[crispex]

Hi all,

Since I heard that our kids from Russia tend to grow quickly once home I decided to weigh and measure our little girl shortly after we got home.

Here are the results for my 3 1/2 year old girl:

According to medical records, she was 91 cm (3' tall) & 13kg (28.7 pounds) in August 2006.
October 10th (2 days home) she was 3' 1.25" & 32 pounds
November 14th (little more than 1 month home) she was 3' 2.75" & 34 pounds

The last 2 measurements were using the same measuring devices.

She really grew 1 1/2 inches in about a month...a month! Do all kids grow this fast on coming home?

Our little girl came from a great baby hospital where these kids are cared for quite well. She was on the "allergy diet" in the baby hospital. We are slowly finding out she is not allergic to many of the foods on the 'potentially allergic to' list.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

[TweetyMom04]

I remember the boys putting on weight but not growing 'length' as rapidly at 8mo of age. Neither were on 'special diets', but very tiny for their age and looked more like 5 - 6 mo of age.

They weight and height took off, quickly, seemed like overnight. Now that they are 3.5, one is slightly taller than the other and weight is a difference of a few pounds.

[RBSVARCHER]

Yes, they really grow once home when they get milk and good nutrition and vitamins.

Our DS came from a very poor orphanage, and once home grew one inch a month - but has slowed down to 1/3 inch a month growth and has put on 16 pounds in almost 2 years.

He was almost bald from lack of nutrition (he was 2 1/2 when we got him) and today his hair is still coming in! His hair is so thick now, it takes longer for me to dry his short hair than for me to dry mine that is considerably longer!

Isn't God great??

Susan

[kizibits]

My Alivia has shot up from 23.5" at 12 months to 28" at 16 months. Her weight gain hasn't been nearly as impressive, but she has gone from 11.5 lbs. to 16 lbs. She's still well below the fifth percentile in both areas, though, so we've got some more catching up to do!

[sak9645]

Do be aware that fast "catch-up" can have a possible side effect.

Doctors are beginning to see an increased incidence of precocious puberty in internationally adopted children, and the hypothesis is that the growth spurt many of the kids go through right after adoption somehow triggers it.

Precocious puberty won't show up immediately, but you could find that your girl starts having signs like underarm and pubic hair, underarm odor, breast development, and menstruation well before a typical American child. A boy may show enlargement of the penis and scrotum, body hair, body odor after exercise, etc. well before other boys in his class.

Where it starts so early that the child could be emotionally upset by being so "different", doctors can use medications to delay things a bit. Likewise, some doctors take action because the early onset of puberty can slow overall growth.

For more information, contact an adoption medicine specialist.

[Kendal]

Jake was pretty big to begin with for an orphanage baby.

At one year he was 20lbs and 30 1/2in
At 18mo he was 27lbs and 33 in
At two he was 32lbs and 36 1/2 in
and at 2 1/2 he is 35lbs and 38 1/4 in.

Even at is very first check up he was in 75% for height. Now he usually is in the 95% for height and 70% for weight. But I think Jake is just a big kid.

My girls grew at a much slower pace, and still do. They were not even on the growth chart until their 3rd check up. Since then they have remained between the 10% and 20% for height and weight. But they did gain quite a bit of weight when we first brought them home. But they really need to.

[lakimnafite]

Well, I haven't been very good at doing her stats. I don't own a scale, and I'm not sure where the measuring tape is.. She is due for her 18 month check up by the end of this month, so I'll know soon...

But what I do know is that my little 15 month baby was wearing 9 month clothes when we picked her up from the orphanage. She could wear some 12 month, but it was pretty big. Yesterday, I put an adorable little outfit on her that was a bit too long a few weeks ago. It was WAY above her ankles! It is a 12 month outfit. Last night, I pulled out and washed all her 18 month clothes. She is wearing an 18 month outfit today and it fits perfectly.

So, in not quite 11 weeks she has gone from 9 month clothes to 18 month clothes!

[Pinkie]

In October 2005 as shown on Antonina's medical record she was 107cm tall and weighed 13.5 kilos.

In November 2006 she is 113cm and she weighs 18 kilos.

That means she has grow 6cm and 10lbs in one year. To be honest she was so tiny and weightless when first home I didn't think she'd ever grow!!

[KeroRocks]

My son Jake grew 7 1/2 inches in his first year home. The doctors office couldn't believe it.

And he's still barely on the chart short and skinny

[crispex]

Thank you all for the confirmations that this is normal. I expected a growth spurt, but not this quickly.

We actually haven't introduced milk to her yet, but that is on the schedule for next week. We did chicken & turkey this week so we would be sure she could eat Thanksgiving turkey.

We do have her on Flintstone vitamins so that is probably helping quite a bit.

Once again, thank you everyone.