Infant weight and height percentile
Baby weight and height tracker growth chart
- Baby
- Baby Development
Tip: Track your child's growth over time by logging into your account.
New to BabyCenter? Join now
Child's name
Date of birth
Enter birthday
Sex
Boy Girl
Date of measurement
Enter date
Weight
lb.kg. oz.
Height
in.cm.
Head circumference
cm.in.
By Rebekah Wahlberg
|
|
June 21, 2022
Our growth percentile calculator shows how your baby's size compares with other boys or girls the same age. Just enter your child's weight, height (aka length), and head circumference, and we'll calculate a percentile for each. The number reflects what percentage of kids is larger or smaller than your baby. So if your 3-month-old baby is in the 40th percentile for weight, that means 40 percent of 3-month-old babies weigh less than your baby, and 60 percent weigh more.
Using our baby growth chart
When your baby is first born, you'll have several visits at your pediatrician's office to make sure your baby's growth is on track. Your pediatrician will plot your baby's weight, height, and head circumference on a growth chart.
Don't be concerned if your baby doesn't fall right in the middle of the growth chart, though. There's a wide range of normal, and your baby's measurements now don't necessarily reflect what size they'll be as an adult. It's normal for some children to be in the 10th percentile for weight, while other children are in the 90th percentile. The most important thing is that your baby is growing at a healthy and consistent rate, no matter what percentile they're in.
Our growth percentile calculator is a general educational tool only.
It's not the last word on how your child is growing, and it's not a substitute for having a healthcare provider monitor your child's growth at regularly scheduled exams. At these visits, your provider will determine whether your child is following a healthy growth pattern over time.
This tool is for children under age 2 and is based on World Health Organization data for kids in that age group. And if you'd like, you can find out how tall your older child is likely to be with our Child Height Predictor.
Read on to learn more about the measurements healthcare professionals take, and learn how to measure your baby at home.
Baby weight
If you want to see how your baby is growing between doctor visits, here's how to get a fairly accurate weight at home:
- Undress your baby completely (remove their diaper, too) and step on a scale while you're holding them. Record that weight.
- Then, set your baby down and weigh yourself. Subtract your own weight from your combined weight with your baby and record that number.
- This isn't as accurate as weighing your baby at the doctor's office, but it's a good estimate of how much your baby weighs.
- If you're worried about your baby's weight gain, call your baby's pediatrician. They may have you come in for a visit, since it's important to have your baby weighed on a consistent scale that can accurately measure weight in pounds and ounces.
Baby height
Before your baby can stand and walk on their own, their height is often recorded as their "length" – that is, how long they are from the crown of their head to the bottom of their heel while lying down. If you want to measure your baby's length at home between doctor visits, here's how:
- Lay your baby down on a flat surface and stretch a measuring tape from the top of their head to the bottom of their heel. Since babies' knees naturally bend a bit, you may need a second person to stretch out their legs while you take the measurement.
- Record their length to the nearest tenth of a centimeter or inch.
(In the hospital, birth length is often recorded in centimeters, but your pediatrician's office will likely record their length in inches. What you do is up to you!) Your record might be a little different than the doctor's, but that's okay.
Baby head circumference
Your baby's healthcare provider will measure their head circumference for the first two years of their life to make sure your baby's brain is growing at a healthy rate.
You can measure your baby's head circumference at home, but it can be hard to do this accurately. Here's how to get a good estimate:
- Wrap a flexible measuring tape around the widest part of your baby's head, just above the eyebrows and ears and around the back where their head slopes out from their neck.
- Take the measurement three times (your baby may be wiggly, which could make getting an accurate measurement tough) and use the largest measurement to the nearest 0.1 centimeter.
Are you sure you want to delete this entry?
Yes Cancel
New entry
Edit entry
Your entry couldn't be saved.
Please try again later.
advertisement | page continues below
advertisement
Featured video
All pregnancy, parenting, and birth videos >
Get the BabyCenter app
The #1 app for tracking pregnancy and baby growth.
Download now
Child height predictor: How tall your child will be
girlboy
Child's age
Child's height *
Child's weight *
Mother's height *
Father's height *
Curious to find out how tall your child will be when they grow up? We can't see the future, but with a little math and science, we can make a pretty good guess about how tall they'll be when they're 18 – with a margin of error under 2 inches.
This calculator works for children age 2 and up. (Depending on your child's age, we'll use some or all of the information you entered in our calculations.) You may get inaccurate results for children who are exceptionally tall or are already taller than both their parents.
The Height Predictor is meant to be a fun tool, and doesn't guarantee your child will be this height when they grow up. If you're concerned about your child's growth, talk to their healthcare provider.
How to tell how tall your child will be
There are a few different methods of predicting how tall your child will be when they grow up. Our Child Height Predictor tool uses the Khamis-Roche method, which is based on a study conducted in the 1990s with about 400 participants.
The method takes a child's height, weight, and the average height of their parents, then uses ratios to determine how to calculate the child's predicted height at age 18. A previous method also used the child's skeletal age, which is how mature a child's bones are and requires an X-ray. But the Khamis-Roche researchers wanted to find a way parents could predict their child's height without having to get an X-ray taken.
If you want to test out other ways to predict your child's height at home, these are a couple methods you can try:
Two years times two
Children grow a ton in their first few years of life – in fact, their first growth spurt from baby to toddler accounts for about half of their adult height.
One simple way to predict how tall your child will be when they grow up is to take their height at age 2 if they're a boy or 18 months if they're a girl and double it. (Girls grow a little faster than boys.)
This method has been around for a long time, but there isn't any scientific research about how accurate it is.
Mid-parental method
Another way to estimate your child's adult height is to add together the height of both parents and divide it by two.
Then, some methods say to add 5 inches if they're a boy and subtract 5 inches if they're a girl; others say to only add or subtract 2 ½ inches. There's a high margin of error with this method – it could be off by 4 inches.
Rebekah Wahlberg
Rebekah Wahlberg is an associate editor at BabyCenter, the world's number one digital parenting resource. She lives in Southern California with her silly dog Booger, where she enjoys hiking, yoga, and watching Netflix when she "should" be reading. Wahlberg is passionate about creating content that helps parents and parents-to-be equip themselves with everything they need to succeed.
Advertisement | page continues below
Percentiles in infants and children, what are they for? How are they calculated?
As a child grows throughout their childhood, when they go to the pediatrician, they check growth charts to see if physical development is optimal for their age. Growth charts or percentiles help doctors and parents evaluate and monitor a child's growth. Although growth charts can provide important information, this information should not be the only diagnostic tool a clinician uses. Percentiles are an analysis of information, but each child is different and does not always have to be accurate for everyone.
Index
- 1 What are percentiles?
- 2 Children's percentiles
- 3 Children's percentiles
- 4 How to calculate percentiles
- 5 Children's percentile chart
- 6 Girls' percentile chart
What are percentiles?
Percentiles are growth curves or charts that measure and compare children's height.
regarding general and standard data. These parameters show height, weight and head circumference, which are considered normal at a certain age, taking into account, first of all, the first years of a baby's life. But it should be noted that every child is a world, and that the doctor himself will evaluate whether the boy or girl is really within the normal range or if there is something to be considered regarding their health.
Growth curves contain a set of percentiles ranging from 5 to 95%. Doctors measure the circumference of the child's head, in children under 3 years old - weight and height. After collecting this data, the doctor plots the growth according to the child's age.
Weight, height and head circumference, if they fall within the graph, will indicate the percentile. This is adequate. Percentiles are a way to compare your child to other children. Higher percentages indicate a fatter or taller child, while lower percentages indicate a lighter or shorter child.
For example, a girl with the 75th weight percentile would be above 75 girls out of 100 and less than 25 girls out of 100. Percentiles also allow the clinician to compare height and weight to determine proportionate height. A child with a 90th percentile weight and 25th percentile height is likely to be too heavy for their height; whereas a child with the 50th percentile of height and weight has a good ratio.
Child Percentiles
If you want to know if your child's percentiles match their birth age, the first thing you need to do is Consult your pediatrician to determine suitable parameters. . The best percentile charts are the ones your pediatrician will have as they are likely to be based on the WHO charts. The percentile will display your child's weight or height on the growth chart (he may be above or below average), and you have nothing to worry about as they are standard values and everything is fine unless your pediatrician sees something unusual.
ordinary, in which case they will have to tell you about it.
The growth of infants and children is influenced by many external factors, such as feeding or movement, but there is also a great deal of genetic influence. Even if your child or toddler is above or below the standard height, if they are happy, alert, active and in good health, they will rarely suffer from problems. Percentile charts should only be a guide for you, but your pediatrician will always evaluate your child's growth, development, and health.
Percentile children
The same happens with infant percentiles in infant percentiles are indicative values and should not be of any concern. Although, if a child may be obese for his age, it would be wise for parents to take action in his life, not only because of what they invest in the percentile, but also for the good of his health.
Si the doctor appreciates that parents should take some action In particular, thanks to the data in the growth chart and the data that your child has regarding his weight, height and age, they will immediately inform the parents in order to find the best health solutions baby.
How to calculate percentile
Childhood obesity is a serious problem Millions of children in our society are overweight. Children under 6 years of age are overweight due to malnutrition and a sedentary lifestyle. Obesity can cause developmental and health problems in children, and percentiles can be a great tool to determine if a child is on the path to becoming obese.
But in addition to physical health problems, there can also be emotional health problems that lead to low self-esteem in children when they feel that their body image is negative.
You can find calculators online to automatically calculate your children's percentile, but you can also do it yourself with or without the help of a doctor. To calculate the percentile, you must first calculate your BMI (body mass index), where will give you your ideal weight based on your current weight and height. You must remember that BMI does not calculate body fat, but only adequate weight based on height.
BMI is calculated by dividing weight by height in meters squared. . For example, if your three-year-old son weighs 16'250 kg and is 92 cm tall, his BMI would be 19'19. The equation to get the BMI would be 16'250 / (0 x 92). Knowing the BMI is not enough to know if a child is overweight, we must take into account the age and whether it is a boy or a girl.
After calculating the BMI, you should look at the growth chart of boys or girls according to the age presented by WHO, after which you can get the percentile corresponding to your son / daughter. Percentiles are an indicator that will help you recognize the relative position of your BMI in relation to your peer group. The average percentile will indicate normal weight, but the lower the risk of weight loss in a child and the higher the risk of being obese or overweight. WHO classification of children:
- Percentile less than 5: underweight
- Percentile 5 to 85: normal weight.
- 85 to 95 percentile: overweight.
- Over 95 percentile: obesity
In BMI, the values would be:
- Less than 18: underweight.
- 18 to 24.9: Normal
- 25 to 26.9: overweight
- Over 27: obese
- From 27 to 29.9: obesity I degree
- From 30 to 39.9: obesity of the II degree.
- Over 40 years of age: III degree obesity
Children percentile table
Girls percentile table
The content of the article complies with our principles of editorial ethics. To report a bug, click here.
You may be interested in
Union of Pediatricians of Russia
Home > Information for parents > Tips for parents > Physical development of children
Body weight for age. BOYS
Birth to 5 years (percentiles)
In order to plot points on a graph, it is necessary to understand certain terms related to graphs and the rules for plotting points:
The x-axis is the horizontal coordinate axis at the bottom of the graph, which indicates the age of the child.
It is necessary to put dots on the vertical lines corresponding to the full age of the baby.
Y-axis is the vertical axis of coordinates on the left side of the graph, on which body weight (kg) is indicated. It is necessary to put points on the horizontal lines corresponding to the body weight with maximum accuracy.
Plotted point - a point on the graph at which the straight line coming from the corresponding measurement on the X-axis (age) and the straight line from the measurement on the Y-axis (body weight, kg) intersect.
| Percentile | < 3 | 3-15 | 15-85 | 85-97 | >97 |
| Assessment of physical development | very low | below the average | average (norm) | above average | very high |
Let's analyze the example
The body weight of a girl at the age of 6 months is 5.
5 kg. Let's use the graph "Body weight for age": the point on the graph is below the red curve, which means that the child has insufficient body weight and it is urgent to seek advice from a pediatrician.
Body length/height for age. BOYS
Birth to 5 years (percentiles)
In order to plot points on a graph, it is necessary to understand certain terms related to graphs and the rules for plotting points:
The x-axis is the horizontal coordinate axis at the bottom of the graph, which indicates the age of the child. It is necessary to put dots on the vertical lines corresponding to the full age of the baby.
Y-axis is the vertical axis of coordinates on the left side of the graph, which indicates body length/height (cm). It is necessary to plot points on horizontal lines corresponding to body length/height with maximum accuracy.
Plotted point - the point on the graph where the straight line from the corresponding measurement on the X-axis (age) and the straight line from the measurement on the Y-axis (length/height, cm) intersect.
| Percentile | < 3 | 3-15 | 15-85 | 85-97 | >97 |
| Assessment of physical development | very low | below the average | average (norm) | above average | very high |
Let's take an example
The height of a boy at the age of 2 years is 88 cm. Let's use the graph "Body length / height for age": the point on the graph is located at the level of the 50th percentile, respectively, the height of the child is within the average values for his age.
Body weight to body length.
