Problems with B's doctor...(Long)
Lovingthislife
member
B has never been on the weight growth chart. In height, he has always been between 5th and 10th. I never even knew where Mattie was on the growth chart because her pedi didn't ever really worry about it. We had to switch dr. because we moved, and the one that we switched to came highly recommended by several people.
She focuses on that damn chart like its the only indicator of how a child is doing. I have really liked her for the most part. We get in fast when the kids are sick. I always just blow it off. Well, in April (I think) she wanted us to have some test run on him to make sure there wasn't a medical reason why he is so small. They did a urine test, blood work, and a chest x-ray. I didn't really want to do it, but dh and I talked about it and thought that it was better to make sure. All the test came back normal. Dh and I were happy, and I was hoping she would just chalk it up to genetics and leave it be. I would like to point out that I am 5'2, and dh is 5'7. We are not big people, and really there are not big people in our families.
Well, she didn't leave it be. At his 15 month appointment a few weeks ago, she started in again. She wants us to take him to Children's Hospital to see a growth specialist. She thinks it would be good to get him on a growth hormone plan. Then she backed this up with saying, "If he was a girl, he would be just small and cute. Since he is a boy, you are going to want him to play sports and a few more inches would be good."
Um, if I had wanted my kids to play professional sports I would have found a man that is A LOT taller than my husband. Sports are not a high priority. So, I have switched dr. Now, my dh has been thinking about it and wants to go ahead and take him to get checked out. There is nothing wrong with him. He does everything on her stupid development checklist. I am so frustrated. It makes me feel like it's my fault because I bf him. DD was formula fed, and she wasn't this small. I guess if the new dr thinks this is an issue then maybe we will take him.
Sorry so long. Thanks for reading it if you got this far.
Re: Problems with B's doctor...(Long)
I'm sorry that Dr is nuts, what if growth hormones don't give your son the height she wants is she going to go on and say he needs leg extensions?
You son is healthy nothing wrong with him why take a chance trying to change him.
Sorry, I just feel like she's imposing her own beliefs on you. Since neither one of you had any worries about his height after getting the results from the tests, why subject him to any more test or drugs.
Edit to fix my jumbled mess of typing in a hurry.
I assume that your DS is growing (height and weight) according to his own 'growth curve' even if it doesn't register on the normal charts. I can see how you are frustrated. I hope that you know that BF was an awesome decision for your DS and would have nothing to do with him being smaller.
The fact that your Dr said that it would be no big deal if it were a girl is crazy to me. I can't imagine starting my child on a growth hormone plan if he is healthy but small.
Please get a new doctor. My sister and I are both 5'1". Her husband is around 5"7" too. Mine is about 5'11". She had a lot of trouble finding a doctor that wasn't pushing growth hormones for her daughter. However, looking at our baby books, her daughter is right on track on growth as we were at her age. She's had really good luck after finding a doctor that was second generation from India. Her new doctor is petite as well and is from a culture that is used to shorter men and woman.
I think DS has gotten a bit of height from his father. He's always been really low on weight, but around 40 - 50% for height.
My two boys are getting a surprise May 2015!
Girl, with such an adorable siggy picture, you really have to come out of lurking more often!!
Sorry to hear that. We had some concern with DDs growth mainly because she was growing nicely then kind of stopped. We figured out she wasn't eating well because of her reflux. We got that under control but our GI also recommended several tests to make sure everything else was fine. We did hormone blood tests, thyroid, urine tests, and a bone age scan. Everything was normal. She's growing better now and is back on a curve so our pedi isn't concerned at all. I worry a little because she's very short, but neither DH or I are tall and on DHs side the girls are really short and skinny. Right now she's below the 5th percentile for height around the 25th for weight and her head is in the 100th.... Tiny girl with a giant head, lol.
If your LO is growing fine and on a growth curve I would not worry at all.
That's to hold her big brain, of course! :-) DH always teases me about my big head and that's always my response.
Hannah has always been tiny too. She fell of the curve a bit, but usually comes in somewhere around 3 to 5 percent. She is growing and is doing great. Someone has to hold up that back end of the curve! That's why it is called a growth curve, because kids fall in a huge range.
Well, someone has to make up the bottom of the chart,
what kinds of issues was she looking for when she did the testing? One of my friends has turners syndrome, and they didn't find out until she was 9 and then she went on hormones, so now she is a whopping 5"0. It's definitely unusual for her though, because her parents are 6'1 and 6'3!