Growth hormone for petite kids

[Anonymous]

Just putting this out there & I’ll probably get a bunch of MYOB responses & that’s fine…

I’m US-born, East Asian descent, and my family lives in an area that has a lot of kids whose parents are from certain East Asian countries (i.e., born there not here), MC/UMC, and very competitive. My 5th grade DD has a female classmate, East Asian descent, “Larla”, who had a growth spurt over the summer and is noticeably much taller than all of her female classmates except for one girl. I don’t remember how it came up, but one of my mom friends said, “well you know Larla’s mom told so-and-so (another mom) that Larla got growth hormone in [East Asian country] a couple years back!” Apparently because a doctor there told the parents that there was a good chance that Larla would end up petite. Larla’s mom is petite (haven’t seen the dad), so yeah, it’s not a shocker that Larla would be, too.

Anyway, I was shocked / not shocked by this, because I’ve heard of East Asian parents doing this for their kids, just not anyone I knew personally. My parents are from the same East Asian country as Larla’s parents, and I know how superficial and hyper-competitive parents there are, and it annoys me that they’re importing that culture here. Many many examples of this, but this was the kicker. That’s all.

[Anonymous]

I’ve read that giving kids puberty blockers for supposed “early puberty” is a thing in S Korea - except the main motive is to increase height.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve read that giving kids puberty blockers for supposed “early puberty” is a thing in S Korea - except the main motive is to increase height.

https://m.koreaherald.com/article/3158083

[Anonymous]

It’s a UMC thing, not limited to Asians. If you have money and see a few endocrinologists, you’ll find one that will write for it. Look at all the height threads here alone. UMC parents whose kid is tracking below 50th percentile are likely contemplating growth hormone

[Anonymous]

East Asian here and maybe I should have drugged up my kids with growth hormones.
I'm pretty sure two women I know did just that because their kids are WAY taller than their parents.
I mentioned to my WASP spouse that maybe we should have looked into growth hormones for our son who is taller than either of us by 2 inches and spouse sharply retorted "he's tall enough!".
I think I hit a nerve there.

[Anonymous]

MYOB OP
But I do I feel sorry for kids who are on a normal growth curve whose parents elect to put them on hormones. It's very dangerous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:East Asian here and maybe I should have drugged up my kids with growth hormones.
I'm pretty sure two women I know did just that because their kids are WAY taller than their parents.
I mentioned to my WASP spouse that maybe we should have looked into growth hormones for our son who is taller than either of us by 2 inches and spouse sharply retorted "he's tall enough!".
I think I hit a nerve there.

Or they could be like my brother and just end up a foot taller than everyone else because he got proper nutrition, lots of sunlight, and had a grandparent who was tall.

[Anonymous]

The newer thing is choosing embryos to maximize height and iq. If you don’t, your kid will be shorter and dumber than everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The newer thing is choosing embryos to maximize height and iq. If you don’t, your kid will be shorter and dumber than everyone else.

TBH selecting an embryo is less problematic than subjecting a child to painful, speculative and risky medical procedures

[Anonymous]

My family is in the 1% and we spend $65,000 + on each DC's education every year because we want to give every.single.advantage to them (private schools, yearly study abroads, private tutors). I would never pump drugs into them just so they can be taller. I've seen plenty of tall homeless people and plenty of tall people selling cars, and i don't think that height is much of an advantage.

[Anonymous]

One of my kids was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency and is on a prescription. I can’t imagine giving him those meds if he really didn’t have GHD! That seems crazy to me. When it’s real it’s not just about height btw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my kids was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency and is on a prescription. I can’t imagine giving him those meds if he really didn’t have GHD! That seems crazy to me. When it’s real it’s not just about height btw.

Can I ask how it was diagnosed? Asking as a parent of an 8 year old who has never had blood drawn or much interaction with pediatrician at his annual about anything. He was in the 50th in terms of height is is more like 30 now.

[Anonymous]

Parent of a 5’2” 9 year old girl - she would rather be short.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parent of a 5’2” 9 year old girl - she would rather be short.

This question almost always comes up for boys only. It’s very odd that OPs example used a girl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my kids was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency and is on a prescription. I can’t imagine giving him those meds if he really didn’t have GHD! That seems crazy to me. When it’s real it’s not just about height btw.

Can I ask how it was diagnosed? Asking as a parent of an 8 year old who has never had blood drawn or much interaction with pediatrician at his annual about anything. He was in the 50th in terms of height is is more like 30 now.

Usually it’s single digits or less than two inches growth per year that triggers investigation.