Infant & Baby Height and Weight Chart In Kg: Track Your Baby’s Growth
Watching your baby grow is one of the most wonderful experiences for any parent. It is a phase of life filled with awe and curiosity. While watching them grow is an exciting feeling, it is also important to keep track of their growth. This is where an infant weight chart comes into play.
Just like a road map guiding a traveller, these charts provide a detailed overview of your baby's development journey. They can offer reassurance that your child is growing healthily and steadily. By tracking measurements like head circumference, weight and length, infant height and weight charts offer an overview of where your baby stands compared to children of the same age and gender. Growth charts can also help physicians keep track of the baby’s growth over time so that all the milestones are met.
In this comprehensive guide of height and weight charts for newborns, you will have details of all there is to know about tracking your baby’s growth.
What Are Baby Growth Charts?
Infant weight and height charts are important tools that doctors use to check your little one’s overall health. The charts are used to assess how your baby is growing compared with other children of the same age and gender and to see how your child is developing over time. Growth standards are used for babies under 24 months old to check the following:
Head circumference (the distance around the largest part of the head, as this indicates how your baby’s brain is growing)
Weight-for-length
Weight-for-age
Length-for-age.
Different charts are used for boys and girls and different charts are also used for babies younger than 24 months and those 2 years and older.
It's helpful to know that these infant height and weight charts offer pieces of information that your doctor can assess in the context of other developmental milestones. You can find and download the charts below.
Baby Boys Growth Chart: Birth to 24 Months
Baby Girls Growth Chart: Birth to 24 Months
When and How Is My Baby Measured?
You probably chose a paediatrician while pregnant and your first office visit will be within a few days of your baby’s birth or shortly after you leave the hospital. From the first appointment on, checking your baby’s growth will become a routine part of each visit. Your baby's checkups will be scheduled to take place every few weeks, initially and then every few months until your baby turns one.
Your doctor will let you know if you need to visit more often and when to schedule appointments from then on. Consider your baby’s doctor a partner and feel free to ask any questions you might have about your baby’s development. Each office visit is a chance to get some reassurance that you’re doing a great job.
This is usually how your baby will be measured:
Head circumference: A soft tape measure is wrapped around the widest part of your baby’s head from above the eyebrows, passing above the ears, to the back of her head.
Length: Measuring the length of a wriggly baby may be tricky, but doctors and nurses are experts at this. Your doctor will lay your baby on a flat table and stretch their legs out to get an accurate measurement from the top of their head to the soles of their feet.
Weight: You will be asked to undress your baby and your doctor will likely use a baby scale to get the most accurate reading.
You might be wondering what else to expect at some of your baby’s health checks. Here’s a detailed overview of everything you can expect.
1-month checkup
2-month checkup
4-month checkup
2-year checkup
Immunization schedule
How to Read a Baby Growth Chart
Your doctor will be able to help you understand your child’s results at an in-person visit, but here’s a quick guide on how to read infant weight charts. Note: It’s important to use the boy charts if you have a boy and the girl charts if you have a girl.
Head circumference:
1. Find your baby’s age in months at the top of the chart. Only some months are numbered, but each month is represented by a vertical line.
2. Find your baby’s head circumference measurement on the left side (measurements are provided in both inches and centimetres). Follow these horizontal and vertical lines until they intersect. In most cases, this will be on a curved line.
3. Follow the curved line to the right until it ends and here you’ll see a number on a white background that indicates which percentile your baby is in.
Tip
In the example above, the child is a 3-month-old girl with a head circumference of 15.5 inches. As the growth chart indicates, this baby is in the 50th percentile, meaning half of all 3-month-old baby girls have bigger heads, and the other half have smaller heads.
Weight-for-length:
1. Find your child’s length in inches or centimetres at the bottom of the grid. Then find your child’s weight (in pounds or kilograms) on the left side of the grid.
2. Follow the horizontal and vertical lines of these two measurements until they intersect on the growth curve.
3. Follow the curved line until the end to find which percentile your baby is in.
Length-for-age:
1. Find your baby’s length (in inches or centimetres) on the left side of the grid, and find your child’s age in months at the bottom of the chart.
2. Track these horizontal and vertical lines until they intersect on the growth curve.
3. Follow that curve until the end, where the percentiles are written on a white, shaded background.
Tip
In the example above, the child is an 18-month-old girl who is 30.5 inches long. As the growth chart indicates, this toddler is in the 10th length (height) percentile, meaning 10 percent of children her age are shorter, and 90 percent are longer (taller).
Weight-for-age:
1. Find your baby’s weight (pounds or kilograms) on the right side of the grid, and then find your child’s age in months at the top of the chart.
2. Follow these horizontal and vertical lines until they intersect on the curved line.
3. Follow that curved line until the end, where the percentiles are written on a white, shaded background.
Tip
In the example above, the child is a boy who is 12 months old and weighs 23 pounds. According to the baby weight growth chart, this baby is in the 75th weight percentile, meaning 75 percent of 1-year-old baby boys weigh less, and 25 percent weigh more.
How to Interpret the Results
Your doctor is the best person to explain your child’s growth to you. Remember, the charts show the generalised growth patterns for baby boys and girls and there is a wide range of healthy results. There is no one ideal result when viewed individually, but, ideally, your child would follow along with the same growth pattern (the curved line) over time and have a height and weight that grow in proportion to each other.
What Are the Percentiles?
The infant weight chart shows which percentile your child is in comparison with other kids of the same age and gender. Percentiles are shown as curved lines. Let us simplify with an example.
1. Suppose your child is in the 70th percentile for length-for-age, this means 30 percent of babies the same age and gender are longer and 70 per cent are shorter.
2. However, this one point doesn't provide the complete picture. Your doctor will assess several values over time to see the trend of how your child is growing in comparison to the average growth curve shown on the chart.
3. Try not to get too focused on a single number. There is a wide range of healthy sizes and lengths. Many factors influence your child’s growth, including genetics, environmental factors, nutrition, activity levels and medical conditions.
4. When babies have growth spurts, their charts may also vary. For example, breastfed and formula-fed babies grow in slightly different patterns.
5. Breastfed babies typically put on weight more slowly than formula-fed babies and formula-fed infants typically go through a growth spurt and gain weight more quickly after 3 months of age.
6. In terms of weight, the normal growth rate for a baby is to double in weight by 5 or 6 months and triple it by the time they are one year old. Your paediatrician is the best person to explain whether your child is on track.
What Happens if My Baby’s Growth Pattern Changes?
A different growth pattern does not necessarily indicate a problem. Your child may simply be experiencing a growth spurt. However, at times, sudden changes in the growth chart may indicate a problem. Your child’s doctor is the right person to investigate this problem further. Let’s understand this better with an example.
Suppose your child has always been heavier or longer than 40 per cent of other children the same age and gender. But now the child is heavier and/or longer than 80 per cent of the other children. Your paediatrician may look into what has caused this increased growth.
Another change that may signal a problem is if your child is not getting longer and heavier at a steady rate. Generally, a healthy, well-nourished baby grows at a predictable rate. Any change from this rate requires a visit to your baby’s doctor so they can detect and address any feeding, developmental or medical issues.
Factors that can affect a baby's height and weight
Most children fall between the 3rd and 97th percentiles. But, if not, there can be several factors at play. Your doctor will take into account whether your child is meeting other developmental milestones and the build they’ve inherited from the family. Some families might have fast-growing babies, while others have slow and steady gainers. Try not to worry and keep these individual differences in mind as you follow your child's growth. If your paediatrician determines that your baby is overweight, underweight, growing too fast or growing too slowly, trust that your baby is in good care and follow your doctor’s recommendations for what to do next. Here are a few other factors that can affect a baby’s growth:
1. Nutrition
Nutritional Intake: A balanced diet with essential nutrients is crucial. Consult your paediatrician to ensure your baby receives the necessary nutrition.
Feeding Practices: Whether through breastfeeding, formula or a combination, each method can influence growth rates differently.
2. Health and Medical Conditions
Chronic Illnesses: Certain medical conditions can impact growth, requiring closer monitoring and specific interventions.
Hormonal Factors: Hormonal imbalances can alter growth trajectories, requiring professional evaluation.
3. Environmental Influences
Socioeconomic Status: Access to food, healthcare and clean environments can affect growth and development.
Emotional Well-being: Extreme emotional distress or changes in the environment can impact physical growth.
4. Developmental Milestones
Milestones: How well your child meets developmental milestones can provide insights into overall health.
Pediatric Assessments: Regular check-ups help ensure your baby’s growth is balanced with their developmental progress.
The Bottom Line
By regularly tracking infant height and weight charts, you are doing more than just tracking numbers. You’re partnering with your healthcare provider to support your child’s development. While keeping a check on your baby’s growth chart gives you valuable insights into their overall development, it is equally important to know that every child is different. As you navigate through the early years of parenthood, trust the process, cherish every small step and feel free to ask questions. Whether it's that first smile, those initial wobbly steps or simply watching them sleep peacefully, these moments are the real milestones of parenting.
FAQs
A baby growth chart is a tool used to compare a child's growth metrics like weight, length, and head circumference against standardised percentiles to monitor health and development.