Advice for Moms
Hello,
At the age of 4 - my sone was doing well and continuing on his growth chart in the 50th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for height. At his 5 year well check- a year later- he had gained 2 pounds and had not grown in height at all. The peds office blew this off as no big deal- and since he is my oldest child- I went along with it. However, now he is 6 and we went to his 6 year well check yesterday. He has not gained any height at ALL since he was 4 and he only gained 2 pounds- he is now 13th percentile for height and 7th for weight... he is 6 and weighs 38 pounds.
He was almost a 10 pound baby born 3 weeks early! We are not small people... are two girls are actually 97th percent for height- so this is blowing my mind and I am wondering what could becausing this.
The peds office now sees this as a problem and are calling him "failure to thrive"
Of course we are now waiting to see an enocrinologist. Every year he gets a TSH, a CBC, a blood sugar check.. due to issues that I personally have-
What do you think? Does anyone have experience with this?
Replies
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I don't have experience with this, although my older son was consistently smaller than the charts, but his dad's family are all under 5' 5". Please keep us informed on what you find out.
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One of my friends went through something similar and her son hit a growth spurt right before all the testing was about to start.
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My brother's daughter did. She stopped at 3 years old, wore a 2t forever, then a 3t, she's just started in the last two years (she's almost 8) growing at a normal rate again...she's 40ish pounds and something like 42in tall...wears mostly 4s, some 5s, all have to be adjustable waist.
are there any other issues? My neice is hearing impaired, but they haven't found any genetic conditions she has (my uncle and grandfather were hearing imparied as well and were normal in size)
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When some kids grow really fast at the start, they often stay the same for a long time.
My kids were both rolypoly chubby babies, who were somewhere near the 90th percentile for weight at 9mo... and then were the same weight about 2 years later.
They need to be growing 'at all' --height, weight, head circumference (anyone measuring that?) Humans don't tend to grow on a steady slope, but stay the same for a while, then jump a bit, then stay the same for a while.
There are other important factors: is he active, is he alert, is he developing skills and getting stronger? 'Failure to thrive' children do not.
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Sorry to ask but what's home life like for him? Some kids stop growing if there are A LOT of problems at home.
Not saying this is it, just trying you'll you rule out things.
Does he eat a healthy amount for a 6 year old? You may want to think about giving him pediasure (if that's how you spell it). Or it might be a problem with his body absorbing what he eats?
Good luck, I hope you guys can figure it out and he will be okay. :) -
My son's best friend stopped growing. They've tried all sorts of things...hormone shots, back braces, minor surgeries. Some kids just have problems like this. It's no failure of yours if it happens. Just work with the doctors, of course. They'll figure it out.
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Not to that extreme, but my dd who is now 17, grew very very slowly, she wore the same shoe size for 3 years once. He is now 5'2" and weights 92lbs. She's just small, she isn't unhealthy. I hope this is the case with your ds.
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My son was in the 95 percentile as a baby, in the 25 percentile as a toddler, and in the 50 percentile now as a 9 year old. I do not stress about it. Kids grow in spurts. Its normal.
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Aww ~ try not to worry too much. Hopefully this will resolve itself sooner rather than later.
My second son has weighed 80 pounds for 3 years running. He is 13. He is just an inch or two taller than he was 3 years ago. He is a very active very healthy eating teen. He doesn't have any health issues. Is extremely smart. He's very quick on his feet. He just doesn't grow. But he is normal in every way that anyone thinks of as normal.
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I dont have any experience with this, or know anyone personally, but I have her of a disorder type thing that stops growth.... I don't remember what its called but I do know they can treat it.