Very short for his age

[lorevangeel]

Nope not that extreme..lol...I keep telling her it is good to look younger than you actually are and yes in a few yrs, she will hoping to look younger....But she is 18 and wants to look 18, she has just started going out to night clubs and according to her "there is nothing worse than going to a night club and have ppl think you are 14, getting hit up for ID every 5 minutes and having guys think you are too young to dance with" ....lol...she is not impressed with it at all...lol

I can understand she thinks it is not cool at all When we're young we want to look older, and when we're older we want to look younger. Isn't ironic?

Ds hates it when girls think he's cute because he's so small, and want to pick him up...

 

[ten6mom]

My boyfriend's younger son just turned 10. He is shorter than my 8 year old son. But dad is about 5'9" and mom is under 5 feet so he will probably never really be tall. He has been mistaken for the youngest of the boys when we're all out together.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Ooh but isn't that negligent from the doctor that there was no testing done on growth hormones before? He was 14 when he was 4' tall? My ds is also very short but checked on a regularly basis and that includes testing for GH... Or maybe it wass different back then...

My dd was not tested for GH and did not have a brain scan to check for a pituitary tumor. I do agree that my endocrinologist dropped the ball there, not checking for a tumor.

That being said she was considered SGA at birth (small for gestational age), which bypassed the testing. In addition, I monitored her growth at her ped. every 3 months for 1 yr, which was a clear indicator of not growing within a normal range. It was pretty obvious she was not growing and I mean not growing at all. Her shoe size stayed the same for 2yrs and by the time she was four she was not growing out of any of her clothes.

She was not able to to gain weight either. That was the first thing that happened once she started on growth hormone at age 6.

 

[lorevangeel]

My dd was not tested for GH and did not have a brain scan to check for a pituitary tumor. I do agree that my endocrinologist dropped the ball there, not checking for a tumor.

That being said she was considered SGA at birth (small for gestational age), which bypassed the testing. In addition, I monitored her growth at her ped. every 3 months for 1 yr, which was a clear indicator of not growing within a normal range. It was pretty obvious she was not growing and I mean not growing at all. Her shoe size stayed the same for 2yrs and by the time she was four she was not growing out of any of her clothes.

She was not able to to gain weight either. That was the first thing that happened once she started on growth hormone at age 6.

Does this mean you started growth hormone treatment without testing for it?

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Does this mean you started growth hormone treatment without testing for it?

Yes. My dd was 6 but it was clear she was not growing. Also the diagnosis of SGA, bypassed the test.

 

[lorevangeel]

Yes. My dd was 6 but it was clear she was not growing.

My ds grows like only 1" per year, so he didn't really stop growing. But I do wonder whether, GH would help him grow faster, even if tests indicate he has no deficiency...

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My ds grows like only 1" per year, so he didn't really stop growing. But I do wonder whether, GH would help him grow faster, even if tests indicate he has no deficiency...

How old is he now?

 

[lorevangeel]

13 years old and 4' even...

 

[The Mystery Machine]

13 years old and 4' even...

I am guessing he has a endocrinologist since he has had testing?

 

[lorevangeel]

I am guessing he has a endocrinologist since he has had testing?

Yes he is followed and we have done several testing. He does have asthma and the medication he takes, does not help him growing... dd is taller so, that shows how small he is.

 

[HM]

I don't know if doctors still do this, but when I was a kid in the 70s, two boys down the street were very short. Their parents had them on growth hormones to help them get taller.

 

[bdcp]

Be careful about growth hormones. Do your research before you consider doing it just because a child is small for their age. If there's a true deficiency, then that's necessary, but otherwise, there are possible side effects down the road that made us decide against them. My son had a friend who was also small for his age until well into HS and he's now 5'9" and became an Army Ranger Officer after college (ROTC). His parents also decided against using growth hormones and let him grow as he was supposed to. As I said previously my DS hit 5'8" while in college. Both boys went to endocrinologists and through the testing and both were told they had constitutional delay of growth. For my son that made sense since my sisters and I were all late going into puberty. Growth hormones will only make you grow as tall as you're supposed to be, not taller. Some people are just meant to be small and no amount of growth hormone will fix that.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Be careful about growth hormones. Do your research before you consider doing it just because a child is small for their age. If there's a true deficiency, then that's necessary, but otherwise, there are possible side effects down the road that made us decide against them. My son had a friend who was also small for his age until well into HS and he's now 5'9" and became an Army Ranger Officer after college (ROTC). His parents also decided against using growth hormones and let him grow as he was supposed to. As I said previously my DS hit 5'8" while in college. Both boys went to endocrinologists and through the testing and both were told they had constitutional delay of growth. For my son that made sense since my sisters and I were all late going into puberty. Growth hormones will only make you grow as tall as you're supposed to be, not taller. Some people are just meant to be small and no amount of growth hormone will fix that.

That is true. If you are not deficient they will not work.

In my dd's case even without the testing it was clear she was deficient, she was not growing normally. I think it is like under 8cms/yr or something like that. I cannot remember specifics.

It is so much more that height as well. It is weight gain and having your skeletal structure grow to fit an adult body.

We did weigh the side effects. My dd was on track to a height of 4'2". She was able to gain a 12" through growth hormone and at 18 is 5'2". She did them K-6th grade.

 

[katie111]

I think it's so different for boys and girls. My DD12 has always been in the 50th percentile for height. My DS11 and DS8 have always been below the 5th percentile for height and weight. Both did fine on the bottle but did terrible once they switched to solids. The older one slowly got better about eating but the younger one simply refused to eat at all. He was tested for everything under the sun but everything came back negative. At just under 2 they decided to put him on a feeding tube. It was devastating but it worked. He slowly started to gain weight. He eventually started eating some solid foods and would drink his Pediasure rather than taking it through the tube. At age 4.5 they were able to take the tube out. He started seeing an endochrinologist and when they saw his older brother at an appt they wanted to have him checked out too as he was extremely short & skinny for his age.

They did GH testing on DS11 about 2 years ago and it came back very low. His bone scan showed him at a predicted height of somewhere between 5' and 5'2". We started him on growth hormones and they have worked wonders. He has grown about 6 inches since he started. His height is now predicted to be somewhere around 5'8". He is still shorter than some of his peers but is now taller than some as well. His confidence has increased greatly. In 1st-2nd grade he was often mistaken for a preschooler.

My DS8 (the one who had the feeding tube) was just tested for his GH levels. His came back borderline so we are not sure what we are going to do. He goes for his MRI for the pituitary gland next month. He weighs 39 pounds and is 47 inches. He's small but just doesn't seem as tiny as his brother did at his age.

Both boys have been diagnosed as possibly having Noonan's syndrome. It's a rare disease and hard to diagnose. If they have it, it is the most mild form of it as they don't have any heart issues but they do have some of the facial features as well as the growth issues. Younger DS also has had some of the development issues associated with it.

They see an excellent doctor. I think had DS8 had not had his issues I never would have discovered the issues with DS11. I think if you are still concerned then you should get a second opinion or a third opinion, whatever if takes to make you feel comfortable. My Dh and I are not tall (5,5 and 5,8) but all of our siblings are tall (6 of them over 6 feet) so it did not make sense genetically that our boys would be under 5'5". My older DS had been seeing a team at Boston Children's Hospital and they just said he didn't like to eat and eventually he would outgrow it. They had no plans to test him for GH issues. Younger DS was being followed at a different hospital and they are the ones that referred us to this independent endochrinologist. Just keep asking questions and pushing the doctors if you are concerned. Growth hormone treatments are VERY expensive so I know insurance would not cover it if it was not a medical necessity.

Good luck!!