MADISON - A new Swedish study shows that treating exceptionally short children with a growth hormone can significantly increase their height. In some cases, up to eight inches. Treating children in this way is not new. In fact, it's been around for over 20 years, but some have questioned if we should be using medicine at all to treat otherwise healthy children. Nine year old Jade has always been small for her age, but when her younger sister starting surpassing her in size, her mom Amy says she knew something just wasn't right. “She was going to be entering kindergarten and she couldn't reach the water fountain. She couldn't reach a lot of the things the other kids her age could reach,” Amy said. Amy is taking what some consider a drastic step: bringing her daughter to the University of Wisconsin to be treated with growth hormone therapy. “We just took a deep breath, and thought that things would work out as they should and it has worked out well for Jade,” Amy said. Dr. David Allen is the pediatric endocrinologist treating Jade. He says being unusually short compared to their peers can cause a host of challenges for a child. “Kids their own age don't want to play with them, and they tend to gravitate toward younger children,” Dr. Allen said. Jade was five when she started daily growth hormone injections, and while treating short stature with medicines might seem extreme to some, for the right patient, like Jade, Dr. Allen says it can make a real difference “She was several centimeters, far below the third percentile, and now after four plus years of treatment she's is at the tenth percentile,” Dr. Allen said. However, he says it's important that physicians are honest with parents about the potential risks “It’s a remarkably safe treatment, but we've only been using it for 20 years so we don't feel we know everything about the potential side effects of growth hormone treatments,” Dr. Allen said. Treatments cost anywhere from $10,000 to 50,000 per year, and it's not always covered by insurance. All the more reason parents need to have realistic expectations about what the therapy may, or may not, accomplish. “The amount of benefit that we're talking about aren't huge. Even with many years of treatment most of the kids might only gain two or maybe 3 inches,” Dr. Allen said. For Jade's mom Amy, the hope that her daughter might not be taunted by her peers about her height made the decision worth it. “I just wanted to take advantage if this was available for her to be some what normal, then why not take advantage of that?" Amy said.