Every child in the world is unique in their way, be it their shape, size, rate of growth, or anything else. All of them grow at their own pace, and hence it is not advisable to expect a certain pattern of growth from a child. This is why the paediatricians usually plot a baby’s growth on a growth chart to make sure that they are on track and can figure out if something is wrong with their pattern of growth. This chart can also make you understand the growth of your baby. Although the chart looks a bit tough to understand, your doctor can help you to understand the results. But not always can you ask the littlest of doubts to your doctor, so here we are, to guide you as to how to read your little one’s growth chart and interpret the results.
What Exactly Are Baby Growth Charts?
Baby growth charts are basically graph and chart like figures or tools that your health care provider uses to understand the overall health of your baby. These charts usually assess how your baby is growing as compared to other babies of the same age and figure out the pattern of growth in your baby and how they are developing over time.
The following things are checked using the growth standards for the babies under the age of 24 months:
- Head circumference
- Weight-for-length
- Weight-for-age
- Length-for-age
Different charts are used for boys and girls, and various charts are used for babies under 24 months and over two years.
When and How is the Baby Measured?
During the time of your pregnancy, you will choose a doctor or a paediatrician and soon after your delivery, within few days, when you visit your paediatrician with your baby, checking your baby’s growth will become a routine. Your healthcare provider will decide the frequency of the visits. This is how a baby usually measures:
- For Head Circumference: A soft measuring tape is wrapped around the widest part of your baby’s head, and the readings are taken.
- For Length: Measuring the length is a bit tricky because the baby usually moves a lot, but the doctors are experts at this. They often lay the baby on a table and stretch their legs to measure their head to the soles of their feet.
- For Weight: The providers usually use the baby scale to weigh the baby. The readings are more accurate if you undress the baby.
How to Read the Growth Chart?
- For Head Circumference: You will find the baby’s age in months at the top of the chart and the measurement of the baby’s head on the left side of the chart. Follow the horizontal and vertical lines under them till they intersect. In most of the cases, the pattern that these charts follow is of curved lines. Follow the curved line to the right, and in the end, you will find the percentile written in which your baby falls.
- For Weight-for-length: You will find the baby’s length in inch or centimeters at the bottom of the chart and their weight in pounds or kilograms on the left side of the chart. Follow the horizontal and vertical lines until they intersect and then follow the curved line on which you found the intersection. Follow it to the right, where it ends. It will tell you the percentile your baby is in.
- For Length-for-age: You will find your baby’s length on the left side of the chart and their age at the bottom of the chart. Track those horizontal and vertical lines until they intersect and then follow the curved line on which the intersection lies. In the right end of the curved line, you will find the percentile your baby is in.
- For Weight-for-age: You will find your baby’s weight on the right side of the chart and their age in months at the top of the chart. Follow the horizontal and vertical lines till you find the intersection, then follow the curved line on which you found the intersection, and you will find the percentile towards the right end of the curved line in which your baby lies.
What are the Percentiles?
The baby growth chart works all on the basis of the percentile system. The chart shows which percentile your baby is in as compared to other babies of the same gender and age. These percentiles are usually shown using curved lines. For example, if your baby is at the 70th percentile, then it means that 30 percent of the babies are above that point, and 70 percent are below that point.
But you should know that just one point doesn’t make a difference. That is why even the provider, track it for at least two years to understand the general trend that your baby follows throughout their growth. Also, you should not panic if the growth of your baby does not fall on the general trend because each baby grows differently, and there is a wide range of healthy sizes, which also depends on a lot of other factors.
Some babies go through a growth spurt, and that would lead to the growth pattern change. And there is no need to be concerned about the same. It depends on factors like genetics, nutrition, activity levels, other environmental factors like breastfeeding, solid food consumption, and more. Try not to compare the growth of your child with other babies and focus on your little one. And if the doctor says that your baby is perfectly healthy, then there is nothing to worry about. You have to keep taking good care of the baby and have to make sure that he/she is in good form. The rest will be managed by the doctor and your baby himself/herself.