Conference moira::parenting_v3

    
    I'm certainly no expert, but IMHO, I believe you're on the button
    in your opinion of the percentiles and what they mean.  One of my
    children is about in the 50% in weight and height and she's about
    average in her class (for weight and height).  My other daughter
    has always been BELOW the line for weight and height and sure enough
    she's about the smallest in her class.
    
    You could be right about kids getting bigger.  29lbs at 6 months
    is incredible!  I weighed 24lbs going into kindergarten!!!  But
    then I was always below the chart line too... (wish I had stayed
    there weight-wise).
    
    I don't know if anyone has updated the charts since their inception.
    But in any case, as long as your kids are healthy and look okay
    to you, I wouldn't worry about it.
    
    
    jean

    I've wondered the same thing - if a baby is "off the charts" for ht and
    wt, that should mean that they are over 99th percentile and (by
    definition) only 1 out of 100 kids would match that.  Then why do I
    know about a dozen kids "off the charts"?  I don't know 1200 kids!
    
    Granted, I tend to know well-fed, not poor kids, but still...

    The kids change as they get older too.  I know for the longest time
    Katie was always taller than most other babies her age, sure enough
    when they checked the percentages she was over 100% for a while.  She
    just had her 3yr check up, and now she's average (50%) all around.  I
    would have to say, that's accurate looking at her at daycare.
    I was always afraid that Katie wouldn't slow down, but she did!
    
    Karen

    MY pedi has never really stressed the percentiles my son is in (he does
    let me know) but he uses the charts to "plot" his growth. What he does
    stress is that weight should be in proportion to height. A child at
    about 25% of both categories is just as fine as a child at 99% of both.
    A child at 25% of one and 99% of the other is a different story. I
    think that is where any parent or pedi will be concerned.
    
    Just my 2 cents...
    
    Andrea

    My pedi said they now prefer if a child is at a higher percentile
    in height than in weight.  I forget if it was 10 or 25%.  So for
    instance, the doctor's preference is that a 50th percentile in weight 
    baby be in the 60th percentile for height.  Years ago it was the other
    way around.  
    
    Donna
    

A thought on the percentiles.  These compare the weight and height of a child
to the weights and heights of children throughout the US.  Therefore, children
will be compared with children of ALL socio-economic, regional and racial
situations.  Therefore, even though you know a large number of children in the
high end, how many welfare children do you know or children of racial groups
that tend toward the low end of that scale?

Also, you can't be "off the scale" in a percentile system.  The highest value
is always 99th percentile.  That means that in a group of 100 that child will
have 99 of the other children below him/her and 0 above.  If the scale is
heavily skewed toward the middle or one end, a wide range of values will match
with being at the other end.

Dick

    Like another replier, my family doctor doesn't focus on WHAT percentile
    Ryan's in. She does, however, pay attention to whether his growth
    patterns continue on the same or close to the same curve -  Ryan's
    basically been in the 75th percentile for weight since birth, and
    roughly the 50% for height.
    
    

    From what I understood, the percentiles are a comparison
    to other children born at the same weight/height as your child.

    Like many other replies, my pedi. doesn't focus on what percentile
    Eric is in.  He pays more attentions to whether he is over or
    under weight.  I think percentile does give people a rough idea
    about child's size.  Eric has always been in the 95th percentile
    (sometimes even off the chart) for weight and height.  And in 
    his daycare, he is the tallest for his age.  He just had his
    two years checkup.  His pedi. predicts when he grows up he will
    be at least 6 ft tall.
    
    Wendy

The percentiles are updated rarely, and then there are different charts for
diffrent countries and so on.  I do believe that with the health conscious
eating habits of the '80s and the number of "whopper" babies, I do believe
some of the charts are a little inaccurate.

Stuart

    Is there an on-line chart or anyone has one?  I realy don't know
    where our 9 months old son stands?  should the pedis provide you
    with these info only?  Our son at 9 months weighs about 20 lbs
    and nearly 29 inches long.  Does anyone know what percentile is
    this for his age?
    
    Thanks,
    
    Al

    Ummm, Marc was 18 lbs. at 9 months, which was 15th percentile.  I asked
    the pedi what the 50th was and he said 20 lbs (a few lbs. makes a big
    difference at this age).  So I guess you're right in the middle!  About 
    length, he was 29" which they told me was 75th.  A tall skinny guy!
    
    But like everyone says, don't get too hung up about percentiles.  My
    pedi keeps saying as long as he continue to grow and gain weight
    steadily, no problem.

    re: .11
    
    Many pediatricians don't use them.  
    
    It's just a tool for keeping track of a child's growth, as a
    possible clue to potential health problems.  It doesn't make much
    difference whether your pediatrician uses that kind of chart, or a
    different kind of chart, or just writes it down and keeps track of
    it in his head.  
    
    Kat's doctor, a GP, always just used a graph that had only a
    single line on it, which marked the statistical norm.  As long as
    her development line was pretty much parallel to that line, even
    though it was far below it, and she was otherwise healthy, he
    didn't worry about it.
    
    --bonnie

    What it is: A statistical average of US children, culled from a large
    number of across-th-board kids (race, socio-economic, geographic, etc).
    It is updated *very* rarely (once in last couple of decades, maybe).
    What it is not: it is not related to your child's birth weight...even
    that would be in one of the percentiles...or a comparison with other
    children that weighed the same as your child at birth. It is not a 
    terribly accurated indicator of how large/small/healthy/sickly/etc.
    your child will be. It is meant as a guide to show doctors/parents how
    their kids are growing compared to the "average" child (kind of
    ridiculous, huh? What's an "average" child?!?!?!?)
    
    A good doctor is, as noted several times, most concerned with your
    child's pattern of growth, as opposed to where on the charts he falls.
    All 3 of our kids are in a higher percentile for height than
    weight...that is there pattern. If one should start showing a
    significant change... like a big jump in weight percentile, a big drop
    in height percentile, etc. ...then the doctor might investigate
    further. Our oldest son is currently at the 99% (actually taller than
    highest height used for comparison) for height and the 75% for weight.
    Our daughter is at the 3% for height and 0% for weight. Our baby is at
    60% height and 45% weight. The only concern ever shown was for our
    daughter, and then not because her height and weight were low, but
    because her indivdual growth curve, for a time, leveled off and
    actually began to drop down. That was a cause of major concern. Our dr.
    said its off little consequence how much they weigh, if they keep
    gaining and growing taller. They will establish their own curves,
    either, below, above or somewhere on teh charts. Our daughter had one
    month to see if the last downward reading was a fluke, or if a pattern
    was extablishing itself. Thankfully, she gained and grew quite a bit in
    the next month, and has been fine ever since, so they are satisfied
    that ist was just a sort of "bump" in her growth curve. She is
    extremely petite...very small boned and tiny features, so she does not
    look abnormal....just a lot younger than she is! She is 3, our baby is
    17 months, and he weighs as much as she does,a nd is only about 3
    inches shorter....before long they'll be wearing the same size!
    Charts are a guide only....not a firm and fast law. If you and your dr.
    uses them as such....everything should go just fine!
    
    --dave--

    The percentile charts are nothing more than one way of expressing where
    a kid falls in the height and weight distributions of others of the
    same age.  There is nothing good or bad about any particular point on
    these spectra, nor should you expect your child to remain at a similar
    point over time, as kids grow in individually timed spurts.  Aaron was
    at about the 90th percentile at age 2 (on height), and the 30th
    percentile at age 3, and was perfectly healthy both times.  One could
    tell just about the same information from noting that he was almost
    the tallest kid in his pre-school class at the start of the year, and
    almost the smallest (among the same group of kids!) at the end.  By age
    4 he was a bit above average again.  He is roughly average now in 3rd
    grade.
    
    You can find copies of these charts in a number of books, including the
    only childrearing/health book any parent really needs: Penelope Leach's
    _Your Baby and Child . . ._.  There are separate charts for boys and
    girls, but not for different gene pools.  Since accuracy is of no
    significance, there is no reason to worry about whether the
    distributions are "up to date."  If anything, the average size of
    infants and kids in this country is doubtless going _down_ (though not
    much), as the proportion of races with somewhat smaller typical stature
    increases (hispanics and asians).
    
    Since the percentile represents the proportion of the measured
    population below a given size (weight or height), it is impossible to
    be outside the range of 0% to 100% (or even to be _at_ 100%).  Charts
    typically have curves showing particular percentiles across the age
    spectrum, and one might, for example, have lines at 25%, 50%, and 75%. 
    A kid over the 75% point would then be above the highest shown curve,
    and it might be hard to estimate their percentile closely; but being
    "off the chart" has no real meaning.
    
    My kids know the really important metric.  On a door jamb in the
    utility room I draw lines about twice a year level with their height,
    along with their weight and the date.  One side for Aaron, the other
    for Eric.  They LOVE to see how big they were at earlier ages, and
    roughly how they compared at similar ages.  
    
    		- Bruce

Bruce,

You are generally speaking correct to dismiss the relevance of the percentile
charts most of the time, but they do have their uses.  It is usual for
children to stay on pretty much the same percentile throughout their growth;
straying off may not mean anything on its own, but along with other factors,
like apetite and so on, any large change is worth checking on but it most
certainly doesn't mean there is a problem.

Different charts show fewer or more percentiles on them ... some people
extrapolate.  Being above the 99th or below the 1st percentile doesn't
mean much except the obvious ... compared with the test group your child is
lighter/heavier or taller/shorter.  You can, based on a couple of points and
the lowest/highest percentile on the chart, project an estimated growth 
pattern for any child.

Used only as a very approximate tool, they can be handy, but it is too
easy to be hung up on these things.

Being on any particular percentile means nothing in terms of helathy
development.  Being on the 50th percentile only means that 50% of
the surveyed children had a height/weight less than your child's.

Stuart