Free guide · Scarlet Beast En español →
Growth failure in children with kidney disease: what it is, what slows growth, growth charts, food, medicines, and growth hormone
For the parents and caregivers of a child with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who is growing slowly or is shorter than other children. It passes on, by name, what the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK, part of the NIH) says about growth failure in children with CKD: what it is and how common it is; who is more likely; the things that can slow growth; how growth charts and percentiles work; food, a feeding tube, medicines and growth hormone therapy; feelings and puberty; a kidney transplant; and why starting early matters. It builds the questions to ask and prints a card for writing down each height. Nothing is saved.
Right now
- A child who is very ill, very hard to wake, or struggling to breathe? Call 911 (ours).
- Your child talks about hurting themselves or not wanting to live? Call or text 988 now, any hour, free, for any age, and stay with your child (ours). In danger right now: call 911.
- For you: thoughts of suicide, or all too much? Call or text 988 (ours).
More help
- On this site: Kidney disease in children · Feeding a child with kidney disease · Helping a child live with kidney disease · Kidneys, bladder and urine: find the right page.
- The causes: Mineral and bone disorder. Treatment: Kidney transplant · Get ready for your appointment. Feelings: Depression.
- For you: When you need food · When you need a doctor and can’t pay. In an emergency: Help right now (988, 911). All our free tools.
Kidneys, bladder or urine, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for bladder infections, kidney stones, blood in the urine, bladder pain, bladder leaks, the prostate, kidney disease and bedwetting, on one list.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). No doctor, nurse or dietitian has reviewed it. The facts were read on October 21, 2026 on NIDDK’s (NIH) page Growth Failure in Children with Chronic Kidney Disease (last reviewed June 2022), and one line on sodium on its page Nutrition for Children with Chronic Kidney Disease (December 2019). The numbers are NIDDK’s; the medicines named are the ones NIDDK names, with no brands and no doses. Ours: the 911 and 988 lines; staying with a child who talks about hurting themselves or not wanting to live; never giving a growth product or supplement the team did not prescribe; never stopping a medicine on your own; a feeding tube is not a failure; asking how the line has moved; the questions to ask; the card; the links to our other pages; and the order of the steps. What we left out: NIDDK’s section on research studies. Nothing you tick or type here is saved or sent.