As a parent, it is only natural to be concerned about your child’s growth and development. After all, you want to ensure that they are healthy, happy, and thriving. One way to monitor your child’s growth is by using a growth chart and tracker. In this comprehensive guide, we will discuss everything you need to know about growth charts and trackers.
What Is A Growth Chart?
- A growth chart is used to track your baby’s growth and development.
- It is a tool that allows you to monitor your baby’s developmental milestones and determine if your child’s growth is within the normal range.
- It is crucial to understand that newborn girls and baby boys develop at different rates. For this reason, there are unique development charts for girls and boys.
What Is A Growth Chart Used For?
Tracking your baby’s overall development and progress can be done with a growth chart, which uses the following three parameters-
- Height
- Weight
- Head circumference
Your baby’s pediatrician must measure these factors to evaluate its growth. Once you have the measurements, enter them in the growth chart for your child. These figures must be monitored over a while. These measurements will indicate whether or not your infant is growing at the expected/standard rate.
It is also recommended that you discuss these data with your child’s pediatrician, who will help ensure that your child’s growth follows the standard/normal curve.
What Do Percentiles Mean In Child Growth?
- **Percentiles show where a child’s growth falls compared to other children their age and gender. **It is a regularly used clinical statistic analyzing children’s growth trends. Percentiles are commonly depicted (drop) on growth charts in the form of curving lines.
- Compare your child to the percentage of the reference population they fall into/exceed to determine their percentile rank.
For example, if your child’s weight is in the 75th percentile for children her age, this indicates that her weight is greater than 75 children but lower than 25 children as compared to the average weight of 100 children her age.
Percentile ranges are examined by doctors when they monitor the development and growth of a child.
- If your child’s percentile falls within a higher degree, they are more prominent compared to other children of the same age and gender.
- If the percentile figure is low, your child is on the shorter side compared to other children of the same period.
What Is The Optimal Growth Chart Range?
The optimal range on the growth chart has been **determined using the WHO’s percentiles data. **The WHO provides a percentile range from the third to the ninety-seventh percentile for each stage of a baby’s growth from birth to age five.
As an illustration, the 3rd and 97th percentile weight measures for a baby girl one-month-old are 3.2 kilograms and 5.4 kilograms, respectively. Therefore, the optimal weight range for a 1-month-old female is between 3.2 and 5.4 kg.
What Happens If Your Baby’s Growth Curve Doesn’t Match The Chart?
- You should not become very concerned if you observe temporary changes in your baby’s growth curve. This is very normal.
- Although growth charts are useful screening tools for monitoring your child’s health, they do not indicate underlying health issues.
- A child’s growth chart is not a substitute for a medical evaluation. Instead, growth charts are tools that **contribute to the formation of an overall clinical opinion **of the measured child.
For example, suppose your doctor finds that your child’s growth curve is not keeping up with the others over time. In that case, a doctor will conduct a comprehensive examination to determine if something is preventing your child from reaching their full growth potential.
Before making any changes to your baby’s feeding, sleeping, physical activity, etc., you should always consult your pediatrician if you have any concerns about her growth curve. A visit to the doctor can determine if you have a genuine cause for concern and provide you with the reassurance you need, along with the following actions to take.
Growth Chart Reference
Healthy, breastfed children’s growth is documented in Growth Charts published by the WHO. Because girls and boys develop at different rates and patterns, various growth charts are used for each gender when measuring their height and weight.
