Once you become a parent, your baby’s well-being and health become two of the main concerns in your life. So it is natural for new parents to become anxious about their baby’s growth. A very accurate and beneficial invention, the growth chart, is made to ease the situation. A baby growth chart is a way for you and your pediatrician to ensure your little one is growing and gaining weight as they should. If you need help using a growth chart to track a baby’s development, you can quickly get used to it once you understand the basics. Understanding how to read them may also help you feel more confident about your baby’s development. The baby growth chart shows where your child falls in the percentile for age and gender.
How do growth charts work?
Growth charts appear to be a jumble of numbers and lines, but they are a valuable tool for monitoring a child’s development. Pediatricians measure a baby’s length, weight, and head circumference during check-ups and use these measurements to track progress on the growth chart. For instance, if a baby’s growth chart indicates a particular deficiency, you can make up for it by introducing fun and beneficial dinner ideas for kids.
Let us clear the air from the working of growth charts:
The usage:
Growth charts can monitor your baby’s growth and development from birth until they turn 18. You can plot your baby’s transition to compare it to other babies in the same percentile. It is normal for your baby’s weight to fluctuate daily. Your child’s health nurse or doctor can provide additional health checks to ensure your child grows and develops as expected.
Indicators used:
Infants under two years old are weighed using unique scales. Considering newborns without clothes until they reach 12 months is more accurate. When they turn 2, they are weighed while standing up and wearing light clothing. The circumference of the baby’s head is measured using a tape measure. If the baby was born prematurely, their age is ‘corrected’ to account for the number of weeks they were born early. This corrected age is recorded on all their growth charts until they turn two.
- Length:
A pediatrician will measure your baby’s length from the head top to the feet bottom when lying down until they are two years old. This measurement is the same as their height, and your baby may need to be stretched out to get an accurate reading.
- Weight:
Your baby will be weighed on a scale without clothes or a diaper for accurate weight measurement. This helps the pediatrician or the growth chart user monitor your baby’s growth and ensure they receive the necessary nutrients.
Alarming situations:
Monitoring a baby’s growth is essential to ensure they are healthy and developing correctly. Parents may be concerned if their baby is not growing quickly enough, but this is not the only way to determine if they are healthy. Generally, babies will regain any weight lost in the first week after birth by two weeks and double their birth weight by four months. Male babies usually triple their weight by 13 months, while female babies triple it by 15 months. In addition, if your baby has at least five wet diapers daily, has pale urine, soft bowel movements, good skin color and muscle tone, and is meeting other developmental milestones, everything is likely going right.
