Slow height growth for a 10 years old child.

[Elissar]

Hello everyone.

My 10.5 years old son is 133cm long and he weighs 30kg. While I think his weight is normal, I am a bit worried about his height. i am a hypo patient (on NDT) and I am the shortest one among my siblings (149 cm). My husband is short as well with no thyroid issues.

My son's labs are as follow:

Free T3 4.78 pmol/L ( 3.00- 6.00 )

Free T4 14.41 pmol/L ( 9.00- 19.00 )

TSH 0.95 ( 0.4-5.00 )

Vitamin D 71.4 pmol/L ( 47.76-190.32 )

Ferritin 63.8 ng/ml ( 30-400 )

He has a dry skin, brittle nails and acid reflux.

What do you think about his labs? do they look good to you?

Appreciate your input.

Regards.

[Clutter]

Elissar,

Your son's thyroid labs look good and don't indicate thyroid dysfunction.

VitD is mildly below the replete 75. Getting sun on his face and arms for a few hours per week will boost his vitD level. During Oct-Apr he may need to supplement 2,000iu D3 daily.

Ferritin is optimal half way through range. You can raise ferritin by increasing the iron rich food in his diet or supplementing iron with 1,000mg vitamin C to aid absorption and minimise constipation.

[Greentrees1 in reply to Clutter]

If you are worried about his height, you can check his growth charts and see his likely adult height. If it looks like he's below expected height for family,try the childgrowthfoundation.org/ for advice.

[Elissar in reply to Greentrees1]

Thank you 😊

[Elissar in reply to Clutter]

Thank you 😊

[Kipsy]

Elissar - can I please ask you if those tests were done privately or by your GP? I'm concerned about my 9 year old daughter who shows low B12/ possible thyroid symptoms but medichecks (private lab) have told me they can't test a child's results without a GP's referral letter. I'm cautious about approaching the GP and getting labelled as a neurotic mother. Thank you in advance.

[Elissar in reply to Kipsy]

Those tests were ordered by my kids pediatrician. We currently live in Oman. Things are done differently here. We have a private insurance and the doctors gladly accept our tests requests ( more income for the hospital they work at ). We will miss all this when we go back to Canada

[Kipsy in reply to Elissar]

Thank you- that explains it! Hope things get better & thanks again. X

[Greentrees1 in reply to Kipsy]

I had my childs tests done through blue horizon medicals and didn't need a letter from our GP. It showed up vit D deficiency which he had never considered testing. He did treat her based on the result and retested a number of borderline results.

[Kipsy in reply to Greentrees1]

Greentrees1 - thank you very much! That's very heartening news. I will give Blue Horizons a call. Not having been diagnosed with Hashis until this year, aged 48, but on reflection having probably had symptoms for years, I think a baseline set of results for my daughter before puberty starts would be a great thing to do. Thank you again x

[Greentrees1 in reply to Kipsy]

Really don't worry about being labelled neurotic! Us mums know our children best☺. And we all know what a minefield getting proper diagnoses can be!

[Kipsy in reply to Greentrees1]

I know what you mean! The GP already looks ready to groan when she's sees me & a good friend who's also a GP has told me she thinks I'm a hypochondriac! Happy days! 😩😩😩

[Tiredmum75]

Hi have you had your son tested for coeliacs as height is a issue in coeliac children

[Elissar in reply to Tiredmum75]

Thank you 😊

[silverfox7]

Was going to ask if those are the paediatric ranges but assuming they are as the right person requested them. If there is a pattern of shorter people in the family then it's most likely in his genes so normal. If it worries you though then speak to someone for reasurance. My dad was only 5ft 8 1/2 and my mum 5' 8". I'm 5'7 so looking like my mums height passed down to my. My dad's brother was 6'2 1/2 but he had long thighs where as my dad and I hhad/have short ones. I could have been very tall if I'd got the long legs as well! But it shows genetically how we can be so different. You say your husband isn't tall and your son not quite old enough for a growth spurt as looking at height charts could ease your concern but if not mention it to your GP for peace of mind.