Can I get a HGH test done privately for a child with idiopathic short stature?

[wunderlost]

My child is very small for his age (about the 9th centile). I have spoken to an NHS paediatrician who says he is not eligible for growth hormone because he is following his centile and we, his parents are not tall.

Nevertheless, I would like to try and find out if it would be possible for him to do the fasting HGH test to completely rule it out as my brother is very short and had a lot of issues with it as an adult. Has anyone done it privately and how much did it cost (we are in London)?

I think you'll find that even if he is growth hormone deficient that if he is on the charts even at 9th percentile he's not likely to be given growth hormone therapy.

9th centile is really not that small and the fact he is following the centile suggests there is unlikely to be any problem with growth hormone. Children with growth hormone problems tend to drop sharply off the chart at about two years old.

What sort of problems did your brother have? Were they actually medical or purely social implications of being short?

(I say all this as the parent of a child considerably below the charts but growing on their own curve).