5 Year Old Is Recommended to Get Growth Hormones

I would not do it.
She has normal gH levels.
Giving it to her anyway... will not 'guarantee' results... and it would only be experimental... since the Doc cannot prove without a doubt that it will help and BECAUSE she already has normal gH levels.... and getting more in her body... probably will cause side effects.
Any growth hormones... carries with it, risks and side effects.

I'm average height, so I haven't been in your exact situation. But I'd say, she is going to be as tall as she is going to be, and why try to change her? We are all different, and your daughter just happens to be a bit on the short side. So what? I was teased for stuff as a kid, and I think EVERYONE has been. Your idea about building her self-esteem through sports or other activities that she enjoys sounds like a great idea. Teaching her to like herself no matter what is what's important. I say start that now instead of making her feel like there's something wrong with her. :)

Three inches doesn't seem like a lot to many people, but it's a world of difference for us short people! That said, I think it's very important for you and your husband to do your own research on gH shots, and not rely solely on your Dr's information. Maybe even include a second Dr's (different practice) opinion in your research.

From the quick bit of reading I did via a google search on gH shots, I would try to find answers to the following: What are the side effects, both short and long term (increased risk of various cancers came up, for example)? How long and how frequently will the shots need to be given (weeks, years; daily, weekly shots?)? Will you and your husband be able to afford the cost? Then ask yourself if three inches is worth the answers.

I also agree with others, that if it's possible to wait until your daughter is older so she can have a say in what happens to her, then definitely wait. Going through a difficult process may be really hard for her, and could end up scarring her psychologically or emotionally, especially if she doesn't feel three inches was much of a gain vs what the process took.

My oldest is on growth hormone but he is growth hormone deficient. If he were not GHD, I don't think I'd do it.

I realize that you are looking for advice from parents whose kids are NOT GHD, but knowing what it's like to give a kid this treatment could help you decide. This is a link to what I have written about that:

http://momsomniac.wordpress.com/2009/05/17/m-my-little-bi...

(had previosuly linked to the wrong post)

Best of luck to you!

p.s. The endo says it can't be the shots, but we have seen some behavioral changes (he's more volatile), as have MANY parents in a support group I am in.

p.p.s. The GH is purely synthetic. A dangerous side effect was linked to an earlier human-derived strain. For kids with GHD, this treatment is fairly non-controversial *with 10,000 kids in the data-base to track side-effects*, but I personally wouldn't use it simply for height....after all, it's a shot.

My 5 yr old was barely 20 lbs and 3 feet tall.

She is now 10 and is taller than some of her classmates at 4.5", though thin at barely 50 lbs. She was tiny tiny until a year ago when she hit a HUGE growth spurt over the summer.

I would not. The hormones are probably artificial, from animals, laced with aluminum and all kinds of nasty preservatives and bound with who-knows-what that could really damage her immune system, etc. My daughter had a shot bound with a "harmless" strain of strep and now her brain-stem swells each time she gets strep and she becomes totally non-functional. They use monkey DNA in the chicken pox shot, and we all know that monkeys are full of all kinds of diseases that we can catch. Ugh. I think we are subject to enough toxins without volunteering for MORE to be injected!

I would rather her be teased a little (or even a LOT) than to suffer a real health crisis from the injections. :(

IMO, if there is nothing wrong with her medically, leave her alone. My daughter is on the opposite end of the spectrum and is beginning to feel she is the odd bird for being so tall. I just encourage the doctor says she is a healthy girl.

The other night she watched the entire TLC program about the tallest people in the world. Some had Pituitary tumors that were removed and came back that made them taller & some normal gene from a tall family. My daughter wanted to know if she had one of those tumors.

She is 5 YO in 2 weeks and she is 47 inches.

I wouldn't do it since the tests show she passed. She will have other strengths than height.

My personal opinion would be to wait and see what happens with her development over the next year or so. She's only 5. There's no reason to push the issue yet. If she were 15 and still had the same problem, then it would seem to be obvious.

My almost 3 yr old is only 24 lbs and 32 in so I understand. I am short and so is my husband so we aren't surprised that he's tiny. What's odd is that our 4 yr old is 42 in and 42 lbs! I don't want to inhibit her growth any more than I want to increase my son's. They are who they are. If your daughter is flat-chested at 15 will you encourage a boob job? It's purely cosmetic and I'm not sure that hormones are safe in the long-term. I don't know and haven't done my research but that would really scare me.

I'm not sure about adding artificial gH to her system, but something you might want to consider is eliminating sugar from her diet. Sugar raises insulin which inhibits growth hormones, promotes fat storage and suppresses the immune system. Even limiting her sugar intake to maybe once a week, might be a good idea. Good luck!

Hi Mom J,

My son was treated for growth hormone deficiency for 6 years. If your daughter is not GH deficient it's highly unlikely that you will be able to get insurance coverage for the cost of the medication, which can run upwards of $3,000 per month. Are you willing to bear that cost for the price of a couple of inches? Also, there is little evidence that administration of GH in a nondeficient child will increase adult height -- only that growth may occur more rapidly. There are other problems associated with GH administration, such as development of intracranial hypertension and potential overgrowth of heart tissue. Even though these side effects are rare, I don't think it's worth giving rGH if your daughter makes enough on her own. Besides, you should know that this needs to be injected into your daughter's leg or abdomen every night -- not a pleasant undertaking!

What you SHOULD look into, however, is if your daughter is producing adequate IGF 1 and IGFBP 3. If she makes plenty of GH, but does not make sufficient carrier protein (IGF 1) or binding protein (IGFBP 3), her body cannot use the GH it produces effectively. Supplementation of these proteins is now available and is used to treat people with certain types of carrier protein and receptor growth disorders such as Yaron syndrome.

Other things to consider (I hope the doc has done this already!) are kidney and gastrointestinal disorders that can affect nutrient absorption, causing reduced growth and/or failure to thrive. Interestingly, growth slow down can be the first symptom of Crohn's disease, and can manifest 2 - 3 years before other symptoms, such as gastric pain and diarrhea, arise. Unfortunately, it is difficult to make this association until after Crohn's is diagnosed, and it is not well recognized. This was the case with my son. He stopped growing at about age 9, we recognized the stoppage as more than a slow down by age 10, and he was diagnosed with idiopathic GH deficiency at 11. Although he showed the first signs of Crohn's at age 13, the symptoms were not recognized as such. Apparently, the growth hormone he was taking was actually somewhat protective until he finished therapy at age 17, and he was not diagnosed with active Crohn's until 2 years ago at age 19. We did not learn of the association with GH deficiency until I came across the work of an eminent metabolic specialist, Dr. Alfred Slonim, at Columbia University (in NY) by accident earlier this year. He made the connection over a decade ago when he recognized a pattern in many of his pediatric GH deficiency patients.

This is not to say that your daughter has Crohn's disease! This is only to serve as an example of other things that can cause poor/slow growth. You should check out the Magic Foundation website for other information and ideas: http://www.magicfoundation.org.

BTW, my son, who was projected to reach 5'2" before administration of GH, is now 5'10". The shots definitely worked. Not only did he begin growing within a matter of weeks, but his energy levels increased and his body fat decreased. Thanks to an innovative Crohn's diet prescribed this past June by Dr. Slonim (our angel!), he is also healthy and functioning for the first time in 3 years.

One more BTW, and a good reason to be careful about misinformation passed by moms who may or may not have medical/scientific background on this site. Growth hormone used today is not derived from animals or humans, as was the case 30 years ago. It is manufactured using recombinant technology. It comes as lyophilized (super dried) pure protein with no preservatives of any kind. Before it can be injected, it has to be reconstituted with sterile saline (salt water). Again, no preservatives, mercury, etc.

As for contracting diseases from monkeys via immunization with varicela zoster vaccine, there is no documented SCIENTIFIC evidence that this has occurred. In the 1960's, it was discovered that a simian (monkey) virus, SV40, was detected in cancer patients who had received polio vaccine manufactured using a cell culture derived from monkey kidney cells. Since then, great care has been taken in vaccine production to use cell lines that do not harbor this virus. Even so, since then, SV40 has been found in cancer patients who were never immunized with infected polio vaccine, and current hypothesis now is that this virus, which is very difficult to differentiate from similar human viruses, is not transmitted via vaccines, but has entered the human population and is transmitted through another route. Use of simian DNA in recombinant molecular biology has nothing to do with disease transmission, either. There is actually very little difference in the sequence of human and monkey DNA (only about 3% of the genome is different), and most of these differences occur in genes controlling protein manufacture and animal development. The proteins they produce are mostly identical to human proteins in both structure and function.

Everyone gets teased. So I personally wouldn't unless there was some absolute medical reasons to. Plus you don't know how she would react to the shots. So my vote is no.

If everything is normal but she is just short I would not allow the shots. If when she is a teen and can be included in the decision, I would then consider it.

I know a little girl the same age as my son who was EXTREMELY tiny throughout her elementary school years. She had test after test and is perfectly healthy. She is not tall but definately of normal height and is no longer a "skinny mini".

Growth hormones aren't just for height. Wouldn't you hate to do this now and then her grow too big and have those issues (which also contribute to some major issues)?