How Does an Infant Growth Chart Work?
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What is an Infant Growth Chart?
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An infant growth chart is basically a register of the average height and weight of a "normal" child between birth and 36 months, separated by gender. It is formulated from statistical data tabulated through the measurement of thousands of boys and girls of a given age, be it at birth, 1 month or 6 months. Once compiled, it creates a sort of curve in which each child would fall, meaning what percentile your child's height and weight is based on the average of all children. You've most likely heard people mention that their 3-month-old is in a certain percentile for height or weight. The growth chart establishes this number.
How is it Used?
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An infant growth chart isn't necessarily used to "categorize" a child; it is moreso used to establish a basis or foundation for measurement of a given child's progress. Due to the varying sizes and weights of children, it is the most effective way to track your child's growth. If your child is in a certain percentile at birth, he would theoretically be somewhere near that same percentile at around 1 month and again at 6 months and up in age. Physicians generally look for a steady line, so to speak, with your child's progress. When a child fluctuates to a drastic degree, this can be a good indication to your doctor of potential problems.
Beyond Height and Weight
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While the infant growth chart is mostly used to measure your child's progress in height and weight, it is also used to quantify the size of your infant's head. Again, it isn't the number itself that should cause you to worry. As you visit the doctor for your customary checkups, this feature, along with height and weight, will be charted, and it is the repetition of the measurements that is examined. It is a method for your pediatrician to gauge whether or not your child's head is growing in the proper circumference for her age. When a child's head grows too quickly or too slowly, the pediatrician will be able to pinpoint a potential problem more quickly.
Other Factors
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The growth chart isn't the only thing a pediatrician will use to measure your child's progress and deem it healthy or not. Other variables can play a part in your child's growth, and these are usually noted in your child's file. Their presence can help to inform your doctor on why your child was in one percentile at a given age and another percentile a few months later. The child may have had a touch of illness at his last checkup, which caused him to drop a little weight, or maybe he wouldn't sit still, which gave an incorrect height measurement. Remember, it is the successive nature of the chart that is used to shed light on your child's progress, not a single number.
The Average
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At birth, girls and boys will generally be between 18 and 21 1/2 inches in height, but their weight will be slightly different. Girls will weigh between 5 1/2 to 9 1/2 pounds, and boys will weigh between 5 1/2 and 10 pounds. These numbers signify the lowest percentile and highest percentile in height and weight, which will give a median for both genders--otherwise referred to as the 50th percentile.
As children age, the actual difference in the numbers that make up the percentiles will increase. At 36 months, a girl in the 10th percentile of her age group for height would be right around 35 1/2 inches tall, whereas a girl in the 90th percentile would be 39 1/2 inches tall. Does this mean that either girl will be any less or more tall than the other? Not at all. It simply tells you where your child falls in her height for her age.
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