Does HFI cause short stature?

[adamsmom]

My son, Adam 2, has confirmed HFI and is also off the charts short. I am also very short (4'10") but he is quite a bit shorter than his siblings ( non hfiers) were at his age. His metabolic specialist says that he has had about 10 patients with HFI over the years and that short stature is common with them. His growth is on a steady curve up now but really stalled between the ages of 6 months to a year when he was first having issues and I didn't know what to feed him and he refused most food, even safe ones. Any other shorties out there?

[colormist]

I'm taller than my mom and sister (non-HFIers), so it might just be that the fructose in their diet stunts their development? I have heard people say their children's health and activity improved significantly with the diet.

[antonia]

Palmera fell off the growth curve between ages 3 and 5 when she was eating quite a lot of fructose. Only for height though, she always maintained good weight I think because she ate so much trying to keep her blood sugar up. After the HFI diet, I was amazed at how quickly she made up for lost time and she sprouted up in height very quickly. Now she maintains good average growth, about 2 inches per year, which our pediatrician said is average for average height people such as us.

[rysmom14]

My son was also on the shorter side, and since learning and following a super strict diet is has caught up significantly. He has a twin sister that does not have HFI and at 4 years old, he is about 1/4 in taller. at one point I know he was almost an inch shorter. on the overall height chart they are both around 40-50% for their age. people always tell me that twins are smaller, but I don't know if I believe that, but I also think they are just fine for growth.

[jenn123]

My daughter was failure to thrive and below the growth chart for the first 3 years of her life. Generally speaking, between 3-9 she was undiagnosised and about 5% on growth chart for her age. A year after diagnosis and diet, she is at 25% on growth chart.

[Stefanie (Ziba)]

My son stopped growing in the womb, came out at 33 weeks weighing only 2 lb 11 oz. He was anemic but then while in the NICU for two months, his liver enzymes climbed and he started to look jaundice. He stayed off the charts until he was 18 mos when we finally figured out he could not have fructose. Now, he is in the 86th percentile for weight but still in the bottom quartile for height despite my husband's 6' 4" stature.

P.S. The reason for the liver enzymes going up despite only receiving breast milk while in the NICU? NICU babies get tons of labs drawn and the nurses give them 'sweeties' to calm them during blood draws (sweeties = pure sucrose)....

[rysmom14]

oh man, just you saying sweeties, makes me sick. when Ryan was in the hospital for a month, I think we always had that by the crib so he would calm down. just knowing now how terrible that was makes my heart break.