Your Baby Has a Low Percentile Ranking: Should You Be Concerned?
When you visit your pediatrician for your babies regular check up the doctor will usually tell you what percentile they are currently in for their height and weight. But what exactly does this percentile mean? And if your child is in a low percentile should you be concerned? Most pediatricians will asses your child’s developmental progress by looking at more that the curve of their growth chart. They want to see if their height and weight are keeping close pace with each other. This will help them to determine if your baby is passing their developmental growth at the right stage. The percentile is based on children within your child’s age group. But you should not be alarmed if your child ranks low in percentile. That can drastically change from one month to the next.
For example your child could be in the 40th percentile one month and by the time you take him or her for their next check up they could be in the 80th percentile. All kids go through he occasional growth spurts. Some growth spurts occur once every six months, while others are a lot more frequent. You will also need to keep in mind how big you and your husband are. If you are small people than you can probably expect your children to be on the small side as well. Although in some cases children can far outweigh their parents. Height is something that is not inherited through any genes in the body.
This is according to many researchers and pediatricians around the world. They also have found that each generation is either slightly taller or heavier then the previous generation. There are also times when your baby’s weight and height can be inaccurate. Since it can be very difficult to measure a wriggling baby when they are lying down your doctor may not be able to get a one hundred percent accurate height and weight until they can stand up. As long as it is clear to the doctor that your baby is growing and is healthy there is no need to be concerned.
Another thing that you will want to think about when it comes to your babies rang in the national percentile is that most babies nowadays are born very large. The average baby is now born at about eight to nine pounds. So if your baby was only six pounds at birth you can not expect them to rank high on the percentile chart. In addition most children are now considered to be overweight. So when your child reaches the age of five or six they may rank a little low. Once again there is nothing to be concerned about. Just make sure that your child continues to get the proper amount of nutrition and they will be just fine growing at their own pace.
