My 9 year old daughter has never gone in for a fasting before 8 a.m. blood draw. It's always been done after her regular endo visit, which is usually late morning/early afternoon. Her levels have always been where they should be and we have never had any height/weight issues with her. She's growing very well and has maintained a steady growth curve for all of these years. She's in the lower percentiles, but within normal range. We also use the Emla cream, as the blood work is always a trauma for her. We have the same person do it everytime... she's very good, always gets it on the first try and my daughter will always admit (afterwards!) that it didn't hurt - but she still gets scared to death everytime anyway!