Help--My teen daughter is short!

[Guest guest]

My daughter, who has been vegetarian since birth, just turned 15. She has

been remarkably healthy all her life, eluding the pernicious ailments--from ear

infections to flu--beseiging her peers. She is very intelligent, talented,

and successful in school.

 

She eats well from a variety of vegetarian sources and is at an ideal weight

for her height. She is not slim but has the body of a gymnist or athlete.

She is fairly strong and has good energy.

 

About every 4 months, I measure her height, and plot it on a chart. In the

past 6 months, her growth has pretty much stopped at 4'9 " . Now her mother is

just 5'2 " and I am 5'8 " so we knew she'd not be a candidate for the NBA, but

I assumed she'd at least best her mom. Needless to say, her height has had

some negative social repercussions. Recently she and I were downtown and some

man made a crude comment about her being a midget. She has always been

shortest in her class.

 

Having been a member of VegeDine, the vegetarian dietician's group, in the

80's, I recall reading that vegetarian children typically lag behind in growth,

but will catch up about 1.5 years after their animal-diet peers. Perhaps

she'll have another growth spurt after this plateau?

 

Do any vegan or vegetarian parents out there have any experience with this

phase of growth in a teen? Are there any vitamins which would enhance growth

at this stage (she takes a weekly vegetarian formula multivitamin)?

 

Does anyone out there have any experience with growth hormones for

underheight children?

 

Any recommendations, anecdotes or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you for your kind attention.

 

John

Atlanta