My thoughts on putting Christopher on Growth Hormone Shots

Short stature is refers to any person who is significantly below the average height for a person of the same age and sex -- specifically, the shortest 5% of the population. The term may refer to children or adolescents who are significantly below the average height of their peers. also known as idiopathic short stature........

This is probably one of the reasons Christopher is so tiny. He is less than 3rd percentile for height and weight of children his age. The girls are tiny too for that matter. It runs in families which is seen especially on my side. I am only 5 feet tall. My great grandfather was 5 feet tall and my grandmother was 4 feet 11 inches. Both of the girls are growing less now than they did as babies.....that is one of the symptoms, that they fall off the growth curve......Hannah has and Jennifer has always been on the small side. Neither of them have sensory issues or allergies so they have less of an impact....I think. I am telling you all this because we have had a rash of people asking us if we are going to put Christopher on growth hormone shots.

No we aren't and here is why:
1) He would have to have an injection daily for 2-4 years.

2) It does cause some side effects, including but not limited to edema(swelling), carpal tunnel syndrome, hypoglycemia, joint pain and possible poor appetite in some.

3) it can cost up to 100 thousand DOLLARS for therapy.

4) He would only gain 2 inches over whatever his adult height might have be naturally, so that comes to approximately 52 thousands dollars per inch.

5) Most insurances will NOT pay for it. Or even if they did, we still would have to pay 20 to 40 percent......do the math...that is big bucks! Okay for 2 inches it is not worth subjecting my son to daily injections and possible side effects.

He is smart, energetic and happy. He may have issues with his height later but if we teach him how to handle it, he will be well adjusted.

Why is it in this nation people think you have to be a certain height? Why do people who dont really know us want to know if we will put him on growth hormone? What is wrong with someone being short?

Improving his diet would help if we could get past the allergies and sensory issues. It astounds me that people want us to put our child on shots to give him only two inches! 4 years of shots for 2 inches, I dont think so.