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Baby Weight Percentages

What Percentile Is Your Child In, and Does It Matter?

By Lisa A. Goldstein

Pages:  1  2  3  4  

What Do They Mean?
What does a low, average or high rating mean for the child?

It's a snapshot, Dr. Lonzer says. "Growth percentiles tell us how children are growing compared to other kids their age, but only at that moment in time," she says. "It is most important, when evaluating growth, to look over time. Children who start small and cross percentiles, becoming larger, may be developing obesity, but their height may be increasing at the same rate, meaning that they are growing proportionately and well, causing no worries for parents or physicians. Children who start at higher percentiles and drop lower may be developing a metabolic illness, getting inadequate nutrition, exercising heavily or they may just be settling into a lower percentile."

Extreme Ratings
If your child is an extreme low or high percentile, you may be wondering if anything needs to be done. The answer is, not necessarily.

"The two keys to knowing what growth charts mean are to watch over time and compare height and weight," Dr. Lonzer says. "Remember that there are also familial and ethnic patterns of growth that may make your child follow a curve slightly different than the standard curve. We sometimes do X-rays and lab work for unexpected growth rates, but each child is an individual."


Pages:  1  2  3  4  

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Found 29 comments
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Baby Weight Percentages by Anonymous on 03/16/2010 07:12PM

and if you dont call the state a child could end up seriously ill, neglected or starving. call anonymously they will have a duty of care to investigate. could you live with yourself if something awful happened and you didnt act on it. Its not your fault its your sisters, but you cant stand by and allow this to go on. My daughter is 17lb she 14 months old. my three year old is 35 lb. Your niece is serverly malnourished. Listen to your head. You can do something to stop this.

Baby Weight Percentages by Anonymous on 03/15/2010 11:08PM

I have a sisters little girl which is 3 years shes 17 to 18 pounds and my 12 month is as tall and she does not eat and sucks pacifiers and im so worried they get defensive about it and says well she eats icecream and candys ive observered her she would rather watch tv then eat and shes clearly malnorished we get into fights everytime i say something needs to be done idk what to do if i call the state i wont have a family

Baby Weight Percentages by Anonymous on 03/12/2010 05:00PM

When babies start walking the tend to not gain as much weight or they lose. I would not be worried about that. Don't forget they are moving around a lot and so the weight will either drop or stay around the same.

Baby Weight Percentages by Anonymous k on 03/12/2010 05:03AM

my baby is 8 mo old and her weight is 14.1 pounds. she vomits everytime she eats and can not be comforted no matter what i do, Any ideas what i can do?

Baby Weight Percentages by Anonymous4 on 03/09/2010 10:54PM

Hi everyone, I am concerned about my baby, and he's been staying the same weight for his 11-12th month about 27.5 pounds. He's always been a "fat" baby, but recently he's gotten pretty skinny. Help, please? I'm trying to get him to eat as much as he can (he still drinks formula).

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