Hi All,
So my boy, who just turned five, has always been small. He was born small and he has always been smaller than other kids his age. I took him once to a GP who said he was fine. And when he saw the child health nurse at 4 years, she wasn't concerned with his height. However, at his preschool graduation ceremony, there was a clear height difference between my child and his classmates, which made me get out his blue book and check his growth. I was horrified to find he was no longer even on the graph - below the 0 percentile line! I booked in an appointment to see my regular GP in a different town (we moved last year), and travelled there, and he agreed that he was too small. He sent my son for blood tests to check his growth hormone. The results showed that my son has hemolytic anemia (blood cells are being broken down). This is due to a hereditary blood disorder that I have that I was aware of, but assumed my son was unaffected by because he'd never had jaundice (one of the symptoms of the disorder). The doctor explained that anemia affects growth. His anemia can be well managed through iron supplementation. But I'm concerned the stunting of his growth will have long-term effects on his growth and may affect his height as an adult. Has anyone been through anything similar, either with nutritional or hemolytic anemia and growth stunting. Is it too late? Or can he catch up? (He's 98cm at 5 years).
3 Replies
Please see a good pediatric Hematologist and Immunologist! I know of a very decent one in Brisbane if your willing to travel there. Honestly don't just stick with gp opinions on these types of things.
I have a 17 month old who went from being in the 50th to being in the 5th in height and 25th to 3rd in weight between his 6 and 12 month needles. We are currently seeing a peadiatrician. He has an iron deficiency which we are treating. He is gaining weight and growing slowly. We just had a xray done of his hands to check his bone growth which is on track. We are doing the growth hormone blood test in a few weeks. Please see a peadiatrician and get further advice for your son. Its scary but they might be able to help. Good luck.
Definitely follow up with a paediatrician and any other specialists. Also, if he’s off the bottom of the growth charts you need to be seeing a dietitian to get him back on. My now 10 year old son was off the bottom of the chart when he was quite young (he has multiple health issues and was tube fed from birth) and was seeing a dietitian from birth. He was discharged fro the dietetics clinic mid last year as he has been tracking along between the 5th and 10th percentile for about 2 years. He’s always struggled with weight gain, so we’ve always had to add extra calories to his formula while tube fed, then to his food and drinks when he began eating orally. A dietitian can help with what you can add based on your sons diet and needs. My son is still small for his age but is otherwise developmentally on track for his age.