Would this worry you? Growth charts
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Anonymous
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Person above continued:
One of the indicators that your child may have this is apparently there's a period between 2 and 3 where they don't grow alot. I freaked out when I got the kid's summer clothes out and her old 2 year old clothes still fit my 3 year old. (Whatever you do, don't google: why isn't my 2 year old growing, because Google will convince that the answer is a brain tumor.) THey never really resolved what was going on then, but years later they told us about the constitutional growth delay when we had the wrist bone x rays done when she was in eighth grade. They can tell if the grwoth plate has closed or if she still has a lot more growing to do. At this point, our daughgter was 5th percentile and we were talking about grwoth hormone. They told us to hold off and wait. She's in college now and she's five foot seven, as I am. |
Anonymous
NP, and a pediatrician The growth chart is the most effective medical tool in pediatrics, even moreso than a stethoscope. Growth problems can be constitutional growth delay (the answer is in the hand x-ray), or the first indication of kidney problems, or a developing heart condition, or thyroid problems, or genetic problems like Turner Syndrome, or occult cancer, or any number of things. It's not worthless to get it checked out, and the recommended protocols for growth failure don't include anything silly like bone density screening (no norms for little kids, anyway) or full body MRIs. There was a big study in 1994 that looked at almost 115,000 school-aged children in Utah. Of the ones with significant growth problems, most were the benign conditions of constitutional growth delay or familial short stature (or a combo) -- about 80%. The other 20% were diagnosed with "idiopathic short stature" (unknown cause) at 5%, growth hormone deficiency at 3%, Turner Syndrome* at 3% of the girls, thyroid problems at 0.5%, and 10% of a variety of other medical causes. *You want to know if there is a diagnosis like Turner Syndrome (the ovaries are prone to develop cancer if not removed) or early kidney failure (often the kidneys can be saved if diagnosed and treated early, rather than proceeding to dialysis and/or transplant) or other medical problems. |
Anonymous
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My DS has low growth hormone and is currently on growth hormone injections. He was always small, he had 2 years of no growth, and he was monitored for years before he was placed on hormone therapy.
He has been taking the shots for about a year and will continue through puberty. He will still always be short - likely below the 5% but he was simply not growing at all the 2 years before the therapy and he was very very short. I suggest seeing the doctor to be monitored - they won't do the therapy unless they need it - it took forever to get the doctor on board. |
Anonymous
+1 This is so silly. The wrist scan is really fast and delivers pretty good information. There is no need to go to an endocrinologist before a bone scan (in fact, the endocrinologist will want a bone scan first anyway!). OP, my child had a bone scan done and it’s painless. The child is projected to be shorter than their siblings, but the x-ray gave us peace of mind. As the ped said, there is a reason that height is a spectrum and someone’s kid will have to be on the short end. |
Anonymous
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Growth curves can change over time... that is not a cause for concern... a few years ago she was in the 20th percentile... she might be developing later than most other girls.
My DD was bronat the 95th percentile for lenght and the curve decreased overtime. At 7 she is 60th percentile. Nobody is worried... she is developing slower than her friends (both DH and I were very slow) and she will likely not be very tall |
Anonymous
Ok but Turner syndrome has other identifies that any good pediatrician should be able to pick up on. A thyroid panel is also something a pediatrician can order. My point is not every child low on growth curve needs to see a pediatric endocrinologist. There is nothing medically wrong with the vast majority |
Anonymous
| No one is saying a kid with a low growth curve is a problem. The issue is a kid who drops percentiles significantly. My kid developed gastroparesis at 9 months. The only symptom besides almost zero appetite was they stopped growing |
Anonymous
This is an 8 year old, not an infant. A developmentally appropriate 8 year old that has dropped from 20th percentile to 5th percentile over the course of a few years is not (alone) a reason to run to an endocrinologist. A pediatrician is more than capable to navigate this and if they suspect something needs investigation/treatment further than their scope of practice, they will refer you. |