Children with intra-uterine growth retardation (IUGR) constitute a heterogeneous group. Classification and etiology of IUGR are given. This report presents data on postnatal growth, growth hormone (GH) secretion and GH-therapy in children with short stature after IUGR, which was not based on a chromosomal disorder or a syndrome, with exception of Silver-Russell Syndrome (SRS). During the first two years of life, 86% of the children with IUGR showed spontaneous catch-up growth to a height above the third percentile, while only 14% did not. Sixty to eighty percent of the children with poor catch-up growth showed an insufficient GH-secretion, despite of the fact that most children did not show the typical, clinical characteristics of children with classical growth hormone deficiency. GH-therapy leads to increased growth velocity, but so far only short-term results have been reported. No serious adverse events were observed. The individual growth responses were heterogeneous, but no difference was shown in the response between the sexes or between those with or without SRS. It is still unclear whether GH-therapy will improve final height and which factors enable detection of patients who will most likely benefit from GH-therapy. Only long-term clinical trials until final height will answer those questions.