At Sylvie's 6 month checkup on 9/2, she weighed in at a not-so-whopping 12lbs 1 oz. This puts her below the 5th percentile meaning that over 95% of babies her age are larger than she is. This alone would not be alarming except that at her 4 month appointment she was in the 10th percentile and at her 2 month appointment she was in the 25th percentile. So although she is growing, the rate at which she is growing appears to have slowed. Her pediatrician, Dr. Gonzalez decided to go ahead and perform blood work (usually done at the 9 month check-up, which tests for lead and such) to check her thyroid function.
Another possible cause behind her slow growth could be related to the fact that Sylvie was born with a few of birth defects; an ectopic kidney, and two congenital heart defects; an small atrial septal defect or ASD, and a cleft mitral valve which may or may not require surgery down the road. Slow growth nonwithstanding, so far these defects have had no obvious affect on our girl's health. But the fact that she is rather small and has these defects led us, on the advice of our pediatrician, to consult with a genetics specialist who advanced the possibilty that Sylvie has Noonan's syndrome.
If indeed this is what Sylvie has, then she appears to be only mildy affected. She is reaching all of her age appropriate milestones and Dr. Gonzalez noted that she is quite strong and active. As I said earlier, the cardiac defects and renal anomolies have not been problematic and, God willing, never will be. Sylvie sees a cardiologist and a urologist every six months or so in order to monitor her condition.
To put all the scary medical stuff in perspective, my mother is of "short stature" and also has a mild heart defect (for which she's never required surgery) and it obviously hasn't held her back any!
