I have been engaged in pediatrics for more than 10 years, and I have seen countless children with stunted growth, and I often meet parents who ask me: Our children are short, do we need intervention now?
I often reply, it depends on the parents' expected height of the child, if the child's height is not too high, you can observe, if the requirements are relatively high, for example, the boy wants to grow more than 175, or even 180, and the girl wants to grow more than 165, 170, it is necessary to intervene.
However, children with a height below the 30th percentile who are expected to be less than 160 in adult height in boys and less than 150 in girls fall under the category of short stature and must be intervened.
This kind of child, generally to the hospital, most of the doctors will recommend growth hormone, the child is more guilty, because growth hormone is not a matter of one or two injections, one injection a day, generally 2-3 years, to take a thousand injections, is a protracted battle, the cost is more, many ordinary families can hardly bear.
As a TCM pediatrician, my advice is: give the child 3-6 months first, TCM intervention in height, less cost, no crime, and observe the child's growth rate.
Medical case sharing
A child who was seen a year ago, a boy, 8 years old, 120 tall, in the third percentile, the mother said that the child only grew 2 centimeters in half a year, and was the shortest in the class, sitting in the first row all year round.
I looked at the child's situation in detail:
1. Seriously picky eater, likes to eat white rice and white steamed buns, eats few vegetables, and does not like to eat meat;
2. The face is dark and lusterless, the lips are dark, the tongue coating is a map tongue, and there is a bad breath;
3. Sometimes constipation and irregular bowel movements;
4. Sleep unsteadily, easy to wake up, flip around, and sleep on your stomach.
Parents also took their children for examination, bone age is 1 year younger, growth hormone is partially deficient, the local doctor recommended growth hormone, the family disagreed, searched a lot of information on the Internet, afraid that there would be *** to see my popular science, find me online.
After looking at the child's situation, I gave a few analyses:
1. Children are picky eaters, tongue, bad breath, constipation, and restless sleep are typical manifestations of spleen deficiency.
2. If the child is partially deficient in growth hormone, you can choose to take injections, if you don't want to take injections, you can try traditional Chinese medicine intervention to improve the function of the spleen and stomach, open up the appetite, improve nutrient absorption, improve sleep, and cooperate with multiple factors to promote the natural secretion of growth hormone by the body.
3. The bone age is 1 year younger, which is also a good thing at present, the child has more room to grow and can catch up with the height.
In the end, the plan was given to the child:
Short-term Chinese medicine can quickly improve children's picky eaters and constipation.
Traditional Chinese medicine spleen booster patch, with the dual power of traditional Chinese medicine + acupuncture points, combined with the middle belly, spleen Yu, kidney Yu, Guan Yuan and other spleen boosting acupoints.
In addition to traditional Chinese medicine, the outpatient dietitian also formulated a special diet for the child, and prescribed an exercise program and a sleep plan for the child to help the child in an all-round way.
Follow-up visits
Today came to the follow-up visit, it has only been 2 months, the child has changed very obviously, the face is ruddy, the map tongue is gone, the parents said that the child is eating better now, sleeping much better, and his height has grown by 2 cm, which is equivalent to the growth rate of the previous half a year.
According to the current situation, in the spring 3 months, the child grows taller ** season, catching up with 3-5 cm, it should be possible, and the parents' expectations for the child's adulthood are about 175, which should also be achievable.
For children's height, I have always advocated that if you can eat and exercise, you will not use medicine, and if you can use traditional Chinese medicine, you will not take growth hormone.