Dr wants blood test for very large baby. What are they looking for?

[lowrib]

My 7mo DS is huge! He's consistently over the 99th percentile.

The Dr has ordered blood tests. He says he can't see anything wrong with him, but just to be on the safe side, as he is so large.

He is BF and we're doing BLW, so he's not overweight from over-feeding. He seems generally well, strong and healthy - just rather enormous!

Does anyone know - what are they looking for exactly? I'm kicking myself for not asking more questions at the time.

no idea what they're looking for. thyroid probs or something maybe?
but i have no idea why they're worried, esp if he has always been big. someone has to be at the top of the chart don't they?>?

I would guess at thyroid too.

My neighbours' ds was huge (my ds1 was always around the 98th/99th but this was something else), he was in 18-24mo clothes at 7mo and his head was ginormous, there is no other word. I'm sure he was well off the cahrts though, not just at the top.

He had some tests at the local children's hospital and they found he had an underactive thyroid. He's been on medication since and has gradually become a more ordinary size for a 2.3yo.

Is he all in proportion - head circ/weight/height wise? My ds was tall and had a suitably sized head for his weight, I think they start to worry when there are more than a couple of centiles' discrepancy between the 3 measurements.

Thanks for your replies

thisisyesterday "someone has to be at the top of the chart don't they?" - that's what I have been telling myself!

Olihan he's been in 9-12mo clothes generally for the last few weeks. We've only measured his weight (our health authority doesn't do height / length in the red book, as they say it makes parents obsess over it )

I'll do those measurements myself tomorrow, but he looks in proportion to me.

DS1 was the same, clothes-wise. He's 5.6 now, wears age 7-8 clothes and is the tallest in his class. Don't know where he gets it from, the tallest people in dh's and my families is 5' 10" so he's some sort of throwback!

My neighours' little boy did look out of proportion - he had a huge head that kind of dwarfed his face and he definitely wasn't tall for his age.

Could you get another appointment with the GP and take a list of questions with you? Ie, what is it he's specifically concerned with, why does he think it's something other than just being a large baby, what in particular is concerning him about your son's size? It seems wrong to me to do a blood test on a baby for the mere reason that he's at the top of the chart. I'd want more evidence and reasoning before I agreed iiwy.

I don't understand the problem either ...

My understanding was that if the baby/child is following his/her own 'curve' then there was no problem - it is only seen as a problem if they jump over or under the lines.

My dd3 has just had her 2 yr check - she is 91st centile for weight and only between 2 - 9th centile for height, so obv way out of proportion. The HV wasn't concerned in the slightest (even though I kind of was) and said that as she has always followed the 91st centile line, then that is where she's 'meant' to be.

My dd3 doesn't look out of proportion to me either - she's small, that's obvious against other 2yo's but she's only looks lovely baby-chubby, not overweight.

Good luck with the tests and please come back and update us