not growing much.

[Sabbath]

Hello all,
My ds is now 3 and 1month, he is very small, and is still in 12/18mth clothes, especially on the leg area. He has been to hospital for appointments to check his height, he was just on the bottom line of the graph at 2and a half, now he is not even on it. He had to have blood took today and was very brave. I am hoping this is not what it is going to be like for years to come. They are testing him to see if his kidneys are working and liver and tyroid gland or wether his brain is sending the message properly or something. Anyway I just wanted to know if anyone else has had this problem?
MY family and my dhs family are not giants, and are quite short.

Oh Sabbath!!!! I went through something similar also. Although a lot younger (she was about 4 months) DD dropped through 2 centiles on the weight chart, and I was referred to a peadiatrician and she had to have bloods taken, and it was a dreadful thing to put her through (although catching the wee was hysterical!) After tests and lots of questions the doc said "well, she's obviously fine isn't she?" to which I replied that I knew that was the case. I was so annoyed, esp. as the (baby) charts are based on purely bottle fed baby stats, and she was B/F... I have seen the "average" baby and it's HUGE! I cancelled the second appointment. She's fine. I know they have to have a yardstick, but stick to your gut feeling as to whether you think there's anything wrong. Is he healthy? Does he eat well? Is he active? You can't make big people out of small people (I and my partner are short, and come from short families).

Has it occurred to you whether you would have ever pondered the question if you never bothered getting him weighed/measured? (many people don't)...

But in any case, you are checking things out and I hope the bloods come back clear. Brave soldier (both of you). Let us know either way.

He is rather short, and am alittle worried about him, and I think I would hav enoticed, as everyone who is younger than him is over-taking him. I am not sure on what to do, but just take it as it comes along and hope he is alright. This has been going on from the scans when I was pregnant, I was induced, but it turned out he was at least two weeks early. He is a very fussy eater since he was born, he was bottle fed and I had problems feeding with my first dd, and couldn't go through that again. I will let you know how he goes and hope that he starts growing on his own, his grandfather is only 5ft2in, so he is not going to be a giant.

How is his weight? If his weight is on a higher centile than his height that would suggest his lack of height is not due to any malnourishment, but more likely to be a problem with gland function. The blood tests will tell you if this is the case. In most cases as far as I am aware this can be rectified so don't worry! Easier said than done I know.

I'm in a similar position in that my ds is on the very bottom of the centile charts. However he has always been on this centile so it seems unlikely that anything can be done as he is growing in proportion (he is 2y4m and has only just gone into 12-18m clothes). I am almost hoping he falls below the graph, then at least they will investigate and maybe give him growth hormone. At the moment he is destined to be 5ft 3 as an adult and I am worried no-one will look at him twice!

Sabbath - have you told the medics that his grandfather was 5ft 2? My ds no.3 is much smaller than his brothers were but it looks like he will take after dh's side of the family. He does have asthma so his height is monitored by the GP. He is 12 years old now and is gaining more weight than height. However that is because he eats more than he should and has very little exercise He has not been tested any further than that. My dh is 2 inches smaller than me and did not infact grow a lot until he was 16 years old. My other children are following in my footsteps. In fact my eldest is a good bit taller than me. I do worry about ds3 being small but it hasn't hampered his father. I expect him to have the same growth pattern as him.

MY son is 3 and 1month, and he has only just grown out of 12/18mth clothes!! Mears I did say about his grandfather being small. Unfortunately his grandfather lives in Botswana, so he can't come with me. I know he is alright, I just worry when he starts school, that he will get picked on for being small. I am only 5ft4. my dh is 5ft6 so not that tall. thanks for all your comments, it is nice to know I am not the only one, I will keep you posted on the results of the blood test and any other news.

titchy, he has put on weight, but he is very small in height and just looking at him. But incredibly strong though, considering his size. My family keep telling me he'll shoot up, but I don't know, hope he does.

Sabbath, my DS1 has always been really tiny. At one point he fell below the 3rd centile for height/weight. He is now 15 & has not had a growth spurt like his mates. They all look like men, while he is a little boy. he is currently having regular visits to the growth clinic at the hospital.
Meanwhile DS2 (13) is definitely having a growth spurt & now has size 5 feet. As DH takes a 6 & I take 5, I assume he will be bigger than us both.

Sabbath

I also worry about whether he will be picked on in school, not so much primary school as it is a small school, and he will already know most of the children in his class from playgroup (plus protective big sister will look out for him!), but when he goes to secondary school I will be terrified he will have his head flushed down the toilet or worse because he will be so small! I also worry that he won't get a decent job, or a girlfriend being so short!

I guess none of the above will happend though - it alwasy seems to be the things that you don't think about that become a problem, not the things you do think about!

Guess as mums we're just born to worry!

Let us know how your ds gets on with the hospital tests.

Had some good news today. My 15 yo DS1 has been going to the hospital regularly because he wasn't growing as fast as he should. Today they said that in the last 6 months he has grown 5 cm & put on 3.5 kg! He is back on the centile line he started on (a very low one!) & if he keeps it up, should end up a reasonable adult height! I'm so relieved. 6 months ago his bone scan age was only 11 years so I'm assuming that whatever wasn't there is now!

Tallulah: what do/did they do at the hospital growth clinic?

I've heard a story about DH's uncle being "tiny" at age 16, so growth not until mid-late teens may be something that runs in DH's family, too.

zebra, it's mainly been height & weight checks. They took a family history,& commented "you're both quite small" (how many times have I heard that?!). The doctor also looked at DS bits, to see if there was any sign of puberty!

At the last appointment they took blood to check thyroid function, and x-rayed his wrist to check bone age.

They also asked him how he felt about being small and whether it was a problem. He said no. They offered growth hormone but said they would rather wait to let him grow naturally, UNLESS he had a real problem and wanted them to do it. They asked him first, rather than us (which I was pleased about, but I don't know what I'd have done if he'd said yes!)