If your child has growth, puberty, diabetes, or other conditions related to hormones and the glands that make them, a pediatric endocrinologist may treat your child.

Hormones are chemicals that affect the way other parts of the body work. For example, hormones decide how a child grows and matures. Endocrine glands, such as the pituitary gland, release hormones into the bloodstream. Endocrinology is the science that studies these glands and the effects of hormones.

The problems seen by a pediatric endocrinologist are very different from those commonly seen by an endocrinologist who usually sees adults. Special education in pediatric conditions regarding growth and development is important. Hormonal problems are often present throughout life. Pediatric endocrinologists treat hormonal disorders during all stages of childhood and adolescence.

What Types of Treatments Do Pediatric Endocrinologists Provide?

Pediatric endocrinologists are responsible for the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of hormonal disorders, including:

  • Growth problems such as short stature
  • Early or delayed puberty
  • Enlarged thyroid glands (goiter)
  • Insufficient and overactive thyroid gland
  • Hypofunction or hyperfunction of the pituitary gland
  • Hypofunction or hyperfunction of the adrenal gland
  • Indeterminate genitalia/intersex
  • Ovarian and testicular dysfunction
  • Diabetes
  • low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
  • Obesity
  • Problems with vitamin D (rickets, hypocalcemia)

Pediatric Endocrinologists: Optimal Care for Children

Children are not just little adults. They have special needs regarding their growth and development as growing individuals. In addition, their psychological needs are different from adults. Hormonal problems that affect growth or sexual development can have significant effects on a child’s physical and emotional health. Pediatric endocrinologists are sensitive to these issues.

A pediatric endocrinologist cares for your child in a setting suitable for children and adolescents. Support staff, including nurses, psychologists, pediatric diabetes educators, and nutritionists, adapt to the needs of children and adolescents.

Children with special needs require pediatric endocrinologists to work closely with primary care pediatricians to provide coordinated and comprehensive care. Pediatric endocrinologists have extensive training and experience in managing children and treating children with endocrine disorders and hormonal issues. If your pediatrician recommends that your child see a pediatric endocrinologist, be sure your child will receive the best possible medical care.

Importance of Pediatric Endocrinology

In children and adolescents, certain hormonal changes can compromise their growth and development. For this reason, before the first signs of puberty appear (approximately 8-9 years), a specialist should be consulted to see if everything is in order. However, immediate referral is required if the pediatrician or their parents detect any prior abnormalities.

Pediatric endocrinology is the field responsible for evaluating this issue, which deals with the study of diseases caused by changes in the endocrine glands (pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, others).

Some signs to watch out for are as follows:

  • Short stature (below the 5th percentile for height/age), short stature for his parents’ height, slow growth (drop in growth curve).
  • Excess body hair.
  • Breast development in girls or testicular development in boys at an inappropriate age.
  • Obesity is particularly important when it can alter glycemic control or be associated with slow growth.
  • Problems with the metabolism of carbohydrates, such as diabetes.
  • Pathology related to the thyroid gland, such as hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, especially if there is a history of thyroid disease in direct relatives.

The main reason for consultation by parents is related to their child’s growth curve. There is great concern about the problem with the expectation that they are taller than they are.

Some of the causes of short stature may be:

  • delayed puberty
  • growth hormone deficiency
  • Familial short stature or structural short stature (low growth rate). Insufficient growth may be the first sign of hypothyroidism or gastrointestinal problems such as malabsorption.