This is a very common question asked by the parents in paediatric clinics. A single number in kilograms is not an answer to this question. Weight of a child is determined by various factors (genetics, nutrition, underlying diseases, hormones and development). Sometimes parents unnecessarily worry about their child for being thin compared to his peers. Some ask for medicines (a tonic!) to increase the weight of their child. A child who is thin may be perfectly healthy. Each child is different and comparing to other children even though useful to some extent, can lead to undue anxiety. The best way to find out whether your child’s weight is appropriate for his age/ height is by plotting their weight on the 'growth charts'. A single measurement of weight may not be very informative. Serial weight measurements taken at various intervals would give a lot of information about the health and nutritional status of the child. During the first year, convenient way to get your child’s weight entered on the growth chart is during your ‘vaccination visits’.
Next post on 'growth charts'.
Friday 2 October 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hi Anjana,
ReplyDeleteThis is Guru :) I have a daughter of 11 months. She is aboout 75 percentile in her height (28.5 Inches) and Weight she is at 10th Percentile 8.2 Kg (Around 18lbs), She is very active, trying to walk now. But people say she is thin, And even we feel she could gave gained some weight...
However we feel she is perfectly all right looking at her activities..
Can you please comment on the above statistics of her...
Hi Guru, I have seen your daughter’s photos and I have to say she looks adorable. Regarding the above numbers, I am not sure which growth chart you are using and whether it is perfectly plotted. The above measurements for height (28.5inchs/72.3cm) and weight (8.2kg) both fall between 9th and 25th centile at 11 months (on IAP as well as child growth foundation, UK charts). In this case she is perfectly normal.
ReplyDeleteIn case if she is on the centile lines you mentioned above and the numbers are incorrect or measurements taken at an earlier age, this is what I can comment: I presume she is following the centile lines you mentioned above and not fallen off the centile lines (for weight). For an individual child, height and weight centiles could be different. Normally, this difference is limited to 1-2 centiles only. However, it sounds as if your daughter is perfectly healthy and doing every thing she should be doing. As you rightly thought it looks like she has room to put on some more weight. But, I know that it is not easy to feed the kids of that age! Another point to remember is at this age it is not easy to measure their length/ height. Therefore, if you do not have any other concerns about her and she is not falling off her 9th centile line, do not worry too much. If possible try and get more calories into her. I hope this helps.