Raising with the village
Raising with the Village
Because it really does take a village to raise a child — and most of us don’t have one anymore.
Raising with the Village is a podcast about the real stories of parenthood — from pregnancy to the early school years and everything in between. Each episode shares an honest, unfiltered conversation with a parent who’s been there: through the highs, the lows, the unexpected turns and the moments that change everything.
No experts. No judgement. Just real people sharing their experiences — because when we talk openly about what we’ve been through, we help someone else feel less alone.
Whether you’re preparing for your first baby, navigating the chaos of toddlerhood, or simply figuring it out one day at a time, this is your virtual village — a place to listen, relate, and remind yourself that you’re doing better than you think.
🎧 Hosted by Maeva,
Parent, storyteller, and believer that there’s power — and comfort — in sharing our stories.
Raising with the village
#4- Grace - When your child stops growing
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
In this episode, Grace shares her family’s journey through discovering that both of her young children have growth hormone deficiency — from spotting early signs, to seeking answers when her instincts told her something wasn’t right, to navigating diagnosis, testing, treatment and life on daily injections.
It’s a story about persistence, parental intuition, advocating for your children, and the enormous difference early diagnosis can make.
💬 In this episode:
- Spotting the first signs that her son’s growth had stalled — and why she trusted her instincts
- The long process of ruling out allergies, food intolerances and “catch-down growth”
- How she pushed for referrals and why private healthcare accelerated the diagnosis
- What happens during endocrine testing: IGF-1 blood tests, stimulation tests, and MRIs
- Understanding growth hormone deficiency and why early diagnosis matters
- Starting treatment: daily injections, bedtime routines, and the emotional side for young children
- Realising her daughter also had the same condition — and how symptoms can look different
- The impact of treatment: energy levels, confidence, muscle strength and rapid catch-up growth
- Finding community through the Child Growth Foundation
- Grace’s advice for parents concerned about their child’s centile chart or growth trajectory
🩺 Useful Resources:
- Child Growth Foundation
https://childgrowthfoundation.org - NHS – Growth Hormone Deficiency in Children
https://www.gosh.nhs.uk/conditions-and-treatments/conditions-we-treat/growth-hormone-deficiency/ - NICE – Human Growth Hormone (Somatropin) in Children
https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta188 - Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health – UK-WHO Growth Charts
https://www.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/growth-charts - MAGIC Foundation (Growth Disorders Support)
https://www.magicfoundation.org
💛 Raising with the Village
This podcast is about real parents sharing real stories — because no one should feel alone in parenthood.
New episodes every Thursday!
🌐 Website: https://raisingwith.co.uk/
📸 Instagram: @raisingwiththevillage
🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and all major platforms.
If you’d like to share your own story — about birth, parenting, or family life — get in touch via the website or Instagram DMs.
Hi, I'm Maiva, and this is Raising with the Village, a podcast where real parents share real stories, so we don't have to navigate this parenting journey alone. Today's story is about a mum who trusted her instincts when something just didn't feel right. Grace is a mum of two. When her son was still little, she noticed something that most of us might have brushed off. His growth seemed to have slowed down. At first it was just a gut feeling. But as the months passed, the feeling grew stronger. So she started asking questions and soon found herself on a long medical journey trying to prove that her little boy had in fact stopped growing and needed help. But what Grace didn't expect was that this search for answers would also uncover something much bigger. Something that also explained what had been quietly going on with her older daughter all along. Oh, and a quick note. A few times in the conversation, my guest accidentally mentions her child's name. To protect our privacy, I've masked it in the audio. So if you hear a brief blur, don't worry. It's not a technical glitch. Enjoy the episode and let's listen to Grace's story. Hi. How are you today, Grace?
SPEAKER_03Uh good, thank you.
SPEAKER_00Um you want to briefly briefly, sorry, tell me about your family?
SPEAKER_01Sure, yeah. Um so I've got a son and a daughter. Uh my daughter's five and my son's three. Um both have been diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency. That's been quite a journey.
SPEAKER_00Alright. Shall we go back to the start of that journey? Sure. Okay. So first of all, maybe let's start at the very, very beginning of the journey. And let's start with your pregnancy. Or how was your first pregnancy to start with that?
SPEAKER_01Um there are no issues with pregnancy at all. Um my daughter was born like normal weight, so like£7.10. She was kind of average height or a length, as they say, uh under two. Um and then my son, he was two weeks overdue. So he was£9.9 when he was born.
SPEAKER_00And baby. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Tell me about it. And um 56 centimetres. So he went straight into naught to three month clothes. Um, we thought maybe we've got a a tall baby. Um and uh uh it carried on that way for a few months, and then it became very clear that there was an issue um when his length or height began um which just froze. So he began decreasing down the centiles and I thought that there was something up um that needed looking into really.
SPEAKER_00So so at what point did that happen? So because you said that he was born being like clearly a giant baby. Good on you. But so at what point did it change? How how old was he?
SPEAKER_01So he was six months. Um everything had been going well until then. Uh around six months, or maybe just before, he started getting some stomach pains. And um kind of thought, you know, this maybe it was an allergy. Um so we went to see a pediatric gastroenterologist. Um, he ran a few tests and um they suspected a delayed milk um allergy. So um we cut out all milk. Um he did begin to eat more and and the stomach pains did decrease somewhat. Um, but we noticed that it didn't help the growth. It he still hadn't grown. So this was after six months he just kind of stopped growing and all his peers were catching up. And um, so for going from the 98th percentile for height for when he was born, um he by the time he reached two, he had gone down to the second percentile. Okay. So it was straight down um, you know, and and really from six months onwards, it just it was a really sharp drop. He just plummeted through the centaurs, and I was thinking, I'm not the tallest, I'm five foot one and a half. Um, my husband's five eleven, but I I did think this is something felt not right about that. Um, uh, especially because he was born so big.
SPEAKER_00Um Was he a happy baby apart from that? So you said that obviously he had stomach pain, but things improved a bit when you changed his diet?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean he was always happy in the daytime. Uh stomach pains were just at night. Um, you know, uh with a delayed milk allergy, there's no real test for it except to see to cut out milk and to see if that helps. So um, you know, he he did we did introduce milk again from when he was about two. So he's been fine since on that. Um But you know, there was no real signs of anything except that he just wasn't growing. Um and the doctors then um diagnosed failure to thrive. So it's sort of sort of a a turn they use, I guess, to when um infants aren't growing as as they should be as as expected.
SPEAKER_00So you said we noticed that he essentially stopped growing. Um when you say we, is that you and your husband? Is that you and maybe your GP or your health visitor? Who who was it? Can you remember who it was?
SPEAKER_01Um I mean I think it was probably my instincts to start with. And obviously I I'd have shared that with my husband. Um we both knew. I mean, he he wasn't the biggest fan of breastfeeding, um, like my daughter had been. Um, but you know, we persevered until his 15 months. Um but the health visitor didn't really pick up on too much. I I had I did flag that he had started to drop down the centaur, so they didn't seem that concerned. I was told a lot that, particularly with big babies, that there's often catch-down growth. Um, so where the child tries to find their their centaur, their natural centaur after after um being overdue, particularly. Um but from all my research, that was that's normally expected in the first couple of months, not really after six months and not continuing until the age of two. So um, so it's really I guess me who persevered and um pursued a diagnosis. So um I asked the gastroenterologist to refer us to an endocrinologist um to see if, you know, to run some tests to see if there's anything hormonally that um was affecting his height.
SPEAKER_00That's really interesting because it sounds like you were completely driving the whole surge, the whole um everything. It sounds like it really came from you.
SPEAKER_01100%. I mean, it I I think that's common these days. I think it really is on the parents to notice things and you know, it it doesn't feel like it should be our job to to to do that m medical diagnosis, but I think these days um it it seems to be what's required, you know, and I think just trust your instincts. And we were very lucky to have private healthcare. Um, so I think doctors take less persuading um when they're being paid, um, but by the insurance companies. So the gastroenterologist was happy, you know, it's very easy referral straight over to a private um endocrinologist. Um she had been linked to St. George's Hospital. Okay. Um and eventually once the diagnosis was made, we transferred over to NHS care for the treatment.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um so it's quite a seamless process. Um, but I think having that private route really sp spared things up. Um I have heard from other people in the community that um the NHS don't tend to do much, especially for children under two. Um they like to track things, monitor them for a bit longer. The tests to diagnose it are very expensive and as as is the treatment, it's almost£10,000 a year.
SPEAKER_03Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01So um I I think we know we were lucky and that we had that in place and um I sort of drove it forward.
SPEAKER_00Okay, cool. All right, so maybe let's go back to um when you met with the endocrinologist. Yes. Sorry, long word. Um what what happened at that point? Because it sounds like that was a turning point really in what happens next.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so um uh as I said, it was a journey, so uh apologies if this is a a bit long, but really the first thing an endocrinologist will do will be to calculate the child's midparental height. So that's something anyone can do. There's calculations online, it does differ if it's a boy or a girl. Um essentially you get the two parents' heights and then you add or minus uh some figures to calculate an expected height for what they should achieve as an adult and what centable that would be on. Um if the child is more than two centire lines below that, um that kind of forms an informal criteria to to pursue it and to run further tests. Okay. Um was that the case for you then? Yeah, so I mean, as I said, I I'm small already. Um I'm only about 155 uh centimetres, and my husband's 182, um, which kind of makes that the mid-parental about 40%. Um but by the time he'd reached what time were we doing those tests, he was under the ninth centile. So he'd crossed those sort of those lines. Um and well, knowing what I do now, that both my children have this um condition, and um I never reached my parent parental height either, I think it's quite likely that I may have had the um growth hormone deficiency as well. Um and so really I'm not sure it could be trusted. You know, my midparental height probably wasn't what it should have been.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So, you know, I I suspect that maybe he's got a potential to be a bit taller um than that 40% mark. Um But after that's been calculated, the doctor will run some blood tests um to check the IGF-1 levels. Now that's an indicator of how well the body processes um growth hormone.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01So it doesn't it doesn't lead to diagnosis. Um and in fact, both my children were on the low end of normal.
SPEAKER_00Um meaning that their body was most likely not react very well to hormones or what Yeah, I mean so some children they they're they can their IGF 1 levels are very low.
SPEAKER_01Um some children don't produce barely any of it. Mine were producing some, just not to the required level. So um I mean there are much more severe cases where um uh that I'm aware of where, you know, um children from birth won't have grown much. Um and it can it can vary at different times. Some children grow fine until the age of eight or so, and then plummet, you know, it's different for each child for sure. So it seemed to be about the six month mark. Um so growth hormone deficiency is obviously when your body isn't producing enough growth hormone. And that results in not just a lack of height, but also um that hormone's used for building muscles, for your organs, your bone strength. And if it's not treated, it can increase the risk of heart disease. Um and uh I mean, there are there are lots of other knock-on effects, not just a lack of height. So it's I mean, it really is important for it to be um diagnosed as early as possible, but often kid it gets missed until people are teenagers and then they're trying to suddenly get a diagnosis to that point when really it could be too late once the both uh the bones um close, the b growth plates.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, I was gonna say obviously um you're not in the medical profession, but um do you know when it gets too late or I I didn't realise it could get too late.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean it uh it's when puberty starts. So um that's always usually uh um earlier for women or for girls. So they get to about the age of twelve, thirteen, maybe even fourteen, that they have growth plates shut. And after that it's it's too late. Um boys generally have a bit longer. Um I am aware that in the community that some people use um other hormones to try and delay puberty in order to give them a little extra chance.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um but hopefully mine have been on will will have been on the treatment long enough by the time they reach puberty that um that won't be necessary.
SPEAKER_00That that must be so reassuring um to know as a parent, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean it it really is about the amount of time they have to catch up. And it it can take several years for them to be on the par with their peers. Um So yeah, it's as getting a diagnosis as soon as possible really is key.
SPEAKER_00What does that mean then? Um so going back to you've got the diagnosis, you've got a an understanding of what's happening, what happened at that point?
SPEAKER_01Once their IGF levels are are taken, um, if the endocrinologist thinks that there's um further tests are warranted, they would need to have uh stimulation tests. And they're pretty intensive. Um and I guess for you know can be a bit of a scary prospect. Um so basically the child will go in having fasted in the morning and to hospital and will be uh fitted with a cannula. Now for us, particularly with it being less than two, um, that was the hardest part. They took two hours to find his veins. Um so that was pretty horrific. But I mean, once that cannula is in, they then um inject them with um a growth hormone stimulant. So an agent like glucagon or arginine, and they will monitor um how his body processes that over the course of three hours. So they'll take blood from him every half an hour, and with a view to try and get capture that peak. Um that medicine does make kids feel very sick, very tired, very sleepy. Um it's not the most pleasant thing, but after that they can have some food. Um the thing is that test needs to be repeated twice. Okay. So it is a is a process.
SPEAKER_00Um is it twice with how much in between the two tests?
SPEAKER_01Oh, with different uh so it's it's twice, but with different agents. They'll um to see how the body responds to different different types of um stimulants. Um in America sometimes I've heard that they do it on the same day, but this will t typically be like maybe a few weeks or a month or so in between. Um and once those results come back, so they're looking for a peak level less than 6.7 in the UK to um diagnose growth hormone deficiency. In America, I believe, they allow up to 10. So that there is discrepancies depending on what country you're in. Um but once if if you if you're getting a score less than 10, that's telling you your body's not producing that that um enough or a a sufficient amount. Um, and so they can diagnose it at that point, but then they will also order an MRI of the brain after that. So for young children, that'll be under general anesthetic. And um basically they're looking for the uh pituitary gland to see if there's any reasons why the pituitary isn't functioning as it should do, um, whether that might be a it hasn't been developed properly, it's too small, um, some people have um tumours or it can be a bit malf malformed. Um and they have to make sure before you start the medication that, for example, if there was a tumour that the growth hormone medication is not going to boost or inflate or increase that tumour size. Um so they like to do that to rule things out. Um and then afterwards, yeah, it's on to treatment. So that comes by way of daily injections.
SPEAKER_00Um that you do?
SPEAKER_01Yes, that we do at home. Yeah, every evening before bed. Um there is a weekly injection available for some children um in in a higher dose, but we haven't really explored that. Um and yeah, it's just become part of our life now. Um it does make traveling a bit more difficult. Um we've bought like an insulin um cooler to take with us and that we have to plug in um because the the medicines have to be in the fridge at all times. So um they can be out of maximum about an hour out of the fridge. Um, they need to be between two and eight degrees. So it's really key. Um it's something we have to factor in, I guess, on with travel plans.
SPEAKER_00Is it at a specific time uh of day? Does it have to be say always at 6 p.m. or can you slightly move it?
SPEAKER_01No, um they recommend just before bed because it's when your body would naturally produce growth hormone. So it's to give a boost at that point. Um so we just do it, you know, after they brush the teeth. We'll just give the injections before you read a book for bed. Um how is that process at first? Uh so they said and they send a nurse round to to train us on how to do it. It comes with like um a special type of pen that is quite easy to use. Um from the kids, I'd like to say they were used to it by now, um, but they're not in on it almost nine months, you know. Um my daughter's been on there for for five months. Um but there's still lots of screaming around bedtime. Um sometimes we have to pin them down. Other times it's it's not so bad. Um the actual injection itself doesn't concern them too much. It's more the anticipation of it that causes them anxiety.
SPEAKER_00Um I can imagine. And how long will they have to have those injections for?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I mean it can be either um it would definitely they'll need to be on them until they finish puberty. So we've got quite a lot um lots of years ahead of us. Uh when they are teenagers, they'll be tested again. And uh based on the r those results, they'll it'll depend on whether they need them for life. Some people do, it is relatively rare though, um, because adults need less of it and because they're not growing anymore. Um so by that point they're let most people, their levels will have stabilized and they won't need that supplementation anymore.
SPEAKER_00Well, that'd hope. That's what happens. You you mentioned your daughter there. Is that a case of you were obviously um, you know, throwing through with the situation with your son? And at some point you thought, let me look at my other trial. How did that happen?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so um uh once my son had started the medication, he was the first to be diagnosed. Um, I asked the um his consultant if it was possible she had it as well. She'd always been on the 75th Santile for weight, but only the ninth for height. Right. So um the ninth uh, you know, isn't particularly small, but you know, um and she had that she'd been like that quite s from about 12 months onwards. Um, but she'd always been on the 75th for weight. And um the doctor said really they'd expect her to be taller for for that weight that she was. Um, so it was possible. And she monitored she had a look at her height chart um and had been taking quite regular uh measurements, um which you know, I really would recommend because otherwise I think doctors will make you wait a bit a longer period to to monitor and track the height. Um so they looked at her charts and they said they saw that the beginning of the chart, I guess before 12 months, mirrored not quite as severely. Um, but they said there was enough for them to order the tests and she failed the stimulation tests as well. So um it was the same process. Um I do think that it was much easier to get her diagnosis on the back of his. Yeah. Um being on the ninth centile, I don't think would have concerned a lot of doctors, particularly like if if she hadn't already had a brother who was diagnosed with it. Um so I think that could be a battle. Um, trying to get seen and heard and taken seriously if if that if it was just her, I was had the concerns about. Um but she had always been really fatigued, so could never really walk further than a few houses down the road, would get so tired. Um, this was until about like in her when she was three. Um, she would never scooter or climb uh playgrounds, um, really low confidence with physical uh skills. Um she's also hypermobile as well, so her feet roll a little bit. Um and they they said she's got muscle um low muscle tone. So the difference we have seen since she started the medication has been amazing. Like she has so much more energy now, and that really has been key. I think you know, she was feeling kind of left behind in terms of physical ability with her peers, and um the medicine really has helped her. Uh, not just um height, but yeah, in in physical ways as well. I think her muscles have got stronger and um she's got more endurance. Um so yeah, it's been really beneficial.
SPEAKER_00Somehow your daughter is two years older than your son, but you spotted it for your son first. So potentially you might have missed it if you had not first gone through it with your son. Otherwise, maybe you would have put it down to more personality traits uh rather than a physical condition or an actual reason behind it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely. And I, you know, as I said earlier, I think that's why it's um it's often missed. And I think it was missed probably from in my own background. I was always terrible at the sports and everything, um, really weak, really low in in um exercise endurance. Um I was always the smallest of every class. Um my parents never realized I was that small until I started school and saw my peers and were but hold on a minute, you know. And I was always the smallest. And um, you know, it's it's not necessarily the nicest um at school in that environment being the smallest all the time. Um so yeah, I'm just like super happy that I guess that it's been picked up and it's not gonna go missed.
SPEAKER_00That's fantastic. And so we we've talked about it earlier a bit, but what does that mean today for your family then as a result? So now that both kids are on track, the you've got the injections, you've got an idea about what's coming up. Do you think that they feel much better, they feel um stronger?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean all of that, they they're stronger, they're um they're happier, and they're running around more, they're much more active. Um my son's grown about 10 centimetres this year. Uh well, not even a year, nine months, I guess. Um, which obviously he hadn't grown for years before that, so massive difference. Um my daughter's grown eight centimetres in five months, so you know, she's finally going through the clothes that everyone always says how her kids grow out in their clothes quick, and mine never did. So um, yeah, it's made a massive difference. And I mean, also over the last year we've been members of the Child Growth Foundation. And um that charity has been great for raising awareness of the condition and just meeting up with other people who've also got the condition. And so the kids know that it's not just them, like it's it's not only them who's battling to do injections every day.
SPEAKER_00Tell me more about um the foundation. Do you have meetups? Do you are there other kids their age? Uh what does that mean? Are there other parents that you can talk to?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so um we just had a re meetup recently this weekend. Um generally two to two or three times a year. Um we've gone to different places around the country. Um they generally have an annual convention where families stay over and um they have workshops. Um it's really kind of making the kids aware that it's not just them. Um it is a rare condition, so it's nice to meet other children who are in that position and to speak to the families and um and and to know to watch the older kids and to know how they've got on and their progress.
SPEAKER_00I I was gonna ask, yes, um, have you met families with uh kids that are either a bit older than your own children or even kids that have gone out of the treatment now that that said they are no longer um doing injections um and I don't know, they've reached their size, adult size, I guess?
SPEAKER_01Um so I haven't I haven't uh met anyone who's like come through at the other end yet. Um I have met lots of people who've got older teenage children and um they've spoken about how it just you know becomes a way of life and at you know obviously at some point they will just inject themselves. Um perhaps my kids will inject each other as they grow up. Um something to bond over. But I mean it's it's nice that my kids have got each other. Um it's not normally a con a congenital uh hereditary thing. Only about five percent of cases are. So um most of these kids don't have a sibling who've also got the condition. So um I guess particularly for them, it's it's really nice to know that there are the children around.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um yeah. Uh at the very beginning of the conversation, you mentioned that your son had um some issues maybe with his diet. And I was wondering, in the end, was there any connection at all with that?
SPEAKER_01No, I don't believe so. No. I I think that was just coincidental. But um I think it's one of the things you rule out really. If if a child's declining in their height and their weight, um, you know, you think, well, instantly maybe it can be a a s some sort of food intolerance, something that they're not processing, maybe their body's not absorbing the right nutrients. Um so I think it was um it was just something they needed to do to rule it out. Um having said that, I don't think our insurance, uh medical insurance would have covered the endocinology tests um had we not been referred through a gastro um team first. So I think that was like an important loophole. We managed to get around that um unintentionally. Um But yeah, we're really grateful that it happened.
SPEAKER_00Great. Fantastic. And so um I guess now we've covered it all. What would you say if you were to mit the grace from five years ago, from three years ago, I guess? Um what would you say to her? Or what would you say to maybe other parents out there um that maybe are looking at their kids' growth chart and they're thinking, hang on, it looks a little bit flatter than what it should be? What what would you say that they should pay attention to um and look for?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, really, I think it's really important to start tracking. Um it can be difficult, especially with height, to uh and especially when they're little, to um to measure them properly. I think we used to just put their feet against a wall or a hard book and and do our best to try and get a measurement. But then at least you've got some data to to show the doctors if you are concerned and that you have been tracking it. Um otherwise I think it it could lead to delays in diagnosis. Um and then just trust your instincts really. If if you think that something's up, I think it normally is. Like there is um it feels very validating to have your concerns listened to and I guess a relief. Um so yeah, I think it's worth just pursuing. It's it's a relatively rare condition. So I guess maybe a lot of doctors might not know about the ins and outs of it particularly. Um but you know, there's there's plenty of information on the Growth uh Child Growth Foundation's website.
SPEAKER_00Um We'll be sharing the links um to that, obviously. And um, very last question is there anything about weight? Um that you know of. If you don't know, that's fine.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean so the children I've met, so there are other r related growth conditions as well, um, like Russell Silver syndrome. Um I mean, my my kids have got just uh growth hormone deficiency. But um growth hormones used across your whole body, I guess. So if you don't have enough, it's it's they're generally on the skinnier side. Um however, my my daughter wasn't. So I I I think it it really does vary.
SPEAKER_00Um So it can't be just the one thing, you can't be just looking at one thing and thinking, Hey, my child is not putting on weights, so da da da or it it really is multiple factors. I think so.
SPEAKER_01I I think from when I'd r researched it, they say that height normally comes from weight. So I don't know, once you've built up enough weight, then you'll go upwards, you know, like then you'll grow taller. So um I guess if if you're if you're not growing taller, then that suggests that there's an issue. Um so I I think it's generally more on the height. They did they do weigh them obviously as well to try and track that. And um both my well, my son has really like he looks so much healthier than he does now, uh than he used to. Um and yeah, he's put on weight. And I think your body needs obviously the calories from food and stuff in order to process growth. So um it's really important to have uh you know a good diet as well as and the injections to to help boost.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Brilliant. I think that was a very good note to hear that your son is looking so much better and healthier and happier now than obviously before uh the beginning of the treatment. So we can probably end the conversation there. Thank you very much, Grace.
SPEAKER_01Well, thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_00Thanks so much for sharing. Uh that's incredibly generous of you, and I'm sure that it's going to um help parents out there that are thinking, hang on, something's going on, but I'm not quite sure why. Um and to be fair, regardless of what it is, I think what we can um remember from this conversation is trust your instincts, because really that's where it started for you uh and for your family. So uh thank you so much for that. And uh have a great rest of the day.
SPEAKER_02Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Bye. What a story, right? Grace's determination and persistence are such powerful reminders that as parents, we know our children best. Sometimes that quiet gut feeling is the very thing that leads to answers and to the support our kids truly need. If you'd like to find out more about growth home and deficiency, you'll find some helpful links and resources in the show notes. If today's episode resonated with you or made you think of someone who might need to hear it, please do share it with them. These stories really do help build the village that we all need. You've been listening to Braising with the Village. If you're enjoying these conversations, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, whether that's Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Deezer, so you never miss a new story. New episodes come out every Thursday. You can also find us on Instagram at raising with the Village or on our website at raisingwith.co.uk where you'll find more about the project and past episodes. If you have a story to share about parenting, step parenting, or just navigating family life, I'd love to hear from you. You can get in touch through the website or send a message on Instagram. Because every story shared helps another parent feel seen, heard, and supported. Until next time, bye bye.