Now I'm confused--weight gain, when to start GH

June 29, 2004

Well, last year at the convention Dr. H told us to wait until 's

wt/ht percentile was between 10 and 25% for at least 6 months before

starting gh. So we came home with that information and relayed it to our

local endo who knows Dr. H and understands her expertise with RSS. So at

's recent visit with our endo he was weighed and measured and still

not up to enough weight, plus because his growth velocity is 8% she said

that he is still growing enough on his own that we could wait until it

goes below 5%. She told us to increase his calorie intake and try to put

on the weight. Taking that into consideration, we had a visit with a new

nutritionist and explained our goals with 's weight. She measured

his arm circumferences and did a fat caliper test. We also provided her

with a food log with three days worth of 's consumption...and I mean

to the T, every bite. So as she analyzed all of this her conclusion is

that is getting more than enough calories for his age/weight and

that any weight that we pack onto him is going to be pure fat. He is

only going to chunk up, not really build muscle until he starts the

gh--apparently that is when his body composition will change. So she

offered no nutritional " fix " for what we need to do. She didn't see much

more room for adding calories to his intake besides what we already do.

Plus she cautioned that we are setting him up for poor eating habits as

an older child.

So how do we get this kid to gain weight so he can go on the gh so he

can begin adding more muscle not just fat? I think his ht/wt percentile

right now is below 0%. He looks okay to me, just proportionately small.

He doesn't have too much fat on him, but you can pinch a little at his

belly, arms and legs, so it's there. Compared to other kids his age they

just look thicker, but I think alot of that is muscle mass that

doesn't have. So should I be worried about trying to pack on the extra

fat or does really need that fat there to help him keep up with the

gh? A side note would be this... recently had his cholesterol

checked and it was 225 (not a fasting test) so of course that bothers

me. It seems that no matter which way we go something always goes out of

balance.

, 's mom (RSS, 3 yr, 3 mo., 26 lbs, 36 " , Zantac, Periactin, and

quite a good singer!)

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