Basically, DD2 (soon to be 1) has recently been treated for failure to thrive. Her weight is finally picking up which is great but at her last appointment they measured her and her height was only 66.5cm which puts her off the bottom of the chart for the first time. Until now her height seemed to be unaffected (always around the 9th centile) but from the little bit of research I've conducted, if height is affected through FTT it is taken as an indicator of more severe and prolonged malnutrition (god, how awful does that make me feel! ).

I've never been too worried about her weight but now I'm sick with worry that her height has been irreversibly stunted. Does anyone else have any experience of this? Will her height catch up again?

Hi Katy,
My ds was born with certain medical problems which may or maynot have contributed to his failure to thrive. He was below the 3rd percentile for both height and weight and sort of yo-yoed between there and even lower for a very long time. He is 4 now and is still very light but has pretty much caught up on the height scale.

How is your lo with other milestones etc, any other concerns?

Thank you YM, that's good to know. No other real concerns. All of the tests have been negative so far. She's just never been a great eater and then she got bronchiolitis and the weight fell off of her. Until she got bronchiolitis I wasn't too worried about her (despite being off the bottom of the chart for a long time) but now that it has affected her height it makes me think I should have done something sooner and that my inaction will have long-term consequences for her. If she carries on at the same level then in adulthood she'll be about 4' 10''.

Where is your ds on the chart now? And have his other problems been sorted out?

Hi again, ds is now just below 50 percentile for height and 25 percentile for weight. Height is I believe genetically determined so I don't think anything you have or have not done could contribute to her final height. I have found that ds has long periods of no growth and then has a spurt. With no other concerns I would try not to worry. I know how scary it is when little ones who are low on the charts get sick though, they just don't have the fat reserves others have! As to ds and his medical condition, some aspects have been sorted out and some continue, he has an assessment later in January so keep fingers crossed all goes well there.

Hi YM, I was thinking no wonder you are yawning given the times you are posting, then I looked at your profile and seen you are in NZ!

Thank you for your responses, that reassures me alot. She was never likely to be a giant anyway (I'm just over 5' and dh is 5'10) but I hate the idea that she wouldn't meet her potential. I do have neurotic times when I think she may have a form of dwarfism but in my more lucid moments I'm pretty certain she's okay.

Also, you're spot on re not having the reserves. I think she may have bronchiolitis again as her temp tonight was 39C and her breathing was really rapid. However, at least this time she does have some reserves and I'm going to make sure she keeps them!!

If you don't mind me asking, what is your ds' medical condition? I really hope everything goes okay at his appointment. It's a right worry this mothering malarkey!