Growth Rate Charts in Children

Growth charts are found in the offices of pediatricians, physicians, and nutritionists. Doctors use growth charts to answer questions such as whether your child is developing as expected and whether a child's height and weight measurements are normal with respect to age. Growth charts also help determine whether your child is suffering from any health-associated problem as indicated on the growth chart by a sudden change in the growth pace of the child.

Use

• Growth charts are part of any standard child's checkup. Growth charts allow doctor or nurses to see the pattern of kids' height and weight gain over the years. By monitoring your child's development, the doctor can determine whether your child is developing and growing normally as compared to other kids his or her age. Doctor's evaluate growth charts according to the overall health of the child, keeping in context the child's environment and genetic background.

Measurements

• Girls and boys are measured according to different growth charts, as boys and girls grow at a different rate and in different patterns. One set of charts is used for babies to children aged 36 months or 3 years. Another set is used for kids ages 2 to 20 years old. For younger children, doctors measure weight, height, and head circumference. For older children, doctors measure weight, height, and body-mass index, which is weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters.

Curves

• Growth charts are compromised of seven growth curves. Each curve represents a specific percentile, including the fifth, tenth, twenty-fifth, fiftieth, seventy-fifth, ninetieth, and ninety-fifth percentiles. A child's measurement as he or she grows is plotted among the percentile curves. Being in a certain percentile means that the child's measurement is greater than or equal to the measurements of that percent of children in the country in in a given category. Note that a high or low percent reading does not always implyt that there is a problem.

Problems

• Certain growth-chart patterns indicate a problem in the child's health. If a child's height or weight gain pattern changes drastically from a pattern that it has been following, this might indicate that there is a growth problem. Similarly, if a child is not getting taller at the same rate at which she is gaining weight, this might also indicate that there is a growth problem. Doctors state that there is no ideal percentage for your child's growth, as each child grows at his or her own pace.