3 year old on 0.4 centile for height, being sent for investigations

[Butterflymummy95]

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone has been through the same or something similar.

My 3.5 year old has now fallen to the 0.4th centile for her height.

When she was born she was on 50th centile for weight and 25th for length. Both of these have slowly been dropping over the past couple of years and when she was around 2 years old the HV referred her to be seen at hospital as she had dropped 2 centiles for both weight and height. She was seen in August by a consultant who said she wasn't overly concerned but would review her again in a few months.

We attended the review appointment yesterday and the consultant is now concerned as she hasn't got much bigger since she was last seen. Her height is now on the 0.4th centile and her weight is on the 2nd centile. She is now referring DD for blood work and for an x-ray on her forearm to check bone age and has said DD has short stature. She did mention they would be checking for the likes of coeliac as this could cause stunted growth.

Im only 5ft 1 and hubby is 5ft 11, my eldest daughter is very tall for her age so the complete opposite to my youngest.

I'm trying to not worry and think the worst and that there could be something serious causing this but it's super hard not to 🙈

Sorry for the long post and thank you if you made it to the end!

I’m somewhat invested in your post. My 3 year old is also very small for age but they keep telling me as she is not dropping a lot of centiles it’s not a concern.

I read about a possible cause being lack of human growth hormone. It’s maybe worth mentioning at your appointment? How is your daughter in general? Has she reached developmental milestones etc?

@Bumble84 yes it's something I had come across online as a possible cause and hoping if it is that that treatment would be started early enough.

She is brilliant, reached every single milestone as she should have with no delays. She doesn't look or act as if there is anything wrong and is just a happy energetic child!

I would keep pushing if you're not happy, there's no harm in someone having a look at her x

I think you need to stop comparing your daughters as it will 100% stress you out. Just bear in mind that you are only 5 ft 1 and your husband is only around the 50th centile for male height - so it’s completely normal for her to be tiny especially as she’s achieving all her milestones! Even your elder daughter might only be frontloading her height. It’s good that they’re investigating but just try and keep that in mind.

Thanks @Ozanj I do know it is most likely nothing to be worried about and I'm really trying to not go down a Google rabbit hole.
I had a daughter who died when she was 2 so it's probably me over worrying and panicking now that something medical could be seriously wrong with my youngest. She doesn't look out of proportion in herself and we've always just thought she was like a wee fairy!

I know what you mean. I had so many miscarriages before my son that I tend to overeact over everything about him too. But if it was Coeliac disease (or another allergy) severe enough to cause her to drop her weight so low, it would come with other problems.

@Butterflymummy95 so sorry for the loss of your other child which makes it completely understandable that you would worry more about your others. Good thing is she is being looked at.

My daughter was 9th for weight 25th for length as a baby going up to the 35th for weight when we start removing allergens
Between 1 and 2 she went from 25th for length to 1st for height and was briefly on the 50th for height which I was concerned about but the drs and dietician weren't concerned by. She's 3.5 now and still on the 1st for height and now steady on the 25th for weight. She has 20 food allergies and difficult reflux that still requires.heavu duty medication. She is under 2 paediatricians and a dietician and weighed and measured every 3 months. They are happy with her growth as she is following the 1st percentile for height.
She's slow growing just gone into 18 month clothes at 3.5 and is still in size 5 shoes! My friends 14 month has just gone into clothes she was wearing at Christmas

I am 5ft2 my partner is 5ft11 but was the smallest in his class before he went through puberty. At my daughters age I was 2nd percentile for weight and height and at 7 I shared clothes with my 3-4yo sister. Now we are both adults we still share clothes as she's only 5ft3 and the same dress size. My older sister didn't reach the 0.4th percentile until 1 and then stayed their until 2 when she started moving up the lines. she is now the tallest of the 3 of us at a very tall 5ft4. Her daughter by contrast is 5ft 5 at 14!

We are mostly a family of small people and given my daughters limited diet and allergies her paediatrician is very happy with her progress. Once we got passed the first few weigh in and height checks and saw that she had stopped loosing height percentile we stopped fretting about her height but the regular check ins do help with the anxiety when she doesn't outgrow clothes which is her special talent!

My son is 9 and isn't even on the lines, he draws his own line underneath, despite having been on them as a baby. He's been tested and is just small (both our families are small so I guess he just got all of the small genes).

My daughter was tiny despite being born on 25th (as a twin!). She rapidly fell in the centiles though she wasn't measured after 2yr check. Docs were OK as she was not visibly skinny, but was slim. She always wrote clothes 2 years or so younger (Next clothes were at least 2 years too big!), only began wearing clothes for her age at 11. She's 15 now and a bit shorter than me at 5'3, a size 8. She's probably not going to grow anymore according to docs as she started her period 3 years ago. (Leg bones stop growing 1-1.5 years after period). So I guess your DD might be quite small always but will probably spurt a bit at puberty.

@Superscientist my daughter is the exact same size in clothes and shoes! Lol she did have CMPA as a baby but thankfully outgrew it when she was around 15 months. Although we did have an awful time weaning her as she point black refused any solid foods until 13 months so wondering if that has maybe been contributing too!

@PrincessOfPreschool that's reassuring to hear! I do think she is just petite and hope nothing untoward comes back in results 🤞🏻

My daughter didn't engage with weaning until 13 months either and it was more like 20 months before she was sustaining herself with food and not formula. She only gained 200g between 7 and 13 months.

This was when her drop in height came so I don't know if that contributed. We moved house so ended up with a gap in paediatric appointments so not sure when it occured

She's not a big eater. I really don't know how she puts on weight. She will happily have 1/4 of a Weetabix and a handful of plain pasta, frozen peas with olive oil and that's it for the day.

I'm nervous about her starting school in September as she will be 4 and a few weeks, probably aged 2 uniform and 10-16cm smaller than the average 4-5 yo girl!

My son is 8 and was already under paeds for an unrelated matter when concerns about his height were raised when he was 3 due to falling down from 50th-0.4th centile. He had a bone density scan which found that he had a bone age 18 months delayed, followed by lots of blood tests, all of which were normal except for the growth hormone stimulation test. He was diagnosed with idiopathic growth hormone deficiency (no known cause) and has daily injections. He’s now back up to almost 50th centile.
Just sharing as although your DD might be entirely normal, even if it’s found that there’s something amiss, it might be something as straightforward as this, so try not to worry.

Hi @Butterflymummy95 - how's it going? My DS is 16 months, still breastfeeding and refused solid. She was born on 50th centile and has dropped to 0.4th, we are very concerned about turner syndrome or some growth deficiency. Are you going private or via nhs?

My DS went down to 1st percentile for height when he was 3 but gradually clawed back to 25th. The only thing we did was make sure he sat with us for meals and spoon-feed him still at 5 otherwise he won't eat enough.

I'd be questioning the cmpa. Has she really grown out of it or maybe it's causing her gut to be low level irritated and not absorb things properly.

Our daughter dropped centiles over the same age range as your daughter (from 6 months to 2 years). Nothing else wrong as such. Rest of the family and siblings are tall. She was diagnosed with coeliac disease. Several years (of a gluten free diet) on, her height and weight have picked back up although she remains the smallest of the family, but still taller than average.

@tigerhippy - yes I heard coealic could be a reason too, but unfortunately with my daughter that's not the case as she has always been steady on her weight chat at 9 percent and only falling on height chart curve from 50th to now 0.4 and her growth is very very slow

Check out the Child Growth Foundation on Facebook/ website. Lots of info there

My 3 year old daughter is also on the 0.4 centile (size 4 shoes!) she has 6 monthly paed reviews but no investigation as yet. They aren't as worried as she has been tracking the centile but plan to refer to endocrinology at 4 if she's still on that centile.

Well meaning people will say your child is small because you are, but for growth they look at centiles dropped and mid percentile predicted height

My cousin has a growth disorder that was not picked up until he was a teen as his mum was small, so I'm grateful they are actively monitoring my daughter

Maybe it's a medical problem or maybe for whatever reason she's just tiny 🤷‍♀️

It's good this has been picked up 🤞 there are lots of explanations which while they might need treatment are totally manageable

Really sorry for you loss, its completely understandable why you feel worried based on the history. Out of 100 people though of the same age, someone has to be the smallest and the tallest and you could just have a completely healthy petite child 😊

It's normal for them to investigate when dropping under 2 centiles, but try not to worry too much and start diagnosing her with something until the tests come back.

Dd dropping centiles was due to coeliac

My daughter has always floated between 2nd and 9th for weight. At first i worried, I've now come to accept she's just a waif.

Another child here who dropped percentiles due to coeliac. Just grown 5cm in 3 months being gluten free

watching this with interest too, as my two year old is small. She has dropped from about 75th to 9th since birth (and from 50th to 9th over about 14 months). Her weight has remained steady at 50th centile. She’s a good eater and has easily met all milestone. She’s been waking since she was 11 months old, but her feet have barely grown over that time (up maybe a size in 18 months).

No one seems concerned because 9th centile isn’t really a concerning size. Except I’m about 99th centile (and the smallest person in my family) for height. My husband is about 65th. The only small person my little one is related to is my mother-in-law, who is about 5’3. But in the rest of the family, the women range from 5’8 to 6’2 and the men are all 6’ to 6’4. I did go to the gp. While there he was concerned about something else and has referred us to paediatrics for that (but hoping they’ll look at her size too.)

She might just take after MIL, but it’s strange for me as both my grandmothers, mother, my sister and I were/are all very tall women!

Hi @hopeful02 we are under NHS atm no plans to go private yet as they seem to be doing everything they need to.

@Arrestedmanevolence I have wondered myself about the cmpa. She has been terribly constipated for around a 1.5 years now which actually ended up causing a 2 month long UTI that was resistant to most antibiotics because of how bunged up she gets. Consultant thinks it's psychological but part of me has thought maybe it is still the cmpa lingering. She isn't in any discomfort though at all even after drinking cows milk so I'm unsure 😢

Thank you all for your comments, they did mention they will be testing her for coeliac disease so hopefully we'll get some answers soon!

Maybe drop back a step on the milk ladder if you still have a copy and see if that helps the constipation?

Hello everyone,I hope everyone is well. Unfortunately, my daughter was measured recently, and she has fallen below the 0.4th percentile as well, which is causing me significant stress. I have requested a referral to a private doctor and am attempting to utilize my workplace insurance, but they require extensive forms from my doctor for approval.

@Butterflymummy95

How is your daughter doing? Have you received any updates from your doctors?

@Superscientist - What tests did they cover when your daughter was reviewed?