Height dropping to low percentile - growth hormone deficiency?

[Bexx]

Hi everyone, wonder if you can give me some reassurance?

Zachary had his height checked today for the first time in six and a half months (he is now 15 months). It has gone from the 9th percentile to 0.4. He has only gained 5cm in all that time.

Both myself and my hubby come from shortish families and we are not tall ourselves. I expect this is just normal for our son and he is settling into the proper percentile after good growth in his early months. But the health visitor did say she wanted him checked every three months in case of growth hormone deficiency and it's making me a bit worried.

Has anyone else had a toddler drop down to the lowest percentile or even off the scale and their LO was fine?

 

[OmarsMum]

Hi hun, not sure if about low percentiles, but Omar dropped from 98th at 12 months (he followed the same line since he was 3 months) to below 75th last month. According to his paed they go through "slow growing" or "not growing" periods esp while teething. Omar was big & tall, now he's average. we didnt expect him to be tall as we're average although my In laws & brothers are quite tall.

 

[Bexx]

Thanks hun, that's certainly reassuring.

 

[letia659]

Zander has dropped Im not sure how much but quite a bit from birth to now he was 22 inches at birth now 33 inches at almost 2 I just figured he was gonna be a bit short he didnt gain any height from about 15 months to 18 months then he gained a inch within about a month!

 

[Seity]

Gabriel completely dropped off the charts by 3 months. He made his way back up to the .3rd percentile and followed that for ages. He's now at the .5th percentile. His drop was due to low supply though.

 

[hattiehippo]

Not low percetiles but Tom was on the 75th centile at 12 months and by 16 months he had dropped to the 50th for height. He's been about 85 cm about 3 months now so I'm guessing he's dropped down further. I think he's due a growth spurt though cos he's got a massive potbelly!

 

[Eala]

Roo has always been small, but her height was always on a higher centile than her weight, until recently. She's now between the 2nd and 9th for weight (on the old charts, 15th centile on the new), but on both sets of charts, she's now below the bottom line for height.

We are not overly concerned. My grandmother was short, and my MIL is 4'9!! My husband was short until he was about 15, and they were considering growth hormone injections when he suddenly shot up by about 4 inches Our HV has generally accepted this and not flapped about Roo's size. I'd say if the family history tends towards being short(ish) then I wouldn't worry too much. I suppose it's good that your HV wants to just monitor things for a while, tho. Better to rule out a problem with a bit of monitoring than find out later that something was missed

 

[Bexx]

Thank you everyone for the replies, I feel so much better about it now.

I know going from 9th to 0.4th isn't a huge drop anyway, but for some reason it really worried me that he might go completely off the bottom of the chart.

Thanks again!!

 

[Bexx]

Roo has always been small, but her height was always on a higher centile than her weight, until recently. She's now between the 2nd and 9th for weight (on the old charts, 15th centile on the new), but on both sets of charts, she's now below the bottom line for height.

We are not overly concerned. My grandmother was short, and my MIL is 4'9!! My husband was short until he was about 15, and they were considering growth hormone injections when he suddenly shot up by about 4 inches Our HV has generally accepted this and not flapped about Roo's size. I'd say if the family history tends towards being short(ish) then I wouldn't worry too much. I suppose it's good that your HV wants to just monitor things for a while, tho. Better to rule out a problem with a bit of monitoring than find out later that something was missed

Zachary has always been lower on the height centile than the weight one (25th) so I was alarmed to see him drop further.

Thanks for sharing your experience, it's very reassuring. I shall have to ask my relatives to see if they remember any obvious shortness at a young age. We are all quite short on my side (I'm 5'1" and my mum is even shorter) and my hubby is average with short siblings and parents.

 

[hattiehippo]

Tom's the other way round - his height has always been higher than his weight. I did a quick check today in his red book and he has now dropped to the 25th line from 75th at 12 months. I'm not concerned though cos DH is only 5 foot 6 and I'm 5 foot 3 - I was more surprised when he was on the 75th line before. Obviously if he drops much more I will check with my HV but I'm pretty certain he's working up to growing again, fingers crossed.

 

[lcside]

We're going through the same problem with Patrick. He started off on the 25th percentile and is now on the 0.4. He is 20 months old and is 77cm but he was also 77cm 3 months ago aswell. At 7 months old he was 66cm so he's only grown 11cm in 13 months. I am only 5'1" and my husband is 5'6" and our daughter is following the 25th percentile. We have got to go again when he is 2 (4 months time) and if he still hasn't grown then they will refer him. I've been really worried to. xx

 

[Bexx]

Sorry that you're having to worry about this too lcside. I'll be very interested to know how your LO gets on at the next checkup, I'm sure our boys will be fine though.