Contents
What to do…
— encourage him to find an activity that enhances him: basketball if he is tall, theater if he is small…;
— let him express his anger or sadness. He needs to feel understood;
— help him find intelligent answers to reflections, without returning the ball to the other (” I’m small, so what? “,” I’m tall, it’s true, like top models! “).
What you should not do…
— minimize his suffering. Avoid sentences like “It’s not a big deal …”;
— multiply consultations to the doctor or the endocrinologist, he would start to consider his growth problem as a real disease!
Small size, it can be treated!
Being too big or too small is not a disease. For some children, the size difference is not a problem. It is therefore not always useful to start a treatment, which is often long and restrictive.
In other situations, it is the parents or the doctor who are worried about the height the child will reach as an adult, or the child himself who expresses a malaise … treatment may be then suggested, but it is not to be taken lightly! Care is often accompanied by psychological follow-up. “We have to treat the small sizes according to the causes. For example, if a child lacks thyroid hormones or growth hormones, it should be given. If he suffers from a digestive disease, it is a nutritional balance that he must find… ”, explains JC. Carel.
And when they are too big?
Certain hormones, equivalent to those which constitute the contraceptive pill, can be administered to children, in extreme cases, around the age of twelve years. They trigger puberty (onset of periods and breast growth in young girls, onset of hair growth, etc.), and at the same time, slow down growth. But don’t rejoice too quickly! “This treatment is generally abandoned because there are fairly significant tolerance problems, risks of phlebitis, risks on fertility which are not very well controlled. Right now, the risk / benefit ratio is bad, ”according to JC. Carel.
Growth problems: your testimonials
Caroline, mother of Maxime, 3 1/2 years old, 85 cm
“The start of the school year went smoothly except for a huge difference in size with the other children! Some, without ulterior motives, call him “my little Maxime”… There, it’s cute, but others, especially in the square, call him “minus”, “ridiculous” and so on. Daily reflections are very common on the part of adults too. Maxime is expressing a lot at the moment his desire to “grow up like a dad”. I take her to the psychologist once every two months. Together, we begin to address the difference. Until now, I think it was above all me who suffered from the gaze and especially the reflections of others. I was told that a small child compensates for his small size by taking up space in space. I notice it in Maxime: he knows how to make himself understood and has a hell of a character! “
Bettina, mother of Etienne, 6 years old, 1m33
“At school, everything is going very well. His friends have never commented on him, on the contrary, they often ask him for a helping hand to catch things that are too high. Etienne never complained. He likes to carry his older brother who is shorter than him (1m29 for eight years)! Let’s wait until adolescence… It’s a difficult period, I myself have borne the brunt of it. I was always the tallest, but I think for a boy it’s still a lot easier to live with. ”
Isabelle, mother of Alexandre, 11 years old, 1m35
“Alexandre suffers a bit from his height because it’s not always easy to be the smallest in the class. Football helps it to be better accepted… Being tall is not an obligation to score goals! “