Growth Hormones for Child

You need to see a Pediatric endocrinologist. You ar both small so you are definitely not going to have a 6 footer. After the comment from dentist, worth a trip to endocrinologist.

BEFORE, you even decide about this, the Pediatrician SHOULD HAVE, referred you to a PEDIATRIC Endocrinologist.
ONLY an Endocrinologist... can evaluate this situation, and per your child's "growth" concerns and development and age.
Endocrinology... is VERY complex. And a Pediatrician or Dentist, should not be solely, evaluating this.
You need to see a Pediatric Endocrinologist.

I have a son who has growth hormone deficiency (GHD). It sounds like your son may also have this condition too.

My boy gets a nightly shot, without which he would not grow...nor would his bones or muscles (including heart and brain) develop normally. I have mixed feelings about the treatment, but it is simply something his pituitary gland is not making enough of.

Diagnosis requires bloodwork and an MRI of the brain. My son was 4 when he was diagnosed. The stim test was hard, because he didn't understand why he couldn't eat. At 9, your son can probably handle it. They put my son under for the MRI and he didn't remember it. I suggest making an appointment with a pediatric endocrinologist.

I agree, that you SHOULD have been referred to a pediatric endocrinologist. Look, something is going on here. His teeth aren't coming in, and he is small. Logic says, they are connected. The pediatric endocrinologist can tell you for sure, and can come up with a plan of action. My husband and I are both tiny, but my son is still growing. There is small, and there is stalling. I really think your son is probably stalling. Like I said, a specialist can determine that for sure. They are really the only ones who should be suggesting hormones...in my opinion.

Yes, see a pediatric endocrinologist. Pediatricians and dentists have zero business throwing around notions like taking hormones. They should leave that to specialists.

But I want to add: There is one HUGE red flag in your post:

"He is very very small. But so was his dad, and so am I."

Please heed our friends' experience. Our friends were told that their son was too small, wasn't eating enough (because he was so small, right?), etc. He was NOT ever diagnosed with actual medical "failure to thrive" or with any condition other than plain old lactose intolerance, but doctors began shunting the family from one program to another trying to beef up this little boy. The final straw was when my friend realized they'd been placed in a research program that was for teens with eating disorders -- when they had a small and picky toddler, not a teen, and he sure didn't have anorexia or bulimia. The doctors were just shoving them from program to program.

She went to one more doctor who FINALLY said to my friend: You're very short. Your husband is is short, and very very slim. Your son is going to be short and very small, now and into adulthood. It is his genetics.

None of the many doctors had really ever just looked at the parents. None had asked them about the sizes of their family members. My friends spent a couple of years worried to death, frustrated, terrified that their son was somehow starving, when he was actually fine. Yes, he did need more calories and they found ways to get him to eat more, but he never had some awful disorder; he was, and is (high school now) very, very small in build.

So -- I do indeed believe in getting things medically checked out, but be certain that the doctors LISTEN to you and LOOK at you as well as just talking at you. Tell them that you are small and always have been; that his dad is a small adult; and fill them in if your whole families on both sides tend toward small and/or low-weight. Absolutely check on your son's health and whether he truly indeed might have a hormonal imbalance -- I am not saying that he doesn't. But be sure that doctors look at the whole picture.

As for the lack of adult teeth behind baby teeth: That is not uncommon. My daughter has one space where there is no permanent tooth -- it just never formed. Our dentist and our orthodontist both say that it is not at all rare for them to find kids who have some permanent teeth that simply don't form. Tell the pediatric endocrinologist about what the dentist said but also say that you know some people simply never develop a tooth or two (if it's heaps, in your son's case, tell the specialist that too).

I totally advocate using medicine and seeking out answers, but I also would advise you to ensure the doctors seriously think about your size and his dad's and your son's genetic place in a family of small adults.

My son has GHD just like Elyse's son. He is 11 and has been on a nightly injection for 2 1/2 years now.

I'm surprised your dentist suggested hormones. First of all, they aren't that easy to get ahold of! You have to go through a lot of testing to make sure they are necessary, and most insurance will not pay for them unless all the testing is done. (We are talking $2300 per month. I have a $2500 Rx co pay. I hate January.) And, if administered incorrectly, they can have some bad effects on a growing child.

Our path to starting on injections was about 5 years long. My son, 100th percentile until he was 3, stopped growing. It probably would have been only a 2 year path but we moved across the country mid-way and the change of providers really screwed things up. Would not have moved if I'd known that was going to happen! Anyway, any good endocrinologist will want to chart their growth 3-4 times per year for a solid 1-2 years before they start invasive blood tests. What they want to see is if your child is maintaining a constant growth rate. If your son continually hugs the 3% line, then he's just small. There is likely nothing wrong with the growth rate or hormone level. Now, if your son starts out at the 100% line like mine did and is below 3% 3 years later, then there is an obvious growth rate issue.

My son also had unusual dentation issues like your son. His adult teeth all errupted around age 7, and came in before the baby teeth had even considered disolving their little roots yet. Yep, he had a LOT of teeth pulled for this reason. We too are headed for braces, but have to hold on until we can figure out what, if or when his 12 year molars are going to make a move.

My husband and his sister are both missing two of their adult teeth, as are two of my brothers kids. It is not terribly uncommon.

Listen to the doctor-

Please start with his pediatrician. When I was about 4, my mom had me tested and measured to make sure I was not suffering a growth disorder. I was not. When your mom is 5'2" and your dad is only 5'4", you're not going to be tall. When my DD was about 18 months, the pediatrician looked at me and said, "We're probably seeing genetic predisposition here." Meaning, Mom is short, and kid is, too. Which doesn't mean that there couldn't be something else afoot, but start by looking at his growth chart and talking to his doctor about a referral. He could just be on the low end of normal. Our pediatrician is not worried about DD because she's on her curve - she IS growing and IS developing, even if there are a lot of kids taller than she is.

My SD had the opposite problem - her teeth were 2 years ahead. Which meant braces very young and her wisdom teeth out around 15. That was a pain in the butt.

I don't have experience with growth hormones, but regarding permanent teeth....my mother is missing some adult teeth (2 I think) and that trait was passed on to my daughter (I think I read it skips generations). Apparently a genetic thing -- not totally uncommon -- one of your child's grandparents may be missing adult teeth? It probably depends on which teeth your son is missing... in my daughter's case, the dentist said it won't be a big deal since it's one of the side teeth so I'm not going to worry about it.

I would see some specialists before deciding anything. The endocrinologist is probably a good start. I wouldn't worry much about his height since you and dad are both short. I have a couple of friends like that (wife is 5'0' and husband is 5'4" if he's wearing shoes) and their kids are pretty tiny. That's just the way it goes.

Not sure about the teeth though. Would growth hormones really help that? A friend of mine has a son turning five next month. He only has 12 baby teeth and xrays have revealed that he probably does not have any adult teeth. In his case, it is considered a congenital defect and growth hormones have never been suggested. Is it possible that your son is in a similar situation?

short mom + short dad most likely = short child. Just because your child is short does not mean that he has a growth hormone deficiency. And you must weigh the benefits of the shots against the side effects. They are painful and if he doesn't have a deficiency, may not give him that much growth. Does he have a self esteem problem being short? Something to consider when making the decision. And, if he doesn't have a growth hormone deficiency, your insurance company probably won't pay for it.

My Godson had a brain tumor on his pituitary gland as a child. The pituitary gland had to be removed to remove the tumor. Afterwards, he did not grow for two years. Despite the logic that without a pituitary that he needed growth hormones to grow, it was still a long, challenging process to get approved for it. Part of it was allowing time to pass to prove that he was not growing over that period. The cost was unbelievable. Fortunately, he did eventually get approved, and he grew to above 6 foot. It also helped a lot with some migraines that continued post surgery.