All mothers watch their children's development closely. We get worried if they're too small, or too big, too short or too tall. But, just like adults, babies come in all shapes and sizes. The pediatrician will rank your baby's size during her well baby checkups. How will this 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.
Your baby's length will be ranked in exactly the same way, and can give you an idea of whether your baby will be tall, medium or average in height. A baby can rank in the 90th percentile in height even though both you and your husband are short, but it's rare and you can't really expect it.
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.
Attending those well baby visits with your pediatrician is the most important thing you can do to monitor your child's development. Your doctor will alert you on issues that needs attention after she monitors your baby's progress. Keeping tabs on the progress is a good idea because this first year of development is critical.
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.
Your baby's length will be ranked in exactly the same way, and can give you an idea of whether your baby will be tall, medium or average in height. A baby can rank in the 90th percentile in height even though both you and your husband are short, but it's rare and you can't really expect it.
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.
Attending those well baby visits with your pediatrician is the most important thing you can do to monitor your child's development. Your doctor will alert you on issues that needs attention after she monitors your baby's progress. Keeping tabs on the progress is a good idea because this first year of development is critical.
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