Another DIS doctors question...growth disorders in toddlers?

[zachnsamsmommy]

We went to the ped this week to have a 2 1/2 yr checkup for my DS. He has lots of issues anyway...sensory processing disorder, delayed gross/fine motor development, and other things.

Well...he has only grown 1/4" in the past 6 mos. And he is tiny anyway...only 33" tall. He's gone from 3rd percentile for height, to totally falling off the charts. Possibly related...maybe not...is that his head is huge...around the 95th percentile.

So...we are getting his thryroid checked next week (and a CBC as well). Then he will be getting a ht/wt check every 3 months, with a possible referral to a pediatric endocrinologist at his 3rd birthday.

So...other than the pituatary (tumor or other issue) or not enough growth hormone...any other ideas? The doctor has already asked about short people in the family, and even with a few under 5'5" (female), it still doesn't quite go with how short he is.

Thanks for any info...

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Is his head issue abnormal for his wt/ht? Did the doctor say anything about that?

We did the same monitoring for my dd in K when she began to nosedive. She leveled off and we went to the endoc. We did daily injections of growth hormone for 5yrs. I don't miss that.

Of course we go to the endoc. and she says you should have been in there sooner.

If there is a growth issue, esp. for girls, time is one of the factors in treatment. You are genetically programed to only grow for a certain time and it is based on your DNA.

If I had had her on growth hormone earlier would she have grown more type of thing. But she is 5ft and that is fine with her and she said she was done in 5th grade.

I hope they do check your son for a tumor first. They did not do that with my dd and when we changed doctors he was not happy to hear that. It does make sense to rule that out looking back on it.

There are many disorders of growth and I would just follow your instincts.

 

[zachnsamsmommy]

Is his head issue abnormal for his wt/ht? Did the doctor say anything about that?

Yes...his head is quite large. It is 95th perc, his weight is 40th perc, his height is not even on the chart.

He had a CT scan at 10 mos old to make sure he didn't have hydrocephalus (he didn't). But they weren't looking for anything else.

May I be nosy enough to ask at what age your daughter started getting the shots?

At the rate right now, we are looking at an adult male ht of less than 5'5". So...I'm not sure how 'aggressive' I should be at getting him into a pediatric endocrinologist soon.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Yes...his head is quite large. It is 95th perc, his weight is 40th perc, his height is not even on the chart.

He had a CT scan at 10 mos old to make sure he didn't have hydrocephalus (he didn't). But they weren't looking for anything else.

May I be nosy enough to ask at what age your daughter started getting the shots?

At the rate right now, we are looking at an adult male ht of less than 5'5". So...I'm not sure how 'aggressive' I should be at getting him into a pediatric endocrinologist soon.

She was about 6 and it really was not fun, let me tell you.

I would do the 3 mon monitoring first. (Unless you think his head issue needs to be addressed sooner. I am not sure what to say about that.)

One dip is not really bad. It is when they level off with no growth that you are concerned. She went almost 9 mons of going backward on the chart. So it was blaring obvious that she was not growing at all. I do have to say her growing was about 6cms a year. Which I think the minimum is 5cm/yr.? Find out what the min. growth per yr is from your ped. It has been awhile so I can't remember exactly.

 

[tiggger1]

have they been measuring his head frequently? my son has an really large head. ( off the charts) but they continued to monitored it and even sent us to neurologists. they thought it was fluid on the brain but then decided it was due to the fact that daddy has a large head also...because it followed the growth curve.

bur I see that he has other issues. Almost all that my son has. His biggest issues are significant speech delay, tightness in his calf and ankles and he has a lot of sensory stuff. We went to a new neuro last year who thinks that he could have had some fluid on the brain when he was in utero which caused all his issues. he also mention that it could be Spastic cerebral palsy which could cause some growth issues...