Dwarfism?

[zmzerbe]

My youngest's 9 month appointment was on Tuesday and it has been revealed that he is not growing lengthwise the way he should be. He has been slowly declining percentiles and has gone from 5% at birth and is now at 0%.

His doctor also said they like to see an average of 1.2 cm growth a month and Sterling is only growing just barely 1 cm a month. She also took measurements of his legs and said his lower body to torso ratio is pretty off and we might be facing the possibility of Dwarfism or restricted growth of some sort.

She said we will give it until his 12 month appointment, but if we don't start seeing improvements we will start having to run tests.

Has anyone dealt with this before? What were your results and how did you cope?

 

[enrisa]

My uncle was a dwarf. Apart from the very short limbs, he was perfectly normal. Nowadays it is not a problem I think. My uncle was very discriminated, but he was born in 1942 in Spain.

 

[Septie]

Sorry - no real experience (2 of my kids are short - but not to such an extent). How tall are you and OH?
Even if you were facing Dwarfism - I think these days it's an inconvenience more than a true problem. With some modifications, life should be pretty normal. As a parent, I think the main concern I'd have is to make sure to expose him to others with the same condition (there are conferences with tons of activities that would be a fun vacation for the family), especially once older (I think he might have more difficulty finding a partner...). Teasing/bullying might happen, unfortunately - but that can happen for almost any reason to any kid. He's got older brothers, which might help in that regard Good luck!