Growing babies
Let’s talk human growth hormone.
Why? Because they have been on my mind ever since hearing about a friend of mine who needed to get their kiddo on it. Apparently, there is something called a growth hormone deficiency, and this occurs when a child’s body does not make enough to allow the kiddo to grow at a normal pace.
My friend, Sarah, has a young kiddo who has a congenital growth hormone deficiency. Her baby was born with it and it has something do with the pituitary glad not making enough. In her case, her lo was nine months old when she noticed that they stopped hitting milestones. Mainly it occurred when they were growing much slower than the standard growth curve. She had to talk to a pediatric endocrinologist, and they eventually found out that her lo needed hgh shots. Eek.
So, I did a deep dive into GH and HGH to see what the hell they are. But on a sidenote, I cannot tell you how lucky I feel to have my kiddo. Yes, sleep has been terrible. But most things with them are going well. No congenital issues, no failure-to-thrive, no developmental delays. Having a kiddo is hard enough, but having one with complex needs? Damn. Those parents all need a medal and a ten-day all-inclusive vacation somewhere warm and beautiful.
Anyways, what I learned is that in pregnancy there is a three-compartment system which involves the mother, the placenta, and the fetus. This congenital issue does not start showing up until the kiddos are out of the body because while they are inside, they are growth hormone independent, but nutrition-dependant. Meaning that the fetus makes its own growth hormone (GH) in its pituitary and that this starts around the 9th week of gestation. Fetal GH is not the primary driver of bone or muscle growth before birth. I had no idea.
Something else I had a question on was about nursing a kiddo with a congenital issue surrounding HGH. It turns out that a shot is the best way to get HGH into a kiddo. Human milk is not considered to be a meaningful source of the hormone. Even if the birth parent is taking supplemental HGH, there is no significant transfer to the kiddo. Now I was surprised by this because I know that human milk is quite amazing. It’s full of minerals, hormones, and vitamins. It literally responds to the baby’s needs and is like a telepathic source of information between baby and birth parent. But not for GH.
So, my friend has to give her almost one year old a shot of HGH routinely. And it’s working pretty well; her little one is back on a growth chart that more resembles a typical kiddo. I was asking here where in the world you could buy this stuff and apparently there’s a Canadian company that sell HGH kits. Now I don’t think that you could contact the owners of Affinity Immuno and ask to buy kits from them to give to your kiddo. But I was happy to learn that she could source this stuff locally with all the tariffs and nonsense that’s occurring nowadays.
I hope this is the only time ya’ll will need to know about GH. But this tech stuff is wild and I’m so glad that I live in an era where kiddos can benefit from science to go onto living healthy and happy lives.