We see parents coming to us at 16 or 17 years asking if there is any chance of increasing the child’s height. Most days, we give a clinical check and few investigations and end up saying that your child is short but nothing can be done at this stage. With the ever expanding indications of Growth Hormone, there is an option of increasing the child’s stature if used for the right child at the right time.
Check out this list and see if your child needs any help
1. Is your child one among the shortest 5 in the class? It is high time that you seriously measure his height every 6 months. 90 % he may be normal, but 10 % he may require help.
2. Is your child looking funny or awkward (we call it FLK: Funny Looking KID) : he needs a check
3. Was he born small? (less than 2.8 kg at birth). Yes he needs follow up.
4. Did he have low blood sugars at birth or prolonged jaundice?
5. Did he have both testes descended to the scrotum?
6. Does he have a cleft lip /cleft palate or depressed nose?
7. Has he stopped outgrowing his shoes or uniforms in 1-1.5 years?
8. Does he have any chronic medical illness?
Or just, to see if he is OK, a height monitoring would do. Check his height every 6 months with your doctor and find out if he is growing well?
Parental height is a determinant of the child height. You need to see if your child is in keeping with his genetic height potential. Please see our next post on that.