Growth......do they catch up?

[tommysmum204]

I have attached a pic of son's ped growth chart, we have just received a copy. The growth failure is immediately obvious, the gastro was astounded his growth had not been closely monitored prior to age 4 because by then he had dropped 2 major percentiles in height. He has now dropped 3 major percentiles, the bottom line on the height chart is 1.2% he has just dropped under it, weight you can see has always been an issue. At almost 6 he is 40inches tall and weighs 30pds(Disregard the blue dots, thats just me marking where he would be had he continued to grow on his curve) I just have a question have your children had growth trending like his? and did they catch up to where they should be when everything was treated properly? (He is undiagnosed but awaiting scopes. Gastro has strong suspicion of IBD due to diarrhea, tummy pain, arthritis, arthralgia and iritis.)

 

[Catherine]

The good thing for your son is that he has lot years to catch up the growth.

We had investigation for growth failure with my middle child when her was two. When her medical condition was treated her growth become more normal at 19 years she is just below average heigh for a female.

 

[Worried mama]

I sure hope they catch up! My son is tiny too. He just turned 14 and is 55.5 inches and almost 80lbs....we are still waiting for him to start growing again....

 

[my little penguin]

The answer is it depends
If the growth plates are closed then no catch up growth
So bone age ( hand X-ray is needed for older kids and younger ones at dx )
That can tell you how far behind they are growth wise and IF ( big if ) you have time to watch and wait ( at age 6 you have time )

The second part of the equation if calorie absorption .
Crohns kids tend to be tiny IF they are not given the right combo of meds to get into remission with a normal diet OR despite not being in remission they still don't use supplental nutrition in terms of formuka ( easier to absorb even if the gut isn't healed )

Ds had dropped to 25% from 80% at dx age 7.
He started formula the same time
At age 12 he is back above the 60% for both so definitely gaining ground and that's with three long term rounds of pred ( 3-4 months each )
He is now 60" and 99.7 lbs
He was 50 lbs at dx after not gaining any weight for over two years


So it can happen with good drugs and supplemental nutrition

 

[my little penguin]

Double post

 

[pdx]

My daughter has caught up quite a bit in the year since she was diagnosed. She's still not back to where she was, but she's still growing. I'll attach her latest height and weight charts. She was above 95th percentile for height until about 8 years old, then dropped to 50th by 12.5 years old when she was diagnosed, and is now almost back to 75th percentile. I think she would have been diagnosed sooner if she hadn't started out so tall. Even though her lines were dropping, she still wasn't falling off the bottom of either chart (until the very end).

She did EEN and supplemental EN for many months last spring until her medications kicked in, and I think that really helped with her growth, as MLP mentioned above.

 

[crohnsinct]

Second the "it depends" statement but at such a young age and a GI who I spaying attention, I would say you have time and a good chance at catching up.

My older daughter flat lined for two years on height and actually lost weight. Somehow that info was missed at the ped's office. About a year after dx she started growing and after 4 years on Remicade has grown 8 1/2 inches and gained almost 50 pounds.

My younger one was not so lucky. She had precoscious puberty so was ginormous for her age and growth plates closed at 11. She was dx'd after this point so she is much shorter than she would have been otherwise but she did catch up on weight so that is good.

 

[crohnsinct]

duplicate post...what's going on with the forum today?

 

[Jenn]

I hope so! My son is still 2 years delayed but maintaining that rate while in remission. Endocrinologist thinks he'll catch up in the end. Worth a visit to an endocrinologist, if you haven't already, to check on bone age.

 

[Jmrogers4]

I think my son is a great example of yes they can. We struggled with growth for about 4 years after diagnosis. He only grew at most a couple of inches over that time. He was 10 years old and 4'11" at dx and 4 years later at 14 he was only 5'1" and 89 pounds. We had a visit with the endocrinolgist which showed he was bone age at least 2 years delayed. Puberty was virtually non existent.
He started on remicade and it finally put him in good strong remission and he just took off. He is now 5'10.5", puberty hit hard and fast. Could he still be behind where he was supposed to be without Crohn's? It's possible but I think about how far behind he would still be without being able to find what medication worked for him. We were always told by his GI that many Crohn's kids grow past when most other kids stop growing.