Extremely short 8 year old who was a 24 weeker, is growth hormone an option?

[mumtopremie]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to Mumsnet so you may have to forgive me on some things, and if I go on and on and on!!!

My problem is with my youngest son who is 8 years old.

As a quick background, he was born at 24 weeks gestation and weighed 1lb 6oz, which I believe is a good weight. However, due to many problems he was in hospital for 8 months much of this time unable to feed, due to bowel nec, RSV, etc etc. He was unexpected to survive some of his ailments, but being the fighter he is he did survive. He has come out of it with global devleopment day, but no physical problems apart from his size.

Hi is now 8 years old and at his last measuring in may was 113cm, and is skinny as a rake!! I have brought up the issue of his size with his doctor previously and have been told not to worry about it as he follows a line on the graph, he is just above the bottom line.

The problem I am facing now though as he is getting older is he is getting less accepted by his peers. He is starting to get picked on because nobody believes he is 8, and this is affecting him in a negative way. Everyday he is getting upset about being so small, and I fear that this is only going to esculate as he gets older.

I know children can get growth hormone even if they have no specific hormonal reason, but should I keep pressing his doctor to address this? he makes me feel as if I should just be grateful he is alive, which of course I am, but I also want him to have a good quality of life.

Has anybody else any experience with this problem?

I would be very grateful for any advice.

Ask your paed to do a Bone Age Scan. They X-ray the wrist and age the child according to their none age as opposed to their actual age. My dd was 19mos behind. Stands to reason as she is nearly 13 and just into age 9 clothes. We were told not to consider a growth hormone, and it does depend a lot on puberty. I am taking her to GOSH for a multi disciplinary clinic next month, and I will ask for a second opinion from one of their Paeds. I do share your concerns. We hoped that she would reach 5ft 2, but that is looking unlikely. My only hope is that her periods start really late just to give her a bit more catching up time.
BTW. Post on the SN kids board. Much more traffic.

My dd2 had bone ageing done as she has Perthe's syndrome (hip necrosis) caused by they don't know what!
My older 2 children are over the 90% centile for weight and height. Dd2 is under the 10th! Bone age scans confirmed she's about 2 years behind in bone age, making her the shortest in her class.
Her Paed said more swimming, lots of load bearing exercise and team games, but basically due to her bone problem (we're still waiting to see if she needs hip surgery) she's never going to be tall (I'm 5'9 and dh almost 6') and has to look at ways to keep fit. She just got accepted into our local swimming development squad as her crawl and backstroke are at 12yo speeds and she's not 9 till November!

Hi, just came on to offer some reassurance really my DS2 is also 8 and measures 113cm and is also skinny as a rake, has a 19" waist (he was born full term and weighed 9lb 4oz) The health visitor and GP have always said that his height and weight are perfectly fine and not to worry it's just the way he is. He tracks just above the 0.4th centile now. None of my other DC's are like him.