Does Your Baby Have Normal Size?
Mothers closely watch their child’s development. We tend to worry if they’re too small, too tall, etc. Just like adults, babies come in different shapes and sizes. During her well baby checkups, the pediatrician will rank your baby’s size. Here’s how this will work.
After weighing and measuring your baby, you’ll be told by your pediatrician about your baby’s weight and length rank in terms of percentile. This simply tells you how your baby compares to other babies of the same age. For example, if your baby’s weight falls into the 80th percentile, it means she weighs more than 80 percent of babies her age. There are people who would think ranking in a high percentile is a good thing because it would mean that the baby is thriving. However, this is not necessarily the case. A baby might be thriving in the 40th percentile but is destined to be a small person. For example, I have a healthy daughter who’s consistently been in the 50th percentile and has plenty of meat on her bones. My husband and I are not very large people, and it seems that she has simply inherited our body size.
Ranked in exactly the same way is your baby’s length and you’ll have an idea if your baby will be of average height or if she would be very tall. Don’t expect your baby to rank in the 90th percentile if you and your husband are short but it has been known to happen.
There is one thing you need to look for, and that’s the difference between height and weight percentiles. But they’re pretty close. You may be feeding your baby a bit too much if she’s 90th in weight and 40th in height. But if she ranks 30th in weight and 90th in height, then she’s on the thin side. You’ll be advised by your doctor if ever your child’s diet needs attention.
To monitor your child’s development, the most important thing you can do is attend those well baby visits with your pediatrician. Your baby’s progress will be monitored and your doctor will alert you to issues that needs attention. This first year of development is critical, and it is good to keep tabs on the progress.
Tags: Baby Sizes, children, family, Family Planning, home, home and family, infants, Infants and Toddlers, parenting, Pregnancy, Toddlers
