Re: Curious .. are CF kids smaller than average?

July 19, 2001

,

I don't know if there is any scientific evidence to that, but I get

the same comments about Sam also. He's 15 months today and I don't

think that he weighs over 20 lbs (at least, he didn't last month).

He was 6 lbs. 6 oz. and 19 " when he was born. But then, we don't have

any other kids to compare him to and both and I are on the

short side. (okay, so we're both 5'3 " , but I firmly believe that

is short due to all of his many clubfoot surgeries and the

casts that he went through as a child well into his teenage years.

You just can't have casts for that long without it stunting your

growth - in my opinion. He has a long torso, but shorter legs) So,

we've always just thought that it was us. At Sam's one year checkup,

the Dr. made a comment that he was a little short for his age, but

didn't worry because he was completely healthy otherwise. Our

prayer is that Sam grows up to be taller than us. ) I have a

feeling he will.

Okay, I'm rambling, so I'll close...

Suzanne and Sam 4-19-00

> Has anyone ever heard that children with clubfoot tend to be on the

> small side? How about your kids?

>

> I have never read such a thing in all my research, but I am

> wondering. Just this morning yet another person said something

along

> the lines of .. gosh, she's so little, isn't she? is very

> petite, especially compared with my other children. Both my older

> daughter and son were off the charts for weight and height as

> infants. is in lower percentiles for both. She's not even 20

> pounds at 1 year old, and she's wearing clothes that my other

> daughter wore at 6 months. She was 8 lbs. even at birth, which

isn't

> tiny, but it was smaller than my other kids. Her feet, even her

> normal one, would swim in the shoes that my other daughter wore at

> this age.

> It could well be that it's just the way she is, whether or not she

> had a clubfoot. The pediatrician isn't worried, because she's been

> on a good curve and she's healthy. I'm just curious..

>

> Thanks,

> and

July 19, 2001

My daughter Anne, has been in the 75th percentile for height and weight

since her six month check up. Before that she was off the charts. She is

larger than my other daughter was at the same ages. I think each child just

grows differently. Incidently, her feet are a bit smaller than her sister's

were at the same age. Interesting, huh?

and Anne (3-24-00)

> Re: Curious .. are CF kids smaller than

> average?

>

> ,

>

> I don't know if there is any scientific evidence to that, but I get

> the same comments about Sam also. He's 15 months today and I don't

> think that he weighs over 20 lbs (at least, he didn't last month).

> He was 6 lbs. 6 oz. and 19 " when he was born. But then, we don't have

> any other kids to compare him to and both and I are on the

> short side. (okay, so we're both 5'3 " , but I firmly believe that

> is short due to all of his many clubfoot surgeries and the

> casts that he went through as a child well into his teenage years.

> You just can't have casts for that long without it stunting your

> growth - in my opinion. He has a long torso, but shorter legs) So,

> we've always just thought that it was us. At Sam's one year checkup,

> the Dr. made a comment that he was a little short for his age, but

> didn't worry because he was completely healthy otherwise. Our

> prayer is that Sam grows up to be taller than us. ) I have a

> feeling he will.

>

> Okay, I'm rambling, so I'll close...

>

> Suzanne and Sam 4-19-00

>

> > Has anyone ever heard that children with clubfoot tend to be on the

> > small side? How about your kids?

> >

> > I have never read such a thing in all my research, but I am

> > wondering. Just this morning yet another person said something

> along

> > the lines of .. gosh, she's so little, isn't she? is very

> > petite, especially compared with my other children. Both my older

> > daughter and son were off the charts for weight and height as

> > infants. is in lower percentiles for both. She's not even 20

> > pounds at 1 year old, and she's wearing clothes that my other

> > daughter wore at 6 months. She was 8 lbs. even at birth, which

> isn't

> > tiny, but it was smaller than my other kids. Her feet, even her

> > normal one, would swim in the shoes that my other daughter wore at

> > this age.

> > It could well be that it's just the way she is, whether or not she

> > had a clubfoot. The pediatrician isn't worried, because she's been

> > on a good curve and she's healthy. I'm just curious..

> >

> > Thanks,

> > and

>

July 19, 2001

Hi ,

I had'nt yet heard of CF kids being smaller than non CF kids, but I think

there is probably a lot we still don't know about a lot of things pertaining

to clubfoot. Finding out how and why specifically it is caused, not just

speculation will one day I think be able to answer so many of our unanswered

questions. I hope!

As for , she is the opposite. She was only 7lbs 5oz at birth, a tiny

sweet little thing...........and then as the weeks went by...........she

became the chubbiest baby with rolls everywhere and has always been much

larger than my first daughter. She was in the top percentile for weight and

height from 3 months up until about 12 months. Her weight now is down to the

50% area because she has really slimmed down from being so active now that

she is older, but her height is still 95%. At one of our appointments they

had to measure her 4 times because she was off the chart for height. She's

going to be taller than my oldest I think and was one of the tallest

in her preschool class. One think though I have always noticed is how small

's feet are. They are these tiny little petite feet and they seem to

grow very slow. The little boy across the street is 6 weeks younger than her

and is wearing a shoe 2 sizes larger than 's but both kiddo's are

exactly the same size, bodywise. It's strange.

Since is such a big girl and still not walking unassisted at 17

months, she is killing my back because I still have to carry her everywhere!

She is wearing clothes that my oldest was'nt wearing until next summer.

Neither of my girls were premature, was 9 days late (7bls 7 1/2 oz.)

and was 9 days early (7lbs 5 oz.) so there has been no rhyme or reason

for their differences as infants/toddlers. I guess it's just the difference

in the gene pool! (At least it seems for us anyway.)

I think maybe we worry when the second child (or 3rd, etc.) tends to be

smaller than older siblings because they are put on this " chart " from the

moment they are born. Then when they are'nt measuring the way we remember

our older ones were, we worry. It's funny though, I used to worry that

was getting too big! I was'nt used to such a big baby and my sister used to

say that she could'nt possibly be mine. She still laughs sometimes when

is sitting on my lap, she says, " come here sweetie, come sit with

Auntie Marcia, you look like you could be mine, not your mommy's! " She's so

funny!

Holly and

Curious .. are CF kids smaller than average?

>Has anyone ever heard that children with clubfoot tend to be on the

>small side? How about your kids?

>

>I have never read such a thing in all my research, but I am

>wondering. Just this morning yet another person said something along

>the lines of .. gosh, she's so little, isn't she? is very

>petite, especially compared with my other children. Both my older

>daughter and son were off the charts for weight and height as

>infants. is in lower percentiles for both. She's not even 20

>pounds at 1 year old, and she's wearing clothes that my other

>daughter wore at 6 months. She was 8 lbs. even at birth, which isn't

>tiny, but it was smaller than my other kids. Her feet, even her

>normal one, would swim in the shoes that my other daughter wore at

>this age.

>It could well be that it's just the way she is, whether or not she

>had a clubfoot. The pediatrician isn't worried, because she's been

>on a good curve and she's healthy. I'm just curious..

>

>Thanks,

> and

>

July 19, 2001

YES!! Both and Kelli were born with clubfoot ( bi-

latral & Kelli uni-latrel) and there both little peanuts.

has always been little and people are very surprised when I tell them

he's 6 1/2. And although Kelli is only 4 months old she's VERY

petite. Both started out big (10.5 lbs and 9.5 lbs) but don'continue

to do well as far as the charts go.

Glad to hear we're not the only ones with CF munchkins

Carla, Kelli &

> Has anyone ever heard that children with clubfoot tend to be on the

> small side? How about your kids?

>

> I have never read such a thing in all my research, but I am

> wondering. Just this morning yet another person said something

along

> the lines of .. gosh, she's so little, isn't she? is very

> petite, especially compared with my other children. Both my older

> daughter and son were off the charts for weight and height as

> infants. is in lower percentiles for both. She's not even 20

> pounds at 1 year old, and she's wearing clothes that my other

> daughter wore at 6 months. She was 8 lbs. even at birth, which

isn't

> tiny, but it was smaller than my other kids. Her feet, even her

> normal one, would swim in the shoes that my other daughter wore at

> this age.

> It could well be that it's just the way she is, whether or not she

> had a clubfoot. The pediatrician isn't worried, because she's been

> on a good curve and she's healthy. I'm just curious..

>

> Thanks,

> and

July 19, 2001

Thanks very much to you who gave replies to my question.. It's been

interesting to read your stories! How cute to hear about

the " peanuts " !

I wonder if statistics have ever been gathered about this aspect of

clubfoot. I have seen, of course, all the stats about leg length,

foot size, calf size, etc. When we saw Dr. Ponseti recently, I

casually mentioned how petite is in comparison to our other

kids, and he asked me a number of questions about it and seemed

interested.. it wasn't until I got back home that I started to wonder

if his interest was more than just conversational. I will have to ask

him about it some time. I'm not worried.. is doing fine

according to her pediatrician.. and she's actually in the 50th

percentile for height, but that seems low to us! (My husband is 6'4

and I'm 5'8.)

Perhaps it is just the natural variation among children, but it's

interesting to think about.

Holly, I'm so sorry to hear about 's bout with the flu. What an

experience! Poor kid! Hope she bounces back completely soon.

Thanks again,

and , the 18 or 19 pounder

July 19, 2001

Hi ,

In my experience i don't think there is a link with CF kids being

smaller. Struan my 3 1/2 month old with bilateral CF is almost 2

pounds heavier than Derry (my 5 year old) was at that age, he's a big

baby weighing in at 17 pounds. He's grown out of a lot of his 3-6

month clothes and is wearing mostly 6-9 months.

July 20, 2001

I too can vouch for this one. Jadi was born at 7lbs.

6 1/2 oz. She is almost 11 months and still only 17

1/2 lb. She is apparently at the 25th% for weight but

the 75%for height. Interesting to know!!

Maranda

--- Audilet wrote:

> Has anyone ever heard that children with clubfoot

> tend to be on the

> small side? How about your kids?

>

> I have never read such a thing in all my research,

> but I am

> wondering. Just this morning yet another person said

> something along

> the lines of .. gosh, she's so little, isn't she?

> is very

> petite, especially compared with my other children.

> Both my older

> daughter and son were off the charts for weight and

> height as

> infants. is in lower percentiles for both.

> She's not even 20

> pounds at 1 year old, and she's wearing clothes that

> my other

> daughter wore at 6 months. She was 8 lbs. even at

> birth, which isn't

> tiny, but it was smaller than my other kids. Her

> feet, even her

> normal one, would swim in the shoes that my other

> daughter wore at

> this age.

> It could well be that it's just the way she is,

> whether or not she

> had a clubfoot. The pediatrician isn't worried,

> because she's been

> on a good curve and she's healthy. I'm just

> curious..

>

> Thanks,

> and

>

=====

Maranda and Jadi

Aug. 30, 2000

Unilateral clubfoot (left)

__________________________________________________

July 25, 2001

I just wanted to add my 2 cents...

n was only 6 lbs 4 oz at birth(full term). Maybe there is some kind of

connection.....

July 25, 2001

,

Just had to respond to this thread! Rose is a runt. Small feet,

especially. I would have attributed the small and slow growing feet to

clubfoot, but my niece, who is 7 months younger than Rose, is almost

exactly the same! Now, Iris, though, has some BIG feet! It's definitely

something to wonder about.

JOy

http://community.webtv.net/joybelle15/ROSESCLUBFOOTPAGE

July 26, 2001

In our case, it was the exact opposite. was the biggest baby

of our six children. Our babies' weights were: 6 lb. 2 oz, 6 lb. 4

oz, 6 lb. 10 oz, 7 lb. 2 oz., 7 lb. 13 oz., and 8 lb. (). They

were all full-term.

Allyson

> ,

> Just had to respond to this thread! Rose is a runt. Small feet,

> especially. I would have attributed the small and slow growing

feet to

> clubfoot, but my niece, who is 7 months younger than Rose, is almost

> exactly the same! Now, Iris, though, has some BIG feet! It's

definitely

> something to wonder about.

>

> JOy

>

> http://community.webtv.net/joybelle15/ROSESCLUBFOOTPAGE

July 26, 2001

Olivia is pretty big--8 lb 2 oz at birth and she's been at least in

the 75th percentile, if not higher, her whole life (12 whole weeks!).

My husband also has one clubfoot and he's tall, but thin. So, I don't

know...

July 27, 2001

Quinn is small too. They were following him with a bit of worry for a few

months. He is in the 10% for his weight and 25-50% for height. He is staying

on his growth curve, thriving, happy etc, so they decided he is just a little

guy genetically. Dad and mom are both short too, and Dad weighs 144 lbs

dripping wet, so....

Personally, I think there could be some kind of a link between his size and his

clubfoot. His older brothers weighed 8lb 6oz, and 8lb 5 oz at birth. He

weighed 6 lb 13 oz. Way smaller....but, each kiddo is different I guess.

Also, Quinn has an interesting birthmark on the calf of his clubfoot leg. We

are watching it and have had several docs check it out. Prolly just a

birthmark, but, worry freak that I am, we watch it carefully.

Very interesting thread. Thanks for bringing it up. I am kind of behind, and